Category: Broker Review

For this IUX review, we opened a live account and deposited over €3,000.

We traded instrument in each market to understand the actual spreads and placed 10 trades in total.

We reached out to the broker’s customer support team to resolve the issues we faced.

Finally, we withdrew our funds to check whether the withdrawal process was smooth.

What is IUX

IUX is a Cyprus-based International forex and CFD (contract for difference) broker. It was founded in 2016 and has Cyprus as its headquarters, however does not hold a financial trading license from Cyprus.

The broker has entities and is regulated in multiple jurisdictions, including newly added Australia, South Africa, SVG, Mauritius and Labuan (currently the license is processing), therefore establish international operations.

IUX trading offering include services for Forex, Stocks, Indices, Commodities, and Cryptocurrencies.

Some of the highlights of IUX are:

Licenses and Regulations

IUX is licensed by 5 regulators, while main office is based in Cyprus, IUX entities are established and regulated in Australia (ASIC), South Africa (FSCA), Saint Vincent and the Grenadines (FSA), Mauritius (FSC) and Labuan (LFSA) – currently the license is under processing).

The Broker enlarges its licenses and global presence and obtained Australia licenses which is a top-tier regulation, also South Africa’s FSCA is deemed as a reputed global financial market regulator. While others are in fact offshore zones good for international trading, yet does not provide top-tier regulation.

Here’s a full list of the licenses held by IUX subsidiaries:

Is IUX Safe

Yes, IUX is a safe broker. 

The broker is regulated by a reputed financial markets regulator in South Africa, also obtained a Top-tier License from ASIC, as such operates under quality overseeing of the Broker operation.  

For our tests, we opened Standard account with IUX Markets ZA (PTY) Ltd, which is regulated by the Financial Sector Conduct Authority (FSCA) in South Africa.

We recommend you open an account with the South Africa or Asutralia entity if their services are available in your jurisdiction.

Fees and Commissions

IUX fees on trades depend on the account type. For Standard, Standard+ and Pro accounts, the fees are built into spreads. The broker charges a commission for trades on Raw account type with spreads from 0 pips and 3$ commission per side.

Spreads on our forex and commodities were on average with industry benchmark. While Indices and Stocks spreads were competitive.

Spread Charged in our Trades

For our tests, we have chosen popular instruments in each market. We placed 3 trades for each instrument to get an understanding of the average spread.

Our test is based on IUX Standard account. The spreads for our trades on forex, indices, and stocks remained constant

Details of our trades are shown below the table.

We executed all our trades via the IUX iOS App on our iPhone.

Our testing finds that IUX spreads on Indices and Stocks are much lower than the industry benchmark. Spreads on Forex and Commodities, however, are on the average or close to average side.

Other fees

IUX does not have any noticeable non-trading fees. The broker offers free deposits and withdrawals, besides there is no account maintenance or inactivity fee.

Account Types

IUX offers four straight-forward account types: Standard account, Standard+ Account, Raw Account and Pro account.

Details of the Four offered IUX Accounts are:

IUX also offers swap-free Islamic accounts available for all account types.

For our tests, we chose to open Standard Account.

IUX Account Opening

Our overall experience of opening a new account with IUX was smooth and quick.

We opened a Standard account for our tests under the FSCA-regulated entity.

The process of registration of a new IUX account:

1. Select trading account type, country of residence, first name, last name, email, and password.
2. Enter the verification code sent to the provided email.
3. Provide personal details like phone number, date of birth, tax country, and address.
4. Choose the desired trading platform.
5. Provide financial details like employment status, annual income, and value of savings and investments.
6. Answer questionnaires on trading experience.

The registration process took 15 minutes only, and our account was approved in 2 working days.

We opened Standard account with IUX Markets ZA (PTY) Ltd, which is regulated by the FSCA South Africa for this test.

Deposit and Withdrawal

Both deposits and withdrawals on IUX are easy and fast. There are many methods supported and all our funding requests were completed without any issues.

IUX Minimum Deposit

The minimum deposit on IUX varies with the account types.

• Standard and Standard+ account: $10
• Raw and Pro account: $500

IUX Deposit

IUX supports deposits with bank transfers, local payment, credit and debit cards, online wallets, Crypto Pay and Union Pay.

The broker does not charge any fees for deposits and Deposits are processed quickly.

IUX Withdrawal

IUX allows clients to make withdrawals using same payment methods as available for deposits. There are no fees for withdrawal requests, however third-party fees may apply.

There is a low minimum amount for withdrawal 3$.

IUX does not charge a fee on withdrawals.

We did not face any challenges when withdrawing funds.

Markets and Products

IUX offers a total 230+ various instruments in different asset classes for trading including Forex, Stocks, Indices, Commodities and Cryptocurrencies.

The complete list of IUX’s product offering:

The broker offers regular number of instruments but is lower than industry leaders who offer thousands of products. Besides, the number of offered instruments depend on the account jurisdiction.

Trading Conditions

The trading conditions at IUX are quite good. Traders can execute majority of trading strategies as the broker allows strategies like scalping and auto trading, also Expert Advisors (EAs) or Robot Trading is available on MT5 platform.

However, there are some restrictions to use Hedging and Arbitraging.

Leverage

IUX offers traders various leverage levels depending on the instrument with a maximum of 1:3000 which is a high leverage.

Traders are allowed to change account leverage levels after registration, traders of STandard+ account may use maximum of 1:1000 leverage.

Leverages offered by IUX on various asset classes are detailed below and depend on the entity you trade or account type you use:

Bonus

IUX offers various bonuses and deposit bonus on time basis, conditions based on the amount deposited and account type you select. Typically there are two types of bonuses offered you can open a Standard account for a deposit credit of 35% up to $300 and a 25% deposit credit up to $3,000.

IUX Platform

IUX offers various platforms as trading software available on the web, desktop, and mobile. These are the following trading platforms:

• MetaTrader 5 and MetaTrader5 WebTerminal
• IUX Web Trade (IUX proprietary platform)
• IUX App Trade

MetaTrader 5 is third-party trading platform developed by MetaQuotes Software and is among top used platforms in industry with quality charts.

We found the provided MT5 and WebTrade platforms to be well suited to all types of traders with good charts and numerous functions

Research and Tools

IUX offers some market research and analysis tools. Analysis tools provided with TradingView cooperation, but limited to 3 main tools only.

Some of the key tools offered by the broker are: 

• Good charting tools
• Economic calendar
• VPS for forex trading
• Market Screener, Heat Map and Trending Technical Analysis
• Newsfeed

IUX broker’s research offering was quite basic in our test. There are only few extra tools provided compared to industry leaders that provide numerous tools and Market Tool with great research, apart from the standard MT5 tools which are good, .

Education

IUX offers basic educational resources. Its provided articles cover some trading basics, Copy Trading and Investing Articles.

The broker also has only one Learning Course – Welcome to Investing completed with 7 Trading Education Video.

Based on our Test IUX Education is rather basic compared to industry leaders. Complete Trading Beginners better look for more detailed education or Trading Courses

Customer Service

IUX provides excellent customer support.

Traders can contact the broker via:

• Live chat 
• email
• Phone

The support staff is available 24/7 and supporting numerous languages.

Our experience with IUX customer support was excellent.

The support staff on live chat answered instantly, also Chat has a Bot answers with detailed FAQ section for frequently faced issues.

Conclusion

Our overall experience with IUX was good.

IUX Review found Broker offers a decent trading conditions with good number of currency pairs and forex spreads below or on average industry benchmark. 

Our experience with account opening, deposits, and withdrawals were also smooth and without any issues. The customer support is excellent, we recommend you approach the support team over live chat.

The only lower than industry offering we would mark Education and Research quality, also instruments range is lower than thousands of instruments provided by Market leaders.

We recommend IUX to forex traders who prefer MT5 platoform run strategies like scalping and Auto Trading

We recommend IUX for traders who are

• Experienced traders
• Auto Traders and Scalping Startegy
• Trading through MT5
• Traders who look for low minimum deposit
• International Traders
• Traders from Australia

IUX might not be a fit if you are

• Real Stock / Futures Trading
• Run Hedging Strategy
• Looking for wider instrument range
• Prefer other platforms like MT4, cTrader, NinjaTrader
• Complete Beginning Traders

For this FXRoad review, we opened a live account and deposited over €3,000.

We traded instrument in each market to understand the actual spreads and placed 10 trades in total.

We reached out to the broker’s customer support team to resolve the issues we faced.

Finally, we withdrew our funds to check whether the withdrawal process was smooth.

What is FXRoad

FXRoad is a Seychell-based global Forex and CFDs broker established.

The broker is licensed in Seychelles and has quite a good reputation of operation.

FXRoad offers over 350 instruments including Forex, Indices, Stocks, Commodities and Cryptocurrencies, which is a regular proposal compared to the industry leaders.

Here’s a summary of FXRoad’s main features:

Licenses and Regulations

FXRoad is licensed only by 1 regulator, in fact offshore Seychelles by the Financial Services Authority (FSA).

However, due to only one license Residents from some countries are restricted from trading with FXRoad, these includes: EU Traders, US, Canada, Sudan among others.

Here’s a full list of the licenses held by FXRoad’s subsidiaries:

Is FXRoad Safe

FXRoad is considered safe to trade. The broker has good reputation over years it operate.

The Broker is registered only by offshore regulator, which on its own does not provide top-tier trading experience like other regulator Broker have.

FxRoad segregates company funds from traders accounts and does not offers deposit compensation to eligible clients if the broker becomes insolvent.

We had a smooth experience when trading with FXRoad.

For this review, we opened an Silver Account with FxRoad Limited, regulated by the Seychelles (FSA).

Fees and Commissions

FXRoad charges quite low fees for trading the assets in its proposal. The fees we got for trading Forex pairs, indices, stocks, and commodities were lower than industry averages.

In fact, all fees were lower than industry average which is impressive.

Spread Charged in our Trades

For our tests, we traded the most popular instrument in each Asset Group. We placed 3 trades per instrument to get an accurate estimate of the average spread. We tested Silver Account, which has all fee charges built into a spread on all instruments.

We executed all our trades via the FXRoad iOS App on our iPhone.

Comparing the spreads charged on our trades to the industry averages showed that the broker’s spreads on all instruments were slightly higher than industry benchmarks on Silver account. Yet, Platinum account spreads are better and within industry averages

Other fees

FXRoad does not charge any other non-trading fees, such as deposit or withdrawal fees or inactivity fees.

Account Types

FXRoad has 3 main account types with main difference on fees charged. These Accounts categorized as Silver, Gold and Platinum.

Details of Account types and differences are outlined below:

FXRoad offers Islamic Accounts with no Swaps to clients of the Muslim faith only. Such accounts do not impose swap fee or rollover for positions held overnight.

For our tests, we chose to open Silver Account.

FXRoad Login

FXRoad account opening was quick and easy to follow. We went through the entire registration process and completed it online.

Here are 5 main steps to opening an FXRoad account:

1. Enter your full name, email, password, phone number and country
2. Provide your date of birth, address, nationality, passport number
3. Answer questions regarding your trading experience
4. Choose your mode Virtual or Real, trading platform, account type and currency.
5. Lastly, provide details about your employment status, annual income, net worth, liquid assets, and expected deposit in USD.

The registration process took 13 minutes only, and our account was approved in 2 working days.

We opened Silver account with 4 Square SY Limited, which is regulated by the FSA Seychelles for this test.

Deposit and Withdrawal

FXRoad supports fast deposits and withdrawals, mainly using most common methods. Traders can deposit and withdraw from their accounts via bank transfers, credit and debit cards, and some e-wallets.

The broker does not charge for money adding or withdrawals, yet some fees imposed by your payment provider might be applicable.

FXRoad Minimum Deposit

FXRoads set minimum deposit requirement of US$250 for first grade account – Silver. Higher account types will require 5k$ and 20k$ respectively, which is considered quite high compared to industry piers.

FXRoad Deposit

FXRoad clients can deposit funds into trading accounts using bank transfer, debit and credit cards, ApplePay or GoooglePay, some e-wallets are supported too.

None of the supported methods attract charges from the Broker.

The broker processed our deposit quickly and with zero fees.

FXRoad Withdrawal

FXRoad allows clients to make withdrawals using same payment method available for deposits. There is a minimum amount for withdrawal set to 50$ per request.

FXRoad does not charge a fee on withdrawals.

We did not face any challenges when withdrawing our funds.

Markets and Products

FXRoad offers in total 350 various instruments in different asset classes for trading inlcuding Forex, indices, stocks, ETFs, Commodities and Cryptocurrencies markets.

Here’s the complete list of FXRoad’s product offering:

The broker offers quite a decent number of tradable instruments, but is below industry leaders who offer thousands of products.

Trading Conditions

The trading conditions at FXRoad are quite good. Traders can execute majority of trading strategies as the broker allows strategies such as hedging and scalping.

Yet, since there is no MT4 or MT5 platform offered there is no support for auto trading via Expert Advisors (EAs) or Robot Trading available.

There are no time limits for how long traders can keep their hedging positions open.

Leverage

FXRoad offers traders various leverage levels depending on the instrument with the maximum of 1:200 considered high leverage.

Traders are allowed to change accountt leverage levels after registration.

The table below shows the Different leverage levels available:

Bonus

FXRoad offers various bonuses and deposit bonus on time basis, conditions based on the amount deposited and volumes trades, so clients need to check resent conditions to see weather to qualify for the promotion.

FXRoad Platform

FXRoad has a proprietary platform based on Web known as WebTrader. The platforms offers low latency bridging and using Tier1 liquidity providers for Market execution. Clients can access the platform via Web, Desktop, Mac and mobile applications.

The broker does not offer any other platform or popular MetaTrader 4 (MT4) platform, which is rather a drawback compared to industry offering.

FXRoad App

WebTrader platform is the only option offered by FXRoad, it is easy to access and navigate platform, features clear charts using TradingView and numerous functions, including indicators, news. The platform for higher accounts also provides News Alerts and Dedicated Support.

We found the WebTrader platform to be well suited to all types of traders, yet might be less comprehensive compared to full Desktop version and industry popular software.

Research and Tools

FXRoad does not provide proper market research, all the data and tools are provided on platform as per Broker cooperation with TradingView. So it gives some market analysis, including custom charts, indicators, and top-tier instruments via its partnership.

Traders of higher-grade accounts also have access to videos and held webinars, apart from that no more economic data or tools are provided, which is rather poor compared to industry leaders that provide numerous tools and support with great research.

FXRoad broker’s research offering was quite underwhelming in our test.

Education

FXRoad does not offer proper education, beginners trading courses or any other learning resources to its clients.

The only available features include so called Webinars and Videos available for account holders of Gold and Silver. Yet, since those accounts available with quite high deposit requirements from 5k$ it is rather a drawback from the Broker since no tools or education available for traders.

Complete Trading Beginners better look for education or video providers if still choose trading with FXRoad.

Customer Service

FXRoad’s customer service team was helpful we got detailed and accurate answers to our questions. We contacted support via live chat and asked them whether they charge any deposit and withdrawal fees.

We received a response after 1h from the agent in Live Chat since they mentioned we contacted them outside working hours, which is weird since it is mentioned Support is available 24/5 and we contact support on Tuesday, suppose to be available.

The answer for our request via Live Chat however, was accurate, mentioned – no fees charged for deposits and withdrawals from the Broker side, yet fees from the service provider himself may arise.

Here are the results of our test below:

Conclusion

Overall, we had a smooth experience with FXRoad from the account opening, to the deposit and trading processes.

Live chat support was quite a disappointment since no agents were available for our test, even Broker promised to be available 24h during working days. Yet, replies came with complete answers, so we recommend traders use Live Chat to contact the broker’s team or write an email.

We tested Silver account for our FXRoad review, found fees are slightly higher to industry averages, yet higher accounts fees are more favorable but require quite high deposit.

Tradable instruments were fair presented, still limited compared to the leading brokers offering thousands of instruments. FXRoad offers only WebTrader Platform and provide almost none or minimum of research or education materials, which makes Broker not so suitable for beginners.

We recommend FXRoad to mainly experienced traders, traders with higher deposits for better fees and offering, and those who are ok to use only WebTrader platform

We recommend FXRoad for traders who are

• Experienced traders
• Rut Hedging Strategy
• Traders with Higher Deposits
• Trading through WebTrader

FXRoad might not be a fit if you are

• Real Stock / Futures Trading
• Looking for wide instrument range
• Prefer other platforms like MT4, cTrader, NinjaTrader
• Beginning Traders
• Traders looking for lowest spreads on First grade accounts

For this ICM Capital review, we opened a live account and deposited over €5,000.

We traded the popular instrument in each market to discover the actual spreads and placed 12 trades in total.

We reached out to the broker’s customer support team to resolve the challenges we faced.

Finally, we withdrew our funds to determine whether the withdrawal process was smooth.

What is ICM Capital

ICM Capital is a global Forex and CFDs broker established in 2009 with its headquarters in London, United Kingdom.

The broker is licensed in the United Kingdom, Cyprus, Malaysia, St Vincent and the Grenadines, and Mauritius.

ICM Capital offers over 140 tradable instruments in the Forex, indices, stocks and commodities categories, which is not much compared to the industry leaders.

Here’s a summary of ICM Capital’s main features:

Licenses and Regulations

ICM Capital is licensed by 5 global regulators, including the top-tier UK Financial Conduct Authority (FCA), Cyprus Securities and Exchange Commission (CySEC), and Malaysia’s Labuan Financial Services Authority (LFSA).

The broker is also regulated in St Vincent and the Grenadines and by Mauritius Financial Services Commission (FSC).

Here’s a full list of the licenses held by ICM Capital’s subsidiaries:

Is ICM Capital Safe

Yes, ICM Capital is safe to trade. The broker is the top-tier FCA (UK Financial Conduct Authority) regulated, which has strict rules and enforcement procedures.

The UK’s FCA guarantees investors’ deposit compensation of up to £85,000 if the broker goes bankrupt.

The broker is also licensed by the Cyprus Securities and Exchange Commission (CySEC), which offers deposit compensation of up to €20,000 to eligible clients if the broker becomes insolvent.

We had a smooth experience when trading with ICM Capital.

For this review, we opened an MT4 ICM Direct account with ICM Capital Limited, regulated by the UK’s Financial Conduct Authority (FCA).

We recommend that you open your account with the UK or Cyprus entity if either is available to you.

Fees and Commissions

ICM Capital charges low fees for trading the main assets on offer. The fees charged for trading Forex pairs, indices, stocks, and commodities were lower than industry averages.

None of the broker’s average fees for the instruments tested was above industry benchmarks, which was impressive.

Spread Charged in our Trades

For our tests, we traded the most popular instrument in each segment. We placed 3 trades per instrument to get an accurate estimate of the average spread. We tested the MT4 ICM Direct Account, which charges a spread on all instruments.

We executed all our trades via the MetaTrader 4 mobile app on our iPhone.

Comparing the spreads charged in our trades to the industry averages showed that the broker’s spreads on all instruments were much lower than industry benchmarks.

Other fees

ICM Capital does not charge any other non-trading fees such as deposit and withdrawal fees or account inactivity fees.

Account Types

ICM Capital offers 2 account types with slight differences. These are the ICM Direct Account and the ICM Zero Account (spread from zero).

The differences are outlined below:

ICM Capital offers swap-free Islamic Accounts to clients of the Muslim faith only. Such accounts do not attract a swap fee or rollover interest for positions held overnight in line with Sharia Law.

For our tests, we chose to open an MT4 ICM Direct Account.

ICM Capital Login

ICM Capital account opening was quick and straightforward. We went through the entire process and completed it online.

Here are the 5 steps to opening an ICM Capital account:

1. Enter your full names, email, password, phone number, country and preferred language.
2. Provide your date of birth, home address, nationality, passport number and clarify if you are a US citizen.
3. Answer questions regarding your trading experience if you have ever traded forex and futures including your years of experience and transactions made in the last two years.
4. Confirm if you have ever worked in the financial services sector and choose your trading platform, account type and currency.
5. Lastly, provide details about your employment status, annual income, net worth, liquid assets, and expected deposit in USD.

The registration process took 8 minutes only, and our account was approved in 3 working days.

We opened the account on 9 April 2023, and it was approved on 13 April 2023.

We provided front and back pictures of our ID to verify our identity and a utility bill to confirm our home address.

We opened an MT4 ICM Direct account with ICM Capital Limited, which is regulated by the UK’s Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) for this test.

Deposit and Withdrawal

ICM Capital offers fast deposits and withdrawals. Traders can deposit and withdraw from their accounts via bank transfers, credit and debit cards, and e-wallets such as Skrill, Neteller, and PayPal.

The broker charges different fees for each deposit method but does not charge fees on withdrawals, which is not very common in the industry.

ICM Capital Minimum Deposit

ICM Capital has a minimum deposit requirement of US$200 or its equivalent on all account types.

ICM Deposit

ICM Capital’s clients can deposit funds into their trading accounts via bank transfers, debit and credit cards, and e-wallets such as Skrill, PayPal, and Neteller.

Credit/debit card deposits of $200 and above do not attract charges, which is the minimum amount you can deposit using this method.

Bank Transfers, Skrill, Neteller, and PayPal deposits above USD 500 or its equivalent also do not attract charges.

Skrill deposits below USD 500 attract a transaction fee of $0.32, a receive money fee of 1.9%, and a country surcharge fee of 1%.

Neteller deposits below USD 500 attract a 2.5% fee, or a minimum $1 fee, combined with a $0.29 transaction fee and a country surcharge fee of $1.

PayPal deposits below USD 500 have a transaction fee of 3.75% combined with a fixed currency fee of GBP 0.20/ EUR 0.35/ USD 0.30.

The table below shows the details of our deposits:

The broker processed our deposits quickly and with zero fees because we deposited amounts above the levels that attract fees. We did not test the bank wire and credit card options.

Our Credit card transaction was rejected, but ICM Capital advised us to contact our bank because the broker did not reject the transaction.

ICM Withdrawal

ICM Capital allows its clients to make withdrawals via the same payment methods available for deposits making it easy for investors to access their funds.

ICM Capital does not charge a fee on withdrawals.

We did not face any challenges when withdrawing our funds.

Markets and Products

ICM Capital offers various tradable instruments in the Forex, indices, stocks, and commodities markets.

Here’s the complete list of ICM Capital’s product offering:

The broker offers a decent number of tradable instruments but is way below industry leaders who offer thousands of products.

Trading Conditions

The trading conditions at ICM Capital are great. Traders can execute most trading strategies as the broker allows high-risk strategies such as hedging and scalping.

ICM Capital also allows traders to run automated strategies powered by Expert Advisors (EAs).

There are no time limits for how long traders can keep their hedging positions open.

*Traders can request to change leverage by sending an email to their customer support.

Leverage

ICM Capital offers its clients various leverage levels depending on the entity under which their account is registered. For non-EU entities, ICM Capital offers high leverage up to 500:1 and 2000:1.

Traders are allowed to change their account’s leverage levels after registration.

The table below shows the different leverage levels available to clients:

Bonus

ICM Capital offers a 10% deposit bonus to its clients up to a maximum of $1,000. Traders should deposit a minimum of $2,000 to qualify for the promotion.

Traders can only withdraw the bonus after trading a specific number of lots depending on the bonus amount.*

*Credit bonus / 5 = no of lots traded.

ICM Trading Platform

ICM Capital has a proprietary platform known as ICM Direct, which uses ECN technology to provide customers with direct market access, with liquidity from major Tier 1 banks and top liquidity providers. The platform also offers low latency bridging with the MetaTrader 4 platform.

The broker also offers the popular MetaTrader 4 (MT4) platform. Clients can access the platform via desktop, Mac and mobile applications.

ICM Capital MT4

The MT4 platform was our preferred choice because of its advanced functions, including 2,000 free custom indicators combined with 30 in-built indicators. The platform also has 24 inbuilt analytical objects used to predict future price movements.

We found the MetaTrader 4 platform to be best suited to all types of traders including manual traders and those who use automated strategies.

Research and Tools

ICM Capital provides market research via its partnership with Trading Central giving its clients access to live technical analysis that provides real-time trade opportunities.

Traders also have access to short market news pieces that summarise the price action of different assets. The pieces are short and could be more detailed.

The broker provides an economic calendar on its website under the ‘Trading tools’ tab but does not provide historical data. Traders can track various economic releases and plan their trading activities accordingly.

The broker’s research offering was quite underwhelming.

Education

ICM Capital offers several learning resources to its clients. The broker has an ‘Introduction to Forex’ course covering the basics of Forex trading, including how the financial markets work.

The course is found in the resources section of its website, but it could have been more detailed.

The broker also provides a trading glossary with definitions of key trading terms. The list could have covered more topics.

ICM Capital also has a section on trading rules that delves into the details of actual trading, including how to calculate profits and losses, contract sizes, and pip values, among others. We found this section very useful.

Customer Service

ICM Capital’s customer service team was helpful and gave us detailed and accurate answers to our questions. We first contacted the team via live chat and asked them whether they charge any deposit and withdrawal fees.

We received a fast response from the agent, saying that there are no charges for credit card deposits over 200 USD or equivalent in other currencies, which is also the minimum deposit. For Bank Transfer, Skrill. Neteller and PayPal, there are no charges for deposits over 500 USD or their equivalent.

You can also reach ICM Capital’s customer service team via email. We sent the team an email asking several general questions, including the minimum deposit, whether they charge any deposit and withdrawal fees, the licenses that ICM Capital holds, and whether they allow hedging, scalping and change of leverage.

We got a detailed response in one working day, clarifying that the minimum deposit for both ICM Direct & ICM Zero is 200 USD or equivalent in other currencies.

ICM Capital does not charge any fees on deposits and withdrawals. However, the broker waives the transfer fees for any Credit/Debit card deposit over USD 200.00 and deposits over USD 500 for other payment methods.

Here are the results of our test below:

Conclusion

Overall, we had a smooth experience with ICM Capital from the account opening, to the deposit and trading processes.

Both the live chat and email support replies were fast and came with complete answers. We recommend traders use both methods to contact the broker’s team.

We deposited over 500 EUR for each of the tested payment methods, so there were no charges on our deposits. ICMCapital review found fees are normally passed on for deposits below EUR 500. Our debit card deposit was declined which we didn’t expect, and their support team suggested we contact our bank to investigate as their team didn’t reject our debit card deposit.

All our deposits weren’t instant; it took approximately 40 min for ICM Capital to credit all our deposits into our trading account. Withdrawals via Neteller, Paypal and Skrill, were fast. It took us less than 1 working day to receive all the withdrawn funds.

Tradable instruments were limited compared to the leading brokers. ICM Capital offers most of the popular instruments but only offers the MT4 trading platform.

We also recommend ICM Capital to all traders, from beginners to advanced traders.

We recommend ICM Capital for traders who are

• Experienced traders
• Beginners
• Run Scalping
• Hedging
• EAs trading
• Trading through MT4

ICM Capital might not be a fit if you are

• Real Stock / Futures Trading
• Looking for wide instrument range
• Prefer other platforms rather than MT4

For this Darwinex review, we opened a live account and deposited over €5,000.

We traded the popular instrument in each market to determine the actual spreads and placed 12 trades in total.

We reached out to the broker’s customer service team to resolve the issues we faced.

Finally, we withdrew our funds to assess if the withdrawal process was smooth.

What is Darwinex

Darwinex is a global Forex and CFDs broker founded in 2012 as Tradeslide Trading Tech, a provider of trading technologies. Two years later, the company rebranded to Darwinex, an FCA-regulated Forex and CFD broker.

The broker is licensed in the United Kingdom by the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA). In July 2023, Darwinex obtained Spain’s CNMV license as a part of its post-Brexit part.

Darwinex offers hundreds of instruments to traders in the following categories, Forex pairs, indices, stocks, and commodities.

The broker offers 287 tradable instruments, which is not a lot compared to some of its peers.

Here’s a summary of Darwinex’s main features:

Licenses and Regulations

Darwinex is licensed by two global regulators: the tier-1 UK Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) and tier-2 Spain’s Comisión Nacional del Mercado de Valores (CNMV).

Here are the details of Darwinex’s sole UK license.

Is Darwinex Safe

Yes, Darwinex is safe to trade. The broker is regulated by the top-tier UK Financial Conduct Authority (FCA), which has strict rules and enforcement procedures.

The UK’s FCA guarantees investors’ deposit compensation of up to £85,000 if the broker declares bankruptcy. The broker has gone a step further to get free supplementary insurance covering eligible clients for up to £1,000,000. Spain’s CNMV in its turn guarantees deposit compensation of €20,000 in case the client goes insolvent.

For this review, we opened an MT5 Standard CFD account and an Mt5 standard stock account with Tradeslide Trading Tech Limited, regulated by the UK’s Financial Conduct Authority (FCA). We deposited funds into the account, placed trades, and finally withdrew our funds.

Fees and Commissions

Darwinex charges low fees for trading most of the main instruments on offer, including Forex pairs, indices, and commodities.

However, the broker’s average spreads for trading stocks were much higher than the industry benchmark.

The broker charges low spreads because it charges a commission on all trades, making its fees much higher than other brokers.

Spread Charged in our Trades

For our tests, we traded the most popular instrument in each market. We executed 3 trades for each instrument to get an accurate estimate of the average spread. We tested Darwinex’s MT5 Standard CFD and stock accounts, which charges a spread and commission on all instruments.

We executed all our trades via the MetaTrader 5 mobile app on our iPhone.

A deeper analysis of the spreads charged in our trades revealed that most of the spreads were lower than industry averages. But the broker’s fees were higher because of the additional commissions charged on each trade.

Other fees

Darwinex does not charge other non-trading fees. However, investors pay a 1.2% annual commission on invested equity for using the broker’s copy-trading feature known as a DARWIN. Investors pay a 20% performance fee if they make money with a Darwin strategy, with strategy providers earning 15% and Darwinex taking the remaining 5%.

Darwinex Account Types

Darwinex offers only 1 account type. The account is known as the standard account and is offered on the MetaTrader 4 and MetaTrader 5 platforms.

Here are its features:

Darwinex does not offer (Swap-free) Islamic Accounts.

For our tests, we opened an MT5 standard CFD account and an MT5 standard stock account with Tradeslide Trading Tech Limited, which is regulated by the UK’s Financial Conduct Authority (FCA).

Account Opening

Darwinex account opening is fast and efficient. We completed the entire process digitally within 10 minutes.

Here are the 5 steps to opening a Darwinex account:

1. Select your trading platform, choose a name for your account, your account currency and deposit amount.
2. Enter your username, email and password and choose whether to open an individual or corporate live account.
3. Provide your title, full name, date of birth, nationality, country of birth, phone number and residential address, including postcode, City/Town, State/Province, and Country of Residence.
4. Enter your tax details, current employment status, the value of your savings and liquid investments, and how much you plan to invest.
5. Do you have an account with another broker and how frequently did you trade in the past 3 years?

The registration process took only 10 minutes, and our trading account was approved in one working day.

We registered the account on 26 March 2023, and it was approved on 29 March 2023.

For this test, we opened the MT5 standard CFD account and an MT5 standard stock account.

Deposit and Withdrawal

Darwinex offers fast deposits and withdrawals. Traders can use bank transfers, credit and debit cards, and e-wallets such as Skrill and Trustly to deposit and withdraw funds from their accounts.

However, Darwinex charges a 0.5% fee on Skrill deposits and is one of the few brokers that charge a fee on deposits.

Darwinex Minimum Deposit

Darwinex has a minimum deposit requirement of $/€/£ 500 on its live accounts. Traders should make the next deposits in multiples of 100, as the broker will reject other figures.

Deposit

Darwinex’s clients can deposit funds into their trading accounts via bank transfers, debit/credit cards, and e-wallets such as Skrill and Trustly.

Skrill deposits attract a 0.5% fee.

The table below shows the details of our deposits:

Darwinex processes debit/credit card deposits instantly, while Trustly payments are processed in 1 day. Bank transfers may take up to 3 days to appear in your trading account.

Withdrawal

Darwinex does not charge a fee on withdrawals but passes on all associated costs to its clients. Therefore, traders end up paying varying fees on their withdrawals, which was unexpected.

Most brokers charge a fixed fee on withdrawals instead of passing on the merchant fees to their clients.

Hence, each withdrawal at Darwinex attracts a different fee based on the amount withdrawn and the percentage fees charged by the payments company.

Darwinex allows traders to make withdrawals using the same payment methods available for deposits.

We did not encounter any difficulties during the withdrawal process and received our funds within a maximum of two working days.

Markets and Products

Darwinex offers a variety of tradable instruments in the Forex, indices, stocks, and commodities markets.

Here’s the complete list of Darwinex’s product offerings:

The broker offers a limited number of instruments to its clients compared to the leading brokers.

Trading Conditions

The trading conditions at Darwinex are good. Traders can execute most trading strategies since the broker allows high-risk strategies such as hedging and scalping.

Traders can keep their hedging positions open for as long as they want. Darwinex also allows traders to use Expert Advisors (EAs).

Traders cannot change their account’s leverage level after opening the account.

Darwinex Leverage

Darwinex clients have access to standard leverage levels in line with the European Securities and Markets Authority (ESMA) regulations regarding leverage levels offered to retail traders based in the EU.

However, professional traders can access higher trading leverage levels, but they lose out on ESMA protections.

The table below shows the different leverage levels available to clients:

Bonus

Darwinex does not offer a bonus program to its clients.

Trading Platform

Darwinex offers traders a proprietary FIX API trading platform developed by Darwinex Labs ( its Quant team) that is specifically used for copy trading. The API software is used for copy-trading DARWIN assets on the broker’s proprietary marketplace known as the DARWIN exchange.

Investors can use the DARWIN API to buy and sell winning strategies created by professional traders and hosted on the DARWIN exchange.

Darwinex MT4 MT5

The broker also offers the MetaTrader 4 and 5 platforms for traders who want to trade their independent strategies. The MT4 platform offers traders a wide range of analytical tools and indicators, while the MT5 has additional features that deliver a better trading experience.

Darwinex further offers tools for automated trading in the form of auxiliary libraries that can be added to the MetaTrader and DARWIN platforms. These tools include ZeroMQ to MetaTrader and Zorro to MetaTrader bridging solutions.

Traders who prefer to copy the strategies developed by professionals will be at home on the DARWIN proprietary marketplace, while self-directed traders have to use the MT4 and MT5 platforms.

We found the MT5 platform to be great for traders who prefer to trade the popular MetaTrader platforms.

Research and Tools

Darwinex provides its clients who use its copy-trading platforms excellent research tools to sift through the over 2000 strategies (Darwins) and find the ones that fit their investor profile.

Traders can use the broker’s marketplace to research the performance rankings of each Darwin based on criteria such as the Darwinex score (D-score) to identify the best-performing strategies.

Darwinex provides little in the form of traditional market research for self-directed traders except for occasional news articles on its blog.

The broker also offers a community forum where traders can discuss trending topics and learn from each other.

Education

Darwinex offers minimal education in the form of training videos and tutorials. These are found within its proprietary trading platform.

Customer Service

Darwinex’s customer service team was helpful and gave us direct answers to our questions. However, the broker does not offer support via live chat, unlike most brokers.

You can reach Darwinex’s customer service team via email. The customer service team answered our email query within 10 hours, which was okay.

Here are the results of our test below:

Conclusion

In summary, we had a positive experience with Darwinex starting from the account opening to the deposit, trading and withdrawal processes.

We had to open an MT5 standard CFD account and an MT5 stock account to get access to Forex pairs and stock CFDs, which were limited in number. The broker charges low fees on Forex, indices and commodities trades, while its fees for stock trades were higher than industry averages.

Darwinex offers instant deposits and a user-friendly client portal. However, Skrill deposits attract a 0.5% fee, hence, we recommend traders use credit/debit cards to deposit.

The broker passes on the fees charged by payment processors to its clients when processing withdrawals. Therefore, card withdrawals attract a 1.2% fee, Trustly bank transfers attract a €/£3.5 fee, while Skrill withdrawals attract a 1.2% fee.

Darwinex does not offer support via live chat, which is inconvenient when one needs a quick reply to a query. The broker’s email responses were not as fast as some of its peers.

We recommend Darwinex to traders who want to copy strategies developed by other successful traders. Traders who run scalping, hedging and automated strategies will also feel at home with this broker.

We recommend Darwinex for traders who are

• Experienced traders
• Run Scalping
• Hedging
• EAs trading
• Copy Trading
• Trading through MT4

Darwinex might not be a fit if you are

• Beginners
• Real Stock / Futures Trading
• Commission based trading
• Looking for a wide instrument range
• Prefer other platforms rather than MT4