Category: Regulation

The Cyprus Securities and Exchange Commission issued a warning with regard to Calibur and IcFxMarkets. According to the official statement, these websites do not belong to an entity which has been granted an authorization for the provision of investment services and/or the performance of investment activities. 

The Cyprus Securities and Exchange Commission, known as CySEC (www.cysec.gov.cy), is the financial regulatory agency of Cyprus. As an EU member state, CySEC’s financial regulations and operations comply with the European MiFID financial harmonization law. A significant number of overseas retail forex brokers have obtained registration from CySEC.  

Are these brokers legit?

Calibur is a Forex broker, owned and operated by Calibur Capital Markets (TCM) Limited and claims to be regulated by the CySEC and FSCA in South Africa. The broker’s website mentions the benefits that CySEC regulated firms get, including the Compensation Fund, which definitely makes beginner traders believe the broker is reliable and safe to invest with. However, all these regulatory claims turned out to be false, since Calibur has been using the details and license number of another CySEC-regulated company. We consider Calibur to be one of the clone firms that should be avoided by traders and investors. You can read our full Calibur review here. 

IcFxMarkets offers an extensive range of assets, including Forex, CFDs and Cryptocurrency. The broker is a brand owned and operated by Holiway Investments Ltd. Also, IcFxMarkets claims to be a fully regulated Investment Firm, but it does not provide any specific information about the regulator or license, which makes us think the claim is false and just as Calibur, IcFxMarkets has been trying to get its clients trust. There is as well no contact or location information provided by the broker, which is unacceptable for the regulated brokers as this information should always remain transparent. 

When engaging with brokers that do not operate on the grounds of a valid license, issued from a trustworthy authority, traders are putting their investments at higher risk. It is better to avoid dealing with offshore brokerages and choose properly regulated and reliable brokers. A good example of such are the ones supervised by the FCA or CySEC. 

You can also share your trading experience with Calibur and IcFxMarkets by commenting on this post.

UK’s Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) has issued a warning against FxTrade777, a clone of the properly regulated Forex brokerage FINSA Europe Ltd. The regulator says the broker has been providing financial services and products targeting people in the UK without a license.
The Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) is a financial regulatory body in the United Kingdom, but operates independently of the UK Government, and is financed by charging fees to members of the financial services industry. The FCA regulates financial firms providing services to consumers and maintains the integrity of the financial markets in the United Kingdom.

According to the UK regulator, the clone firm is trying to convince its potential clients that they work for a genuine, authorized firm by giving out false details. In this case, FxTrade777 uses the firm reference number of the authorized firm, FINSA Europe Ltd.
FxTrade777 operates through the websites https://www.fxtrade777.com, and https://fxtrade777.oneminutesite.it/, and provides trading in forex, CFDs on commodities, indices, and stocks. The brand FXtrade777 is owned by the corporation of Silver Wolf Limited. IT & Finance administration services are done by Blond Bear OU, based in Tallinn City, Estonia. Both companies have a very bad reputation among the traders as they have been banned and blacklisted by numerous regulators, such as Italy's CONSOB, Belgian FSMA, UK's FCA, Austria's FMA. Another red flag is the offshore location of one of the managing companies. As we keep on reminding that offshore-registered companies cannot be trusted as they are not overseen by any authority.
The UK is a strong forex market with tight regulation. The FCA is renowned for its strict standards and tight supervision. The regulator keeps a register of unauthorized forex brokers that target local citizens and regularly issues alerts against entities that could potentially hurt local investors. Be aware of such companies before dealing with any brokerage company.
You can read our review on this broker here.

The Switzerland financial markets and service providers regulator FINMA has warned of the unregulated forex broker TaureneFX. According to the official notice, this entity may be carrying out unauthorized services and is not supervised by FINMA.

The Swiss Financial Market Supervisory Authority (FINMA) is the Swiss government institution responsible for financial regulation. The regulator supervises the banks, insurance companies, stock exchanges, and securities dealers, as well as other financial intermediaries in Switzerland. FINMA keeps a close eye on the unregulated brokers and usually warns in a timely manner of those who make false claims of Swiss regulation or location but are not Swiss-regulated.

Is Taurene a scam or legit broker?

TaureneFX is a Forex broker that claims to be authorized to offer trading of Contracts of Difference (Cfd) on cryptocurrencies, commodities, stocks, currencies and indices. The company is powered by Starland Ltd. and registered in Marshall Island. 

As we already know, offshore registration usually doesn’t guarantee the safety of funds and clients’ protection, especially in the Marshall Islands, where the local authority doesn’t regulate forex businesses. 

The broker doesn't provide any information about its regulation as well as its location or contact details. This is one of the red flags for the traders, as the brokers who claim to be reliable and legit always keep it accessible and transparent. 

Considering all the facts mentioned above, we would not recommend trading with TaureneFX or any other unregulated offshore broker.

If you are interested in investing and starting trading, then you can choose from our list of well-regulated companies.

Italy’s financial markets and services provider regulator CONSOB has updated its list of forex brokers who are not licensed to operate in Italy. FTE FX and RMT500 are happened to get into the list. These firms have been offering investment services and activities to the Italian public without being authorized in the country.

Commissione Nazionale per le Società e la Borsa (CONSOB; Italian Companies and Exchange Commission) is the Italian governmental authority responsible for regulating the Italian securities market. The regulator is also responsible for the Italian stock exchange, the Borsa Italiana.

Are these brokers legit?

FTE FX is a Forex and CFDs broker, owned and operated by Ace Capital Ltd. The company is registered in the St. Vincent and the Grenadines and is not considered to be reliable due to its offshore location. Traders who invest with the offshore brokers like FTE FX have no guarantee of the segregation of accounts. You can read our detailed article about the risk of trading with brokers from St. Vincent and the Grenadines. You can read our full FTE FX review here.

RMT500 is an international brokerage company, owned and operated by RMT 500 Ltd. According to the terms and conditions, RMT500  operates within the European Economic Area. However, we haven't found any regulatory information that proves this statement. The broker doesn't seem to be licensed by any regulator. False regulation information or the actual lack of this information are the first signs of a suspicious unreliable broker. 

Generally, we always advise traders to avoid dealing with unregulated offshore forex brokers, as they may be involved in investment scams. There are a number of properly Regulated Brokers to choose from on our website.

You can share your FTE FX and RMT500 experience with us by commenting on this post. 

The Austrian Financial Market Authority (FMA) warns the public against the activities of two forex brokers GrahamFE and 360SmartFX. These companies have been offering investments without complying with Austrian financial legislation. According to the official statements, GrahamFE and 360SmartFX are not entitled to carry out banking transactions in Austria that require a licence.

The Austrian Financial Market Authority (FMA) is an independent, autonomous and integrated authority for the Austrian financial market. The Austrian FMA is responsible for: contributing to the stability of Austria as a financial market; reinforcing confidence in the ability of the Austrian financial market to function; protecting investors, creditors and consumers.

Are these brokers legit?

GrahamFE is a Forex and CFDs broker. The company is owned and operated by GrahamFE FinServices LTD and claims to be located in Sofia, Bulgaria. GrahamFE does not provide any legal information if it is authorized or not. We also couldn't find any confirmation in the Bulgarian Financial Supervision Commission Register. It seems like GrahamFE is NOT regulated, therefore, should be avoided. 

360SmartFX is a Forex and Cryptocurrency broker. The company is owned and operated by Game Capital Ads Limited, based and registered in the St. Vincent and the Grenadines. It is a well-known offshore zone that doesn't even  issue any licenses for forex trading companies. In addition, the owner-company Game Capital Ads Limited has been banned several times (by operating other brokers such as 247SmartFx and Pro TradeFX) by other regulatory authorities in other countries.

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

You can also share your trading experience with GrahamFE and 360SmartFX by commenting on this post.

The Austrian Financial Market Authority (FMA) warns the public against the activities of two forex brokers KS Securities and CobraCFD. These companies have been offering investments without complying with Austrian financial legislation. According to the official statements, KS Securities and CobraCFD are not entitled to carry out banking transactions in Austria that require a license.

The Austrian Financial Market Authority (FMA) is an independent, autonomous and integrated authority for the Austrian financial market. The Austrian FMA is responsible for: contributing to the stability of Austria as a financial market; reinforcing confidence in the ability of the Austrian financial market to function; protecting investors, creditors and consumers.

Are these brokers legit? 

KS Securities is a Forex and CFDs broker. The company is owned and operated by KS-Securities Vermögensverwaltung GmbH, which claims to be located in Austria. It also claims to be authorized by German BaFin, Austrian FMA and Italian CONSOB. However, all these claims are false and all the regulatory information provided on the broker's website is fake. 

CobraCFD is a CFD platform that offers to trade with Forex, stocks, indices and commodities. CobraCFD is owned and operated by Cobracfd Ltd., registered in the Marshall Islands. The brokers registered in this offshore zone are not overseen by any authority and are not subject to any regulatory regime. 

We always advise traders to avoid dealing with unregulated forex brokers, such as KS Securities and CobraCFD. You can also share your experience with these brokers by commenting on this post.

The British financial regulator FCA has issued a warning about trading company HQBroker.

This broker is not regulated, yet it has been providing financial services to UK residents.

According to the HQBroker's website (https://www.hqbroker.com), the company is registered in Hong Kong. However, if you check company's terms and conditions, it says that HQBroker is operated by Capzone Invest Ltd., registered on the Marshall Islands. The website itself doesn't have any information about company's regulation. Usually the companies that operate in the offshore areas (such as Marshall Islands) are not licensed nor regulated and considered to be frauds. It is dangerous and risky to deal with them.

HQBroker provides trading in forex currencies, metals, stocks, equity shares and CFDs. Also the company operates on the MetaTrader 4 trading platform, which is very popular among Forex brokers.

There are plenty of negative reviews can be found on the net about HQBroker. Starting from harassing phone calls and rude representatives that keep on trying to get people invest and finishing with failed attempts of the investors to withdraw their money back.

It is recommended to trade with authorised and regulated brokers. There are many trading companies that offer relatively good trading deals and conditions. These companies are regulated by such financial regulator like the ASIC, CySEC and FCA.

The UK's financial regulator Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) has issued its another warning against the broker who is unauthorized nor licensed, but has been offering their services and products to UK residents. The warning concerns ForexGrand broker, which operates on the website https://forexgrand.com/. It is a broker, offering online trading in more than 70 currency pairs, over 30 CFDs (on indices, commodities, stocks and cryptocurrencies) on the widely used MT4 platform.The firm offers its clients several account types, depending on their initial deposit. If you check the section about the company, you will see the story about the owner of the company, Mr. Grand, who tells about the establishment of it. It is obvious that this Mr.Grand is a fictional person and his story is made up. The real, relevant information about the company is missing, which is confusing and deluding, as there is no information about the regulation of the company. According to the information on the website, ForexGrand owned by Capital FXG ltd, located on Marshall Islands. It is also operated by Nordic Pearl Ltd, the company with headquarters in Bulgaria, which is not authorized in Bulgaria. Another thing that confuses and reduces the level of trust is that the phone number provided on the website includes country code of Switzerland. Considering all the facts above, it is better not to deal with this company. Non-regulated and offshore regulated brokers should be avoided as a general rule, as most of them turn out to be scams.