category: Unregulated Brokers

Is Wigmarkets Scam or Legit Broker?

Wigmarkets 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 Wigmarkets?

Wigmarkets is a Forex broker that offers a wide variety of modern trading solutions including CFDs, indices, cryptocurrencies, algo trading, metals and commodities. The broker doesn't disclose any information about the company behind the brand. It claims to be located in Belfast, UK.

• However, the contact number has a German country code, so it looks quite confusing and suspicious. Also, the terms and conditions mention that the company is under the laws of Vanuatu, a popular offshore zone for forex brokers. Despite its claimed location, Wigmarkets does not seem to be regulated in the UK by the Financial Conduct Authority or actually by any other regulator.
• In addition, Italy's regulator CONSOB has recently issued a warning against Wigmarkets:
  "The National Commission for Companies and the Stock Exchange has ordered the cessation of the infringement of art. 18 of the Consolidated Law on Finance consisting of the provision of unauthorised investment services and activities to the Italian public performed by Wigmarkets via the website www.wigmarkets.com"

Wigmarkets Review Conclusion

Trading with offshore brokers is extremely risky. Many of these brokers are scam companies seeking to cut financial and regulatory corners. Unlike the FCA and other EU financial regulatory entities, offshore agencies pay very little attention to compliance-check. Traders should trade with well-regulated brokers such as UK brokers (Check the list of the FCA-regulated brokers) or brokers in Australia and brokers such as FXPrimus and XM.

Wigmarkets Update

Based on our research, the Wigmarkets 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 City Global Trading Scam or Legit Broker?

City Global 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 City Global Trading?

City Global Trading is a trading service provider that offers expert advice to help in a smart managed FX investment choice and assist by a most reliable environment through transparent pricing. The broker claims its registration of an address in the UK, as well as the regulation by FCA since the financial service provider operating in the UK should hold a necessary license.

• However, the facts revealed totally opposite situation while the City Global Trading nor regulated or authorized by FCA or any other entity to deliver its service. In addition to that, the FCA has even issued an official warning against the City Global Trading broker, as the company misleads about its legal information and targets UK residents without legal permission to do so.

“Almost all firms and individuals offering, promoting, or selling financial services or products in the UK have to be authorized by us. The firm City Global Trading is not authorized by us and is targeting people in the UK. We strongly advise you to only deal with financial firms that are registered, and check the Financial Services Register to ensure they are.”

FCA, UK. December 2018.  

• Therefore, it comes to the point that City Global Trading is most probably located in some offshore zone or even registered by none while presenting itself as a legit firm.

City Global Trading Review Conclusion

Traders should be extremely careful while choosing the broker to trade with, as scams invent more and more possibilities to target their victims. The reliable offering always would come from a reputable and regulated firm, with a necessary implementation of protective tools.

Thus, as general advice and particular case, we would advise better to choose among truly FCA-regulated brokers, while the list of FCA Regulated forex brokers can assist in choice, or brokers such as FXPrimus (Check FXPrimus broker review here) and XM(Read about XM trading). 

City Global Trading Update

Based on our research, the City Global Trading 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 Option94 Scam or Legit Broker?

Option94 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 Option94?

Option94 is a Forex and cryptocurrency broker. The company is owned and operated by Lunoforex PTY Limited and claims to have offices in the UK, Australia, and the United States. According to the information on the website, Lunoforex PTY Limited is an Australian company and is licensed by the Australian Securities and Investments Commission (ASIC). They even provide a scanned copy of the license that clients can download and check. However, we have checked the register of the Australian regulator and there is no record about the broker or owner-company.

• One more confusing thing is the information about ICC Intercertus Capital Limited. The broker states that all the clients' funds are kept by this company. ICC Intercertus Capital Limited is a CySEC-regulated entity, however we didn't find any connection between these two companies.

Option94 Review Conclusion

To sum up, Option94 is an unregulated offshore broker that cannot be trusted. As one of the most important things when choosing a broker is whether it is licensed or overseen by any of the financial authorities.

Generally, we recommend trading with financial services providers licensed by one of the most respected financial regulators – the Financial Conduct Authority or the Australian Securities and Investments Commission. Check the list of ASIC-regulated brokers. In order to succeed in trading, it is always recommended to choose a reputable firm, such as FXTM or XM.

Option94 Update

Based on our research, the Option94 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 TheCryptoLimited Scam or Legit Broker?

TheCryptoLimited 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 TheCryptoLimited?

TheCryptoLimited is a trading provider that claims its transparent real trades and rates through an innovative trading platform and reliable operation. The address of the firm states United Kingdom with the registration name of the company Crypto Consultancy Ltd. However, the facts show that every financial investment firm incorporated in the UK jurisdiction should hold a license from FCA. Since TheCryptoLimited is not a registered firm, even the address might be fake.

• The broker states its several prizes received for innovations, as well as the highest ratings for reliability and trust, and was supposedly Voted best Bitcoin broker in 2017. However, the information doesn’t seem to be true as there is no any mentioning of the official sources or confirmation of the status. In addition, the broker received a warning from a France authority while further, the EU regulators followed an alert, since the broker used heavy advertising tactics to attract potential clients.

  “The Autorité des marchés financiers (AMF) and the Autorité de contrôle prudential et de resolution (ACPR) warn the public about a number of unauthorized online investment services in France for derivatives whose underlying include crypto assets. A list of unauthorized sites offers trading of derivatives without its permission to do so.”

  AMF, France. December 2018.

TheCryptoLimited Review Conclusion

As we recommend to any trader, especially beginner ones choose the broker carefully and ensure that the entity offering regulated services that ensure clients' protection. Scams often fake information they provide, thus the lists of registrations assist in verification through official regulatory websites at all times. In order not to fall under fraud trade only with regulated entities and trading providers.

Choose well-regulated brokers such as UK brokers or brokers in Australia and reliable brokers such as FXTM, eToro (Read about eToro forex broker), and Alpari.

TheCryptoLimited Update

Based on our research, the TheCryptoLimited 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 Pro X Finance Scam or Legit Broker?

No, Pro X Finance is not safe to trade with,  as the broker is registered offshore. Investing with offshore brokers is quite risky as the broker might turn out to be a scam.

• Pro X Finance provides contact numbers with British and German phone codes, which means the company should have offices there. It is also targeting the residents of the mentioned countries. However, Pro X Finance is not authorized to provide financial services in the UK or Germany, and most probably all the other countries.

What's Pro X Finance?

Pro X Finance is an offshore Forex and CFDs broker. The website www.proxfinance.com and Pro X Finance trademark are owned and operated by the company Finovative Technologies Limited reg. number 85452, Trust Company Complex, Ajeltake Road, Ajeltake Island, Majuro, Marshall Islands MH96960.

• Moreover, the UK's regulator Financial Conduct Authority has recently issued a warning against Pro X Finance:
  "This entity is not authorized by us and is targeting people around the world but primarily in Germany, France, Spain, and Italy. Based upon information we hold, we believe it is carrying on regulated activities and making financial promotions without authorization or exemption."

Pro X Finance Review Conclusion

The first thing the potential investor should do when he is choosing a broker is to determine if it is a legitimate or a scam broker. It is very easy to do. You just need to check if the broker is licensed by CySec in Cyprus, or it is under the regulation of the MIFId in the European Union (EU), or it is registered with the UK’s FCA or Australian ASIC. We recommend signing in with reliable brokers such as BlackBull Markets, FXGT, and FBS.

Pro X Finance Update

Based on our research, the Pro X Finance 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 Circle Markets Scam or Legit Broker?

Circle Markets 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 Circle Markets?

Circle Markets is a forex broker and trading service provider that offers over 140 instruments through a comprehensive cTrader platform and pure STP connectivity (Check out STP Trading) to execution.

• Appointing the facts about Circle Markets' offering important to mention that the broker states its head office in New Zealand, as well as its registration as a New Zealand Financial Services Provider. However, while looking closer it was revealed that the company is only registered in New Zealand, but not regulated.
• That means that the firm indeed has a registration number with a respected FSP, yet its register allows only to trade financial products or foreign exchange on behalf of other persons. Therefore, financial services, broking services, and the offering of trading and providing are not permitted or regulated. (Check the Circle Markets FSP registration by the link.)
• Another license of the Circle Markets company, which indeed allows the processing of the trading service to international clients is a Vanuatu license issued by VFCS. Since Vanuatu's registration is an offshore one, the company has very low establishment standards and is never checked in regard to its reliability of service delivery. As we always recommend not to engage or sign-up with non-regulated or offshore brokers, Circle Markets receives the same “recommendation”.
• Besides, the broker was inactive for a while, and then it is again available, yet the website of the broker seems not to offer its general services. It only provides Forex Compounding Calculator services. So, we recommend checking the availability of the broker's services before engaging with it. 

Overall Circle Markets Ranking 

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

• Circle Markets 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.

Circle Markets Alternative Brokers

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

• AvaTrade – Good Instruments and CopyTrading
• Pepperstone – Low Spreads and Competitive Trading Conditions
• XM – Wide Range of Trading Opportunities

Circle Markets Review Conclusion

Besides the issue that the Circle Markets broker misleads about its regulatory status, you never know which sort of surprises may occur while trading with them. In this instance, fraudulent brokerages are at every corner and you should be extremely careful while choosing a trading provider, verify its information, and always keep in mind that regulated by trusted authorities brokers deliver much safer trading conditions along with protection. Besides, the broker seems to have ceased its general offerings, so we advise you to be careful.

Thus, traders should trade with well-regulated brokers such as UK brokers or brokers in Australia and reliable brokers such as FXTM, eToro (Read about eToro forex broker), and Alpari.

• Overall ranking and experience for Circle Markets is Negative

Circle Markets Update

Based on our research, the Circle Markets website was temporarily inactive. Now the website is active but it offers Forex Compounding Calculator services. Thus, we recommend avoiding and staying alert in case of any proposals. 

Is Pinprotrade Scam or Legit Broker?

No, it is not safe to trade with Pinprotrade. Pinprotrade is an offshore broker registered in the Marshall Islands. The fact is that the Marshall Islands is an offshore zone, which does register the financial investment firm, but provides very poor if no requirements for the company operation. 

• This means, that traders are likely to put their investments at risk with Pinprotrade, as there is no sufficient legal protection from the side of the authority. Thus, we recommend starting forex trading only with well-regulated brokers with proven experience. 

What is Pinprotrade?

Pinprotrade is an unregulated broker that offers to trade with Forex, Stocks, Bonds, Indices, and Commodities. The website services are provided by Pinnacle Strategies LTD., based in the Marshall Islands. Payment services are provided by Pinnacle Strategies Group LLP, based and registered in Edinburgh, Scotland.

• The first thing that is not quite fine with the broker is that the main company is based offshore. There are definitely some pros of opening an account with an offshore entity (no leverage restrictions, better spreads (Find lowest spread forex brokers and also find the list of zero spread brokers here), and no taxes).
• The offshore zones are popular among forex brokers as it is easy and cost-effective to get a license there. However, sometimes brokers registered offshore but don't hold any license, even from an offshore regulator. It means that the client's funds are not protected by any laws and there's a huge risk of losing them. Also, many such brokers are pure scams.
• Another problem with Pinprotrade is that the contact numbers provided on the website are with the phone codes of the UK, New Zealand, and Australia. The broker also claims to have offices in Singapore, Tokyo and Hong Kong and investment conduits in Australia and Zurich Switzerland. However, the firm is not regulated to provide financial services in any of the mentioned countries.

Pinprotrade Review Conclusion

Concluding all the above, we wouldn't recommend investing with Pinprotrade. Investing with a properly regulated broker is crucial for the safety of any investment. 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. 

Pinprotrade Update

Based on our research, the Pinprotrade 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 NewSolid Scam or Legit Broker?

No, it is not safe to trade with NewSolid as the broker might be a scam. The strange thing about the broker is that once it provided information that the company is owned and operated by Solid Global Investment Limited and based in New Zealand.

Now, the contact information on the broker's website is different. On its website, it says that the broker is registered in Samoa (registration number: 84459, registered office address: Vistra Corporate Services Centre, Ground Floor NPF Building, Beach Road, Apia, Samoa, Tel: +852 6773 8846, Flat B, 1/F, House of Corona 50 Hung to Road Kwun Tong, Kowloon, Hong Kong, Tel: +852 3908 7900).

• This change of contact information is confusing and certainly gives solid ground for doubts. 

What is NewSolid?

NewSolid is a broker that claims to provide trading with crude oil, indices, currency pairs, precious metals, cryptocurrencies, and other assets. Formerly, the broker claimed that the company was owned and operated by Solid Global Investment Limited and is based in New Zealand. However, it didn't seem to be regulated by New Zealand's regulator FMA. Moreover, the broker had been blacklisted by the FMA in New Zealand. According to the official notice published on the regulator's website, the company could be involved in a scam as it is offering its services in New Zealand without holding the proper licenses or authority:

"Solid Global Investment Limited could be involved in a scam. We note a recent alert published by the Securities and Futures Exchange of Hong Kong in relation to Solid Global Investment Limited. The website www.newsolid.com is not associated with nor authorized by the NZ company Digital Asset Coin Exchange NZ Limited (formerly Solid Global Investment Limited)."

• As we can see from the warning, it also seems that Solid Global Investment Limited is a clone firm of the Digital Asset Coin Exchange NZ Limited, an FMA-regulated company. We have checked the mentioned warning from the Securities and Futures Exchange of Hong Kong and it states that Solid Global Investment Limited has been using a name of an SFC-regulated entity:

  "Unlicensed entities often use names similar to legitimate companies to confuse investors."

• However, the most confusing part that gives good ground for doubts, is that the location and registration information on the broker's website has been changed recently. It is mentioned that NewSolid is registered in Samoa, with the registration number: 84459.

Overall NewSolid Group Ranking 

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

• NewSolid 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.

NewSolid Review Conclusion

It is best to avoid dealing with NewSolid, 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.

• Overall ranking and experience for NewSolid Group is Negative

Is Cointeck Scam or Legit Broker?

No, it is not safe to trade with Cointeck. The broker is located in Estonia and it should have a license from the local authority to be able to offer financial services in the country.

• However, despite the fact that Cointeck positions itself as a regulated broker, it does not registered by the Estonian Financial Supervision Authority (EFSA).

What is Cointeck?

Cointeck is a broker that offers CFDs and cryptocurrency Forex trading. Cointeck.io is operated by CCLR Limited. According to the terms and conditions that can be found on the website, "CCLR Limited is registered in Estonia under the Companies Law, with a license to provide financial and crypto services. The license number is 14447182. Its registered office is at 4 Parda St., downtown district, Harju county, Tallinn, 10151", however, we have checked the register of the Estonian Financial Supervision Authority (EFSA) and there is no record of Cointeck's license. It can be considered the main problem with this brokerage.

• In addition, Cointeck claims to be based in Leicester, UK, but again, it doesn't hold a license from UK's Financial Conduct Authority that would let it provide financial services in the UK.

What is Cointeck?

We highly recommend trading only with entities regulated by well-respected institutions such as the Financial Conduct Authority in the UK or the Cyprus Securities and Exchange Commission (CySEC). As the safety of funds should be a priority for all investors as well as brokerages.

Well-regulated brokers are required to follow strict rules which include protection of the money in segregated accounts and providing compensation schemes. For example, the FCA ensures up to 50,000 GBP and CySEC's compensation scheme covers up to 20,000 EUR. Check the list of FCA-regulated brokers. In order to succeed in trading, it is always recommended to choose a reputable firm, such as FXTM or XM. 

Cointeck Update

Based on our research, the Cointeck 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.