❌NON-RECOMMENDED BROKER
This broker was not featured in our 2024 Broker Review Audit. This is because, in the past 12 months, it has failed to pass our initial screening process and is not recommended by our team of experts. As such some of the information found here may be out of date.
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ActivTrades has been around since 2001 and has continued to develop by becoming one of the most popular mainstream Forex brokers in the market. A significant amount of time in the industry guarantees its fair share of ups and downs, and ActivTrades has also been on the receiving end of criticisms and regulatory penalties. Nonetheless, over the years, ActivTrades has soaked it all up to improve their brokerage services for the betterment of their clients. In this ActivTrades review, we will attempt to find out if the company is certainly worthy of traders’ investments.
Bonus | Rewards Points |
Regulation | FCA |
Mobile | Yes |
Instruments | Forex, indicies, commodities, shares |
Website | www.activtrades.com |
OTHER BROKERS |
ActivTrades Regulation & Opening An Account
Having its headquarters in London since 2007, ActivTrades is a regulated member of FCA. FCA has been proactively auditing member firms and their conduct in the financial market, which is indeed a good sign for traders while choosing an FCA regulated broker. ActivTrades was one of the few firms that received a rap from the agency for its alleged misconduct, and traders can be rest assured that doing business with ActivTrades is certainly safe and secure regarding protection of their invested funds. The Financial Services Compensation Scheme that comes directly under the FCA client protection initiative ensures that traders are compensated up to £500,000 if a broker is rendered insolvent.
ActivTrades caters to all traders in the world except for those from the US. ActivTrades has a long history of excellent brokerage services, and it is surprising that the company has not set up a subsidiary in the United States to entertain retail US traders. ActivTrades also reserves the right to allow or disallow traders to open an account with the company based on their country of residence. Hence, it is always a good idea to consult with the concerned company representatives before opening an account and making a deposit.
What Are The ActivTrades Spreads, Leverage, Assets, & Types Of Accounts?
ActivTrades offers highly competitive spreads that can be as low as 0.7 pips for the major currency pairs and 0.5 for other instruments such as commodities and precious metals. While the broker is one of the best brokers regarding lowest spreads for the standard STP and market maker models, traders can experience increased spreads and slippages during news events. Higher volatility in the market witnesses a drastic increase in spreads which can adversely affect traders that use high-risk strategies such as scalping and higher leverage.
Traders can enjoy a maximum ActivTrades leverage of 1:400, which at one time was considered to be the highest leverage in FX trading. Several brokers now offer leverage of up to 1:2000, therefore, 1:400 is considered to be relatively rational. On the contrary, professional traders rarely use any leverage above 1:50, therefore, the high leverage can play against a trader, especially considering the effect of news events and other fundamental factors on an ActivTrades account.
ActivTrades offers a single type of account that is split up between two different ActivTrades platforms. The minimum account deposit is $100, which is comparatively a smaller amount that enables smaller traders to open an account with the company. The ability to trade using mini and micro lots is another positive aspect of the company that is geared towards high volume traders such as scalpers. There are several payment options for funding and withdrawal that includes bank transfer, credit cards, and online payment gateways such as NETELLER and Skrill.
Trading Tools & ActivTrades Platforms
ActivTrades offers the excellent MT4 as well as the latest MT5 trading platforms that are designed for both desktop and mobile trading. The MT4 platform account offers access to all the major FX currency pairs and CFDs, while the MT5 platform offers currency pairs along with other instruments such as stocks, indices, commodities, and precious metals. The MT5 has several advanced charting features as well as trading tools, but traders familiar with the MT4 platform will find the MT5 to be missing on several great features such as hedging functionalities. ActivTrades mobile traders can also use their global login information for trading on the MT4 and MT5 mobile apps that can be downloaded for both iOS and Android.
ActivTrades has a rich collection of trading tools and resources that can help traders to make a thorough analysis of the markets. The company provides a host of educational materials along with several Smart tools such as SmartForecast, SmartTemplate, SmartPattern, SmartLines, AutoChartist, and VPS services. The company also supports automated trading through EAs, and traders can create fully automated trading bots on their own without any programming knowledge using the excellent Molanis program. ActivTrades is certainly a broker that is committed to offering the best resources for their traders, which is further evident in their excellent customer service channel that is available in 12 different languages around the clock.
Special Offers & ActivTrade Bonus Offerings
If you are a trader who thrives on receiving bonuses to trade, then ActivTrades will sorely disappoint you. ActivTrade does not offer bonus on deposits. However, they do provide special offers and attractive benefits that reward a trader according to a point based structure. The initial deposit can reward a trader with up to 1000 points, which can further be increased by trading in incremental lots or by making further deposits. Once a trader accumulates a particular set of points, he can redeem it for rewards that include electronic gadgets and accessories such as watches, iPads, tablets, smartphones, iPhones, home theater systems, computers, and even TVs.
These promotional accessories offer traders the incentive to trade and make deposits, which further increases the company’s bottom line. However, traders should never open an account at ActivTrades just for the sake of receiving bonuses or for qualifying in their rewards program.
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