Forex brokers are being registered left right and center these days, which sometimes outshines the old and experienced companies. In this ATFX review, we’d like to devote some time to a brokerage that has been affected by this Forex broker extravaganza. The broker is not well known in any way as it’s very hard to find anything trying to promote it.
In fact, it was so hard to even hear this broker existed that we thought they were nothing but a call center. But no, the broker does have a license (albeit a not very trustworthy one) and a registered office in St.Vincent and the Grenadines.
Furthermore, the broker offers its traders leverage of 1:200 on Forex pairs, with a minimum deposit of $100 and a spread of 0.1 pips.
This was quite a rapidfire method of delivering information, so we need to break all of the info down in the paragraphs to follow.
Let’s find out if this broker is worth your time as either a beginner or veteran trader.
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ATFX review
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Is ATFX scam real? Or is it just a bad rumor?
Let’s be honest here, the shadiness of ATFX can’t really be denied. A broker who is very hard to find, a broker that has a very unreliable license from an unreliable regulator, and a broker who doesn’t really have the best options available does not come across as the best option for both beginners as well as veterans, right?
However, we will give ATFX scam the benefit of the doubt and review them as a normal brokerage operating from the St.Vincent and the Grenadines, and consider that they are legitimate.
We are doing this simply because the scam is just speculation and has not been confirmed through any tangible evidence. The fact that the broker discloses information that they are located in SVG also helps them come across a lot more transparent than the blatant scams we’ve seen in the past.
So, without further ado, let’s find out the true ATFX rating and determine if this broker is worth it for the modern trader.
Is ATFX on par with its competition?
In this paragraph, we will dedicate some time to discussing the trading conditions of the brokerage. Things such as the leverage, spreads, withdrawals and the accounts available with the company will be compared to the brokers it is allegedly competing with.
Remember though, we will only be looking at the Forex options from the brokerage as everything else is very hard to correlate with the overall performance value.
So, now that we’ve outlined most of what’s going to come next, let’s start discussing the overall profitability of ATFX.
Are ATFX spreads and leverage good enough?
With a little bit of digging, we found out that ATFX has two kinds of leverage offers for its traders. One of them is 1:20 leverage and the other is 1:200. We believe that it doesn’t need to be mentioned that 1:20 leverage is beyond terrible. Even Forex CFD brokers in the European Union are allowed to offer 1:30.
And the 1:200 leverage for premium traders is a bit insulting for beginners as they are the ones who should be getting the higher leverage due to better profitability.
It’s easy to understand the mixed ATFX opinions we were able to find online. Why mixed? Because the spread offers are quite nice, ranging from 0.1 pips on major currency pairs such as EUR/USD and 4.0 pips on exotics. All of this is market standards and can’t really be criticized (besides the leverage of course).
Usually, low leverage is a direct indication that the broker does not have a good liquidity provider and this is definitely that case.
Minimum deposits and withdrawal options
Thankfully, the minimum deposits with ATFX is a bit better than the industry average. ATFX allows traders to open an account with just $100, while the average is around $250 with other brokers.
This is admirable, but the fact that there is no variety with account types brings down the value-added a little bit. That was one of the main surprises for us when conducting the ATFX review. We’ve very rarely seen a broker not have any variety to accounts they’d offer to their clients, and this was one of the very few cases.
The reason why variety is very important is due to client “classification”. For example, you can’t offer similar features to a beginner as you’d offer to a veteran.
But anyway, let’s put that aside for now and focus on this such as ATFX withdrawal options.
Are they good? Yes, they’re among the best offers we’ve seen in the FX market. Why? Because there’s a lot of variety with Wire Transfers, Credit cards as well as digital wallets such as Neteller and Skrill.
The reason why variety is important with withdrawals is very simple actually. If you want your funds to be delivered within the day, you go for the digital wallets, but pay a small commission. However, if you’re ready to receive the funds directly on your bank account, well then you’ll have to wait for at least a week for that.
It’s not something that can be modified, unfortunately, as it’s a standard every broker needs to follow.
Software and support
The support staff was quite fast at answering the requests we made. It took them around 15 minutes to get to it, which is much better than some of the largest brokerages we’ve reviewed on this website.
However, we do need to adjust based on the number of potential clients they need to answer, which creates a big difference.
In terms of software though, there’s the same issue as with the account types. The only option is the ATFX MT4 program, which although is the most popular among traders, most brokers at least try to provide things such as a Webtrader as well.
Luckily though, MT4 has a mobile version as well, so mobile trading will not be an issue.
ATFX review – the verdict
After so much talking, it’s finally time to give ATFX a comprehensive verdict. Is or is not the broker designed for any type of trader? Are they legitimate enough to open an account with? Do they even compare to existing options within the industry?
Well, these are a lot of questions we just asked. No, the broker is not designed for everybody to use, it’s mostly welcoming towards beginners. They seem to be legitimate enough, but the license simply doesn’t help them with trustworthiness. Unfortunately, they can’t even compare to existing options on the same markets.
The leverage is too low, the spread is okay alongside the deposit, but without the leverage, it’s very hard to reach extensive profitability.
All in all, ATFX Forex broker is quite an underwhelming experience, but it’s not necessarily a scam or a fraudulent company.