FXTM is no small-timer in the realm of FX and CFDs. The operator claims to have more than 1 million active traders currently, it is present in scores of countries all over the world and it has pocketed an impressive selection of industry awards. These awards range from Most Innovative Broker and Best Russian Forex Broker to the Best Forex Broker in Asia and the Forex Broker Firm of the Year in Europe.
Above and beyond illustrating the global reach of the operation, these awards paint a very flattering picture of the quality of the services that it brings to bear.
While in that regard, the industry itself seems to have a very high opinion of FXTM, that opinion may not be shared by every one of the actual users.
The overall user-feedback regarding the brokerage is indeed positive, but there are a few dissenting voices out there in this regard. These voices decry a number of issues, some of which are indeed well worth investigating.
Perhaps the gravest allegations concern price-manipulation by the broker. Apparently, some also believe that their stop losses and take profits are tampered with, the former being triggered by price-spikes, to avoid landing the trader in profit, while the latter are apparently ignored, to prevent loss-control.
On the floating spread accounts, the spreads are also considered way too large by many, while the platforms seem to freeze during the release of major economic news, making the trading of such events almost impossible.
Still other discontent traders accuse the broker of squarely taking control of their accounts and squandering their funds
Let us not forget however, that the operation has been around since 2011. With 7 years under its belt, it did indeed have plenty of time to accrue user feedback, good and bad.
Corporate background and regulation
As expected from a brokerage of this scale and scope, there are several corporate entities lined up behind the FXTM brand.
For instance, the EU-facing side of the operation is handled by ForexTime Limited, a company licensed in several jurisdictions, with a branch in the UK.
ForexTime Limited is licensed by CySEC, its CIF number being 185/12. While this license alone attests MiFID compliance and theoretically grants the broker access to the whole of the EEA (with the exception of jurisdictions where the local authorities expressly forbid it to peddle its services), ForexTime Limited has also acquired a license from South Africa’s FSB. This license number is 46614.
The UK’s FCA has also registered the operator, under reg. no: 600475.
FT Global Limited is another corporate pusher of the FXTM brand. This side of the operation is licensed by Belize’s IFSC. As a matter of fact, the authority has issued two licenses to the operator: IFSC/60/345/TS and IFSC/60/345/APM.
Residents of the US, Japan and a number of other countries are not allowed to trade at FXCM.
With the above in mind, it is clear that the regulatory profile of the operation is extremely solid. There can be no complaints in this regard whatsoever.
Why would you want to choose FXTM as your online broker though?
The broker is seemingly very upfront about the services it offers and about its performance in regards to these services.
It features a dedicated page, where this performance is assessed. The data published on this page is apparently checked and double-checked by PriceWaterHouseCoopers Limited.
According to this page, client approval takes less than 12 minutes. User feedback does indeed say that deposited funds land in traders’ accounts almost instantly. According to the site, it takes around 5 minutes to process these funds.
The re-quote rates of the operation are extremely low, there’s almost no slippage and the order execution speed is outstanding.
The site says that around 90% of the feedback it receives from its users is positive (which may indeed be a realistic assessment, considering how the majority of such feedback posted on external sites tends to be negative, due to logical trends in this regard).
What exactly does FXTM offer actual services-wise though?
The trading terms are said to be excellent. The spreads start from as little as 0.1 pips. The leverage is flexible and the minimum required deposit is very small.
Scores of account types are offered, and there are no fewer than 50 currency pairs available for trading.
FXTM support is said to be outstanding as well (despite the fact that some of their users have stated otherwise).
FXTM Account Types
The broker offers no fewer than 6 account types, grouped into two main categories: Standard and ECN.
For every Standard Account and for two of the ECN Accounts, Demo versions are available.
The minimum deposit for the Standard Account is $100. It offers instant execution and spreads from 1.3 pips.
The Cent Account is however the most accessible one: one only needs to make a $10 deposit to secure such an account. Obviously, for actual trading, this deposit should be much larger.
The spreads on this account start from 1.5 pips.
The Shares Account requires a $100 minimum deposit. The spreads on this account are very attractive: they start from as little as 0.1 pips.
The ECN Account ups the stakes a bit deposit-wise: those looking to secure such an account, need to deposit at least $500. The spreads start from 0.1 pips on this account, though there is a $2 commission per lot.
The ECN Zero Account costs $200 minimum deposit-wise. It does not charge a commission though and its spreads start from 1.5 pips.
The FXTM Pro account requires a deposit of $25,000. The spreads here start from 0 pips and there is no commission involved either.
FXTM Trading Platforms
The trading platform selection offered by FXTM consists of MT4 and MT5. The two MetaTrader platforms come in a massive variety of versions, covering PC, Mac, iOS and Android. For both platforms, there’s a Web Trader version offered as well.
MT4 and MT5 are without a doubt the best trading platforms the online FX/CFD industry has to offer these days.
They both come packed with useful features, charting- as well as analysis-wise. Freely downloadable from the FXTM site, the two trading platforms support EAs (Expert Advisors) too.
One-click trading directly from the charts is part of the package, as is multi-language support.
Support
The FXTM customer support can be contacted through a wide selection of local phone numbers.
France, Italy, Poland, the Czech Republic, Spain, Cyprus and the UK are all covered in this regard. The support email is [email protected].
The site offers a live chat feature, but the FXTM staff can also be contacted through various social media channels, such as Skype, Facebook and Telegram.
The Bottom Line
Everything considered, FXTM is shaping up as a great trading destination. In addition to the relatively standard selection of tradable assets they offer, FXTM have also added cryptocurrencies to their CFD selection. The maximum leverage they feature on this asset-category, is a massive 1:500.
The platform selection of the broker is outstanding – as shown above – and the same goes for the Account Types it features.
The trading conditions are decent in general and quite impressive on the Pro Account.