category: Unregulated Brokers

Is KapitalSwiss Scam or Legit Broker?

KapitalSwiss is not a secure Forex broker since it does not hold a license from any worldwide serious Forex authority. Meaning the broker is suspected of being a fraud company since it was not checked for its compliance before establishment, was never monitored in terms of its safety, and simply may operate the business in any way it wishes.

What is KapitalSwiss?

KapitalSwiss is a social trading and Investing company that offers Forex and CFDs trading. The broker is owned and operated by Orion International Limited. The company claims to be based in Germany, however, they don't provide any regulatory information, so probably the company is not overseen by any authority. Also, we have checked some details about the company behind the brand name, Orion International Limited, and it turned out the company has been blacklisted by the UK's Financial Conduct Authority.

"We believe this firm has been providing financial services or products in the UK without our authorization."

• The terms and conditions on the website state that KapitalSwiss is under the jurisdiction of Cyprus, but we didn't find any proof of it in the regulator's register. Therefore, no regulatory body is acting as a watchdog overseeing that they comply with best practices in the financial market.
• Broker's website supports English, Italian, and German languages which means the company has been targeting residents of the mentioned countries without being authorized there.

KapitalSwiss Review Conclusion

In order to prevent being scammed by such companies as KapitalSwiss, it is better to deal only with reliable and well-regulated entities. For example, those who want to choose an EU-regulated broker should check the lists of the companies regulated by the FCA, FINMA, or Cyprus. These agencies have a set of requirements for financial services providers and see to their compliance. They aim to protect clients' interests and funds. Check the list of the CySEC-regulated brokers here. To succeed in trading, it is always recommended to choose a reputable firm with good standing and favorable conditions, such as FXTM or XM.

KapitalSwiss Update

Based on our research, the KapitalSwiss website is inactive. This means the broker has muted its trading offering and does not operate. However, we recommend avoiding and staying alert in case of any proposals. 

Is ZonggangCaifu Scam or Legit Broker?

ZonggangCaifu is not a secure Forex broker since it does not hold a license from any worldwide serious Forex authority. Meaning the broker is suspected of being a fraud company since it was not checked for its compliance before establishment, was never monitored in terms of its safety, and simply may operate the business in any way it wishes.

What is ZonggangCaifu?

ZonggangCaifu is a Forex and CFDs broker. The company is owned and operated by Zongangguoxin Group Limited and claims to have offices in Hong Kong, the UK, and the USA.

• According to the broker's website, it is regulated by multiple authorities in different countries: Australian Securities & Investment Commission (ASIC), the Securities and Futures Commission of Hong Kong (SFC), China Banking Regulatory Commission (CBRC) and New Zealand's Financial Markets Authority (FMA). However, we have checked the information about all these licenses and it turned out ZonggangCaifu is not regulated by any regulator.
• Moreover, New Zealand's FMA has issued a warning against ZonggangCaifu:
  "ZonggangCaifu is not registered, licensed, or regulated in New Zealand as claimed on its websites. The financial service provider registration numbers FSP1782, FSP1762, FSP488226, and FSP536586 displayed on ZonggangCaifu’s websites belong to the KVB Kunlun group of companies. KVB Kunlun is NOT affiliated with ZonggangCaifu and its websites. ZonggangCaifu could be involved in a scam."
  Also, there is a warning from the Securities and Futures Commission of Hong Kong:
  "The above Hong Kong address belongs to a secretarial company. Suspicious website operators often use names similar to legitimate companies to confuse investors."

ZonggangCaifu Review Conclusion

To sum up, ZonggangCaifu is an unregulated forex broker and it is the biggest concern as the lack of license adds additional risk to forex trading ( Check top 10 forex brokers in the world). On the other hand, those brokers regulated by reputable authorities have to follow a lot of rules that are made to protect clients.

Here are some reliable regulators: UK’s FCA, the Cyprus Securities and Exchange Commission (CySEC), and the Australian Securities and Investments Commission (ASIC). Always make your own research before signing with a broker, and pick a tightly regulated broker such as FXTM and XM. 

ZonggangCaifu Update

Based on our research, the ZonggangCaifu website is inactive. This means the broker has muted its trading offering and does not operate. However, we recommend avoiding and staying alert in case of any proposals. 

Is Phy Capital Investments Scam or Legit Broker?

It is not safe to trade with Phy Capital Investments. The company claims to be owned and operated by Direct Trading Technologies Limited. According to the website, the broker is based and regulated in New Zealand.

• However, the broker doesn't provide its registration number, instead, it only tells about the purposes and advantages of being a New Zealand Financial Services Provider. It doesn't seem like the broker is actually regulated. In addition, we have found a company Direct Trading Technologies Limited that is licensed and regulated by the UK's FCA and New Zealand's FMA, however, this company is not associated with Phy Capital Investments Limited.

What is Phy Capital Investments?

Phy Capital Investments Limited is a broker that offers Forex, CFDs, indices, and metals trading.

The broker does not seem to be regulated. Phy Capital Investments Limited has been using the address details of the regulated Direct Trading Technologies Limited, which only proves that the broker is a clone of a legit company. It is a popular tactic among scam companies that use the regulation/address/names of the licensed companies in order to get people's trust and make them invest.

• Moreover, Phy Capital Investments has recently been blacklisted by the Securities & Futures Commission of Hong Kong:
  "The company’s address belongs to a secretarial company. Note: Unlicensed entities often use names similar to legitimate companies to confuse investors."

• The pages and official sources of the international regulators’ list alert are shared with the authority directly or by other countries’ supervisory bodies or transmitted centrally. Those tools and the general purpose of the regulatory bodies operate in order to enable stability of the market offerings, protect clients from potential and numerous frauds, enable reliability rules to financial service entities, and more.

Phy Capital Investments Review Conclusion

To sum up, all the mentioned facts show that Phy Capital Investments Limited cannot be trusted and might be one more fraud company. Instead, we advise all investors and traders to avoid Phy Capital Investments Limited and other unregulated brokers. The lack of information about the broker’s regulations, trading conditions, and contact details should be the biggest red flag for those who plan to invest with the entity. Usually, such companies run investment scams.

Traders should trade with well-regulated brokers such as UK brokers or brokers in Australia and reliable brokers such as Alpari and XM.

Phy Capital Investments Update

Based on our research, the Phy Capital Investments Limited website is inactive. This means the broker has muted its trading offering and does not operate. However, we recommend avoiding and staying alert in case of any proposals. 

Is eMarketsTrade Scam or Legit Broker?

It is not safe to trade with eMarketsTrade, because it is an unregulated broker. In addition, the company has been suspected to be a fraud. While we checked the company there is no authorization or registration of the address, therefore the company seems to be highly suspicious and might operate its services from an absolutely different location.

What is eMarketsTrade?

eMarketsTrade is a Forex, CFDs, and cryptocurrency broker. The company is owned and operated by Kalessica which claims to be located in Cyprus. According to the information on the website, the company is not just based in Cyprus, but it is also regulated there by the Cyprus Securities and Exchange Commission (CySEC) under registration number 380321. However, there is no such entity registered with the regulator.

• The broker provides different contact numbers with phone codes in the UK, Italy, and Germany. It usually means that the company is targeting residents of those countries, but eMarketsTrade is not authorized to provide financial services in any of the mentioned or other countries.

• Moreover, the UK's regulator Financial Conduct Authority has recently issued a warning against eMarketsTrade and Kalessica:
  "This firm (Kalessica t/a emarketstrade.com) is not authorized by us and is targeting people in the UK. Based upon the information we hold, we believe it is carrying on regulated activities which require authorization."

• The pages and official sources of the international regulators’ list alert are shared with the authority directly or by other countries’ supervisory bodies or transmitted centrally. Those tools and the general purpose of the regulatory bodies operate in order to enable stability of the market offerings, protect clients from potential and numerous frauds, enable reliability rules to financial service entities, and more. As eMarketsTrade got no license to operate within the EU and other regulated jurisdictions, the broker was blacklisted and alerted by the EU authority.

eMarketsTrade Review Conclusion

It is clear that traders should stay away from unregulated entities such as eMarketsTrade, especially when they use fake registration information to get clients' trust. We strongly advise you to deal only with financial firms that are authorized by reliable regulators like FCA in the UK or CySEC in Cyprus. Traders should trade with well-regulated brokers such as UK brokers or brokers in Australia and reliable brokers such as AvaTrade and XM.

eMarketsTrade Update

Based on our research, the eMarketsTrade website is inactive. This means the broker has muted its trading offering and does not operate. However, we recommend avoiding and staying alert in case of any proposals. 

Is Esplanade Market Solutions Scam or Legit Broker?

According to our research, Esplanade Market Solutions is a total scam. The broker is not regulated and has no legal right to provide financial services to the public. Moreover, Esplanade Market Solutions has been suspected of fraud, when pretending to be another company with a better reputation.

• The fact is that St. Vincent and the Grenadines is an offshore zone, which does register the financial investment firm, but provides very poor if none requirements for the company operation.

What is Esplanade Market Solutions?

Esplanade Market Solutions is a leading brokerage company that provides the broadest range of services and makes every effort to create a comfortable environment for online trading. The Esplanade states its address and registrar of International Business Companies, registered by the Financial Services Authority of Saint Vincent and the Grenadines. The brokers offer consistent access to trade financial instruments and derivatives on a range of assets, through constant support and lawless settlement.

• That means, the broker is not regulated, not overseen, and does not comply with strict international rules that provide protective measures to the traders. Therefore, it became an offshore zone for shady forex brokers such as CVC Markets, AAG Markets, and more. Read more about St. Vincent and the Grenadines regulation by the link.
• In addition, the Esplanade MS received a legal warning from a Bulgarian authority FSC while the broker was detected for its active offering toward residents without legal permission to do so. The pages and official sources of the international regulators’ list alert are shared with the authority directly or by other countries’ supervisory bodies or transmitted centrally. Those tools and the general purpose of the regulatory bodies operate in order to enable stability of the market offerings, protect clients from potential and numerous frauds, enable reliability rules to financial service entities, and more. As Esplanade got no license to operate within the EU and other regulated jurisdictions, the broker was blacklisted and alerted by the EU authority.

Overall Esplanade Market Solutions Ranking 

We found that Esplanade Market Solutions has multiple regulation and safety issues, thus we do not rank positively Esplanade Market Solutions, based on our Expert Opinion with over 10 Years of experience in Forex Trading.

• Esplanade Market Solutions Overall Ranking is 2 out of 10 based on our testing and compared to 500 other brokers, see Our Ranking below compared to other popular and industry Leading Brokers.

Esplanade Market Solutions Alternative Brokers

We revealed that Esplanade has a lot of issues when it comes to its safety and customer care. Thus, here are much better Alternatives to Esplanade with tight regulations and favorable trading conditions. We select Good Brokers and reliable options for your comparison below: 

• Dukascopy – Excellent for Shares, Futures Trading
• AvaTrade – Good Instrument and CopyTrading
• InteractiveBrokers – Good for US Trading and Trading of Real Stocks

Deposit & Withdrawal

At Esplanade, making deposits and withdrawals is simple and quick. The broker offers multiple funding options, including Bank wire transfers, Visa and Mastercard payment cards, bitcoin, etc. 

• Esplanade allows not more than 5 transactions per day
• There might be payment system restrictions if the e-wallet is not authorized.

Esplanade Market Solutions Review Conclusion

We constantly advise avoiding offshore and unregulated brokers at any cost. Funds safety always goes first, therefore protect yourself and do not engage in the highest risk trading with a non-regulated entity and better consider reputable firms from serious jurisdictions. Traders should trade with well-regulated brokers such as UK brokers or brokers in Australia and reliable brokers such as AvaTrade and XM.com.

• Overall ranking and experience for Esplanade is Negative

Is Admiral-Markets Scam or Legit Broker?

Admiral-Markets broker is a non-regulated Broker. It is NOT SAFE to trade with this company. We have checked the company and there is no authorization or registration of the address, therefore the company seems to be highly suspicious and might operate its services from an absolutely different location.

• Admiral-Markets is a company that claims its leading passions and the best way to access the global financial markets, trading and speculation on cryptocurrencies in particular. The broker, however, does not mention its registration address, or any regulatory status, or even provide legal data.

What is Admiral-Markets?

Admiral-Markets is a quite big trading name, known in markets and the trading industry, which in fact has nothing to do with a current website and offering. Actually, this is a typical tactic of the fraudulent company to take over a reputable name from a regulated and well-established broker, in return to mislead traders and attract possible investors. Specifically, Admiral-Markets.com misrepresent the truly regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority Admiral Market broker (check out reviews about Admiral Markets by the link).

• In addition, it has come to the attention of France's authority AMF that the broker offers the unsolicited trading capability to residents. An unregulated firm means that there is no adherence to requirements and laws, as well as non-compliance to basic investor protection rules, handling, and other obligations. Therefore, we always recommend choosing among the industry-leading and well-regulated Forex brokers to ensure a further positive experience while trading.

“The AMF regularly publishes the list of websites and entities offering in France, without having the right, investments in the foreign exchange market (Forex) and included admiral-market.com. Since the intermediary concerned does not appear on a register in the context of Forex or does not have a registration number for investment, do not respond to his solicitations. You would take the risk of choosing an intermediary who does not respect the basic rules of protection and good information of investors.”

AMF, France. November 2018.  

• The pages and official sources of the international regulators’ list alert are shared with the authority directly or by other countries’ supervisory bodies or transmitted centrally. Those tools and the general purpose of the regulatory bodies operate in order to enable stability of the market offerings, protect clients from potential and numerous frauds, enable reliability rules to financial service entities, and more. As Admiral-Markets got no license to operate within the EU and other regulated jurisdictions, the broker was blacklisted and alerted by the EU authority.

Admiral-Markets Review Conclusion

We advise all investors and traders to avoid Admiral-Markets and other unregulated brokers. The lack of information about the broker’s regulations, trading conditions, and contact details should be the biggest red flag for those who plan to invest with the entity. Usually, such companies run investment scams. Traders should trade with well-regulated brokers such as UK brokers or brokers in Australia and reliable brokers such as Alpari and XM.

Admiral-Markets Update

Based on our research, the Admiral-Markets website is inactive. This means the broker has muted its trading offering and does not operate. However, we recommend avoiding and staying alert in case of any proposals. 

Is Bex Options Scam or Legit Broker?

Bex Options is not a secure Forex broker since it does not hold a license from any worldwide serious Forex authority. Meaning the broker is suspected of being a fraud company since it was not checked for its compliance before establishment, was never monitored in terms of its safety, and simply may operate the business in any way it wishes.

What is Bex Options?

Bex Options is a broker that offers forex, cryptocurrencies, binary options (See Regulated Binary Options Brokers), and CFDs trading. The company is owned and operated by Bex Options Trade and Investment and claims to be located and regulated in the UK. They even provide the registration number with the UK's FCA on the website, however, the company is not regulated by the FCA or any other authority. The registration number belongs to another FCA-regulated company Bex Trading Limited that has no connection to Bex Options. It seems like the broker has been using the registration details of a legit company and has been deluding the traders. As a proof to this, there is a warning issued by the UK's Financial Conduct Authority stating:

"This firm is not authorised by us and is targeting people in the UK. Based upon the information we hold, we believe it is carrying on regulated activities which require authorisation. Please note that Bex Options and https://bexoptions.com/ is in no way connected to the registered company Bex Trading Limited (CRN: 09563470)"

Bex Options Review Conclusion

Most of the forex/CFD brokers in the UK have to be licensed by the FCA (See XM review here). It is clear that Bex Options doesn't hold a license from the regulator, moreover, it has been using the details of a genuine, licensed company to get clients' trust. Thus, we advise traders to choose among well-regulated and reliable brokers that guarantee the segregation of the accounts and the protection of funds. Check the list of FCA-regulated brokers.  It is safe to trade with brokers, such as  BlackBull Markets, FXGT, and FBS.

Bex Options Update

Based on our research, the Bex Options website is inactive. This means the broker has muted its trading offering and does not operate. However, we recommend avoiding and staying alert in case of any proposals. 

Is Affiliated Trade Group Scam or Legit broker?

Affiliated Trade Group is a 100% fraud company. The broker is registered offshore and does not hold any proper license from a well-known reliable financial regulator. It is NOT SAFE to trade with Affiliated Trade Group.

• We never advise trading with an offshore broker, since the financial investment service they deliver is not trustable. The reason is simple, the broker may promise the most ever competitive trading conditions or the trading environment, yet the trader has no guarantee from the official entities that oversee the Forex industry. Thus the engagement in trading with such a company means the trader will believe only in the broker’s words, and of course, it is a high risk.

What is Affiliated Trade Group?

Affiliated Trade Group is a Forex broker that was founded in 1998. The broker doesn't provide any information about the company behind the brand name as well as there are no regulation details have been provided.

• Affiliated Trade Group claims to have regional offices in Costa Rica and Japan, with headquarters in Zurich, Switzerland. However, the company doesn't seem to be licensed in Switzerland by its local regulator Financial Market Supervisory Authority FINMA. Moreover, the broker has been blacklisted by at least two regulators:
  a warning from the Alberta Securities Commission (ASC):

"The public should be aware that Affiliated Trade Group is not registered to sell securities or derivatives in Alberta, and that its actions are not in compliance with Alberta securities laws";

and a warning from the Ontario Securities Commission (OSC):

"The Ontario Securities Commission (OSC) is warning investors that the company Affiliated Trade Group and its representatives are not registered in Ontario to solicit investments or provide advice on investing in, buying, or selling securities."

• The pages and official sources of the international regulators’ list alert are shared with the authority directly or by other countries’ supervisory bodies or transmitted centrally. Those tools and the general purpose of the regulatory bodies operate in order to enable stability of the market offerings, protect clients from potential and numerous frauds, enable reliability rules to financial service entities, and more. 
• On top of these warnings, when you click on "platform access" it redirects to another platform Secure Trade FX. We couldn't find any information about this firm, so we suggest traders stay away from both of the companies and invest with reliable brokers.

Affiliated Trade Group Review Conclusion

We recommend avoiding dealing with Affiliated Trade Group, as well as any other firms flagged by the regulators. We advise investing with brokers regulated by well-respected financial institutions such as the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) in the UK, the Australian Securities and Investments Commission (ASIC), or the Cyprus Securities and Exchange Commission (CySEC). Traders should trade with well-regulated brokers such as IG Markets and BlackBull Markets.

Affiliated Update

Based on our research, the Affiliated Trade Group website is inactive. This means the broker has muted its trading offering and does not operate. However, we recommend avoiding and staying alert in case of any proposals. 

Is Kingston Trading Scam or Legit Broker?

Kingston Trading is not a secure Forex broker since it does not hold a license from any worldwide serious Forex authority. Meaning the broker is suspected of being a fraud company since it was not checked for its compliance before establishment, was never monitored in terms of its safety, and simply may operate the business in any way it wishes.

What is Kingston Trading?

Kingston Trading is an investment and independent broker-dealer that claims its proprietary trading desks to serve institutional and high-net-worth clients that operate since 2013. The mentioned headquarter of Kingston Trading in Hong Kong, while enabled operation covers international trading and investment capabilities.

• However, in Hong Kong in order to deliver investment services and trading capabilities, the firm should hold a license from the local authority SFC. The registration process and proper licensing of the broker ensure the company is a trustable one, as to maintain necessary capital requirements, enable customer protective tools and regularly checked in terms of performance. Otherwise, there is no guarantee the broker is a pure scam or another trap to take traders' funds.
• In the case of Kingston Trading, there are not so many reviews about the company's trading environment, which is rather suspicious than confirming its good status. In addition, the company received a legal warning from SFC as claimed its operation in Hong Kong without permission.

“Kingston Trading has come to the attention of the SFC because they are unlicensed in Hong Kong and are believed to be, or to have been, targeting Hong Kong investors or claim to have an association with Hong Kong.”

SFC, Hong Kong. December 2018.  

• The pages and official sources of the international regulators’ list alert are shared with the authority directly or by other countries’ supervisory bodies or transmitted centrally. Those tools and the general purpose of the regulatory bodies operate in order to enable stability of the market offerings, protect clients from potential and numerous frauds, enable reliability rules to financial service entities and more.

Overall Kingston Trading Ranking 

We found multiple regulation and safety issues with Kingston Trading, thus we do not rank positively Kingston Trading, based on our Expert Opinion with over 10 Years of experience in Forex Trading.

• Kingston Trading Overall Ranking is 2 out of 10 based on our testing and compared to 500 other brokers, see Our Ranking below compared to other popular and industry Leading Brokers.

Kingston Trading Alternative Brokers

We found that Kingston Trading has a lot of issues, especially in respect of its safety and customer care. Thus, here are much better Alternatives to Kingston Trading with tight regulations and great trading conditions. We select Good Brokers and reliable options for your comparison below: 

• Blueberry Markets – Forex and CFD Trading with Low Fees
• Trade.com – Good Trading Instruments
• XM – Wide Range of Trading Opportunities

Kingston Trading Review Conclusion

We advise all investors and traders to avoid Kingston Trading and other unregulated brokers. The lack of information about the broker’s regulations, trading conditions, and contact details should be the biggest red flag for those who plan to invest with the entity. Usually, such companies run investment scams. Traders should trade with well-regulated brokers such as UK brokers or brokers in Australia and reliable brokers such as Alpari, FXPrimus, and XM.

• Overall ranking and experience for Kingston Trading is Negative