Capital Index

UK residents will be trading under the subsidiary, Capital Index, authorised and regulated by the FCA. 

Considered one of the best regulators in the world, the FCA mandates that Capital Index segregates all client funds, provides its traders negative balance protection, and restricts leverage to 30:1.  It also ensures that Capital Index is regularly audited and that these reports are sent to the FCA.  

The account opening process at Capital Index is quick and fully digital.  

All UK residents are eligible to open an account at Capital Index but have to meet the following minimum deposit requirements:

• Advanced Account: 100 USD
• Pro Account: 10,000 USD  

Creating an account is easy, the process is fully digital, and accounts are usually ready within one day. Capital Index offers individual, joint, and corporate accounts, but we will focus on opening an individual account:

1. New traders will have to click on the “Create Account” button at the top of the page where they will be directed to fill in their personal details (including name, email address, nationality, and telephone number).    
2. Next traders will have to fill in details regarding their physical address and country of residence.  
3. Once this step is complete, clients are required to fill out a questionnaire that helps Capital Index assess the trader’s investment knowledge, experience, and expertise to deem the suitability and relevance of the services on offer. While most brokers don’t include this step in the account-opening process, it is a responsible move in an industry that is often accused of an irresponsible approach to consumer protection.  
4. Traders are then required to fill out a form regarding their financial status. 
5. Once this step is complete, traders are required to create a password, choose their preferred base currency (click here for more on capital Index’s base currencies), and trading product type (either Forex or CFDs).
6. Capital Index requires at least two documents to accept you as an individual client:
   1. Proof of Identification – Capital Index accepts all government-issued identification documents such as Passport, national ID card, driving license, or other government-issued ID. 
   2. Proof of Address – Proof of residence/address document must be issued in the name of the trading account holder within the last 6 months and must contain a trader’s full name, current residential address, issue date, and issuing authority. 

After the application is approved, traders can login and fund their accounts  We advise that you read Capital Index’s risk disclosure, customer agreement, and terms of business before you start trading. 

Overall, Capital Index’s account-opening process is fully digital and accounts are generally ready for trading within one business day.  

Trading costs are included in the variable spreads, which widen or tighten depending on trading volume and market volatility.  

The trading costs on the Pro Account are lower than those of Advanced Account, but the Pro Account requires a minimum deposit of 10,000 USD, putting it out of the reach of most traders.

Additionally, the costs on both accounts are higher than the average charged by other brokers, which tend to be around 9 USD per lot of EUR/USD traded.  

Swap Fees 

Another important cost to consider is the swap rate charged on positions held overnight.   Interest is paid (or received) for each night a position is held.  The exact charge is based on the underlying rates charged by our liquidity providers plus a mark-up of 2% for long positions and mark-down of 2% for short positions. For example, the current swaps on the EUR/USD for a long position are -8.66712, and for a short position are -5,031.  

Account Trading Costs:

We opened and tested some of Capital Index’s accounts:

Demo Account

Prospective traders can open an MT4 demo account that comes loaded with virtual currency.  Demo accounts are a great way to familiarise oneself with the markets and practice trading strategies. 

Professional Accounts

As an experienced trader, you may be eligible to be classed as an Elective Professional Client, gaining exemption from leverage limits and product restrictions at no additional cost.

In order to become a professional client, certain eligibility criteria need to be fulfilled.  These include:

• Having placed 10 relevant trades of a significant size* per quarter in the last year.
• A financial instrument portfolio that exceeds 500,000 EUR.
• Having worked in the financial sector for at least one year in a position, which requires knowledge of trading.

Professional traders should be aware that they will waive some of the protections afforded retail clients, including:

• No negative balance protection. Professional traders will have an obligation to make additional payments if their account falls into a negative balance.
• Capital Index (UK) Limited not being required to provide traders with written risk warnings and notices in relation to transactions in complex financial instruments.

Capital Index offers support for the MT4 mobile trading apps for Android and iOS. Traders should be aware that there is some loss in functionality when compared to the desktop trading platforms, including reduced time frames and fewer charting options, but traders can close and modify existing orders, calculate profit and loss, and trade on the charts.  

Trading Platform Comparison:

While most other brokers offer support for a range of platforms, including MT5, cTrader, and their own proprietary trading platforms, Capital Index only offers support for MT4.  MT4 is the usual choice for traditional STP brokers, not only because it is the overall industry-leading platform but also for its high-quality execution.

Metatrader 4

Capital Index relies solely on the industry-standard MT4 platform for trading, a reliable software option founded on high-speed execution and reliable data feed imports.  Users generally find the software flexible, convenient, and adaptable.  A prominent feature of the MT4 platform is algorithmic trading through Expert Advisors. Trading signals and technical analysis, and vast numbers of indicators and analytical objects are also fed into the platform, offering traders a vast amount of trading support on one easy-to-use platform.

 Features of Capital Index’s MT4 platform include:

• Customisation to the trader’s style.
• Trading from the charts
• One-click trading
• Complete suite of trading tools and operations
• MarketWatch
• The creation, modification, and utilisation of automated trading strategies.
• Superior charting tools in nine timeframes.
• Technical Analysis with over 50 technical indicators.  
• Algorithmic trading, which allows any trading strategy to be formalised and implemented as an Expert Advisor.

While MT4 has great customizability, the platform feels outdated, and some of the features may be hard to find.  In addition, only the basic orders are available, including Market, Limit, Stop, and Trailing Stop.  However, the benefit of Capital Index offering such a popular third-party platform is that traders can take their own customised version of MT4 with them should they choose to migrate to another broker.

In line with Anti-Money Laundering policies, deposits and withdrawals at Capital Index cannot be made to/from third-party accounts.  No deposit or withdrawal fees are charged on any of the payment methods and payments can be made via bank wire transfer and credit or debit cards. 

See below for a list of funding methods, charges, and processing times:

Capital Index offers a limited number of base (trading account) currencies compared to other similar brokers.

Trading accounts can only be denominated in three base currencies – EUR, USD, and GBP, which is limited compared to other brokers.  Most other brokers denominated accounts in at least five to ten currencies.  However, because Capital Index offers accounts denominated in GBP, British traders will avoid paying conversion fees on deposits and withdrawals.  

Still, for traders that trade in large volumes (more than 10 lots a month), it is better to open an account denominated in USD at a digital currency bank, especially for trading on assets such as the EUR/USD. This is because when trading a USD quoted currency pair with a GBP account, there will be a small conversion fee for every trade made.

Most other brokers offer a range of trading tools, including various technical analysis tools such as Autochartist or Trading Central, or VPS services to help prevent downtime and improve execution speeds.  Capital Index only offers a basic Economic Calendar.  

Trading Tools Comparison:

As with the educational material, Capital Index produces in-depth reporting every month, but nothing significant comes from its analysts.

Capital Index only offers a selection of basic trading guides.  These guides introduce traders to basic trading concepts like currency pairs, risk management, leverage and margin, top tips for new traders, and order types. Capital Index leaves the advanced trading education, videos, and webinars to other brokers.

Educational Material Comparison:

Customer support is available 24/5 via telephone, email, and live chat in English and Russian. A robust complaints procedure is in place, as per regulation, and the customer support team operates under a mantra of treating clients fairly. 

For the purposes of this review, we found the customer support polite and responsive.