LiteFinance

Regulatory Overview: Founded in 2007, LiteFinance operates through multiple entities regulated or registered in several jurisdictions, including:

• The Cyprus Securities and Exchange Commission (CySEC) – Liteforex (Europe) Ltd (Licence No. 093/08). 
• The Financial Services Commission (FSC) of Mauritius – LiteFinance Investment Limited (Investment Dealer – Full Service Dealer, excluding Underwriting; Licence No. GB20025921).
• The Financial Services Authority of Saint Vincent & the Grenadines (SVGFSA) – LiteFinance Global LLC (registered company No. 931 LLC 2021; registration only and not equivalent to prudential regulation). 

Client Protection Measures: LiteFinance implements safeguards that vary by entity and jurisdiction:

• Segregation of Funds: The group states that client money is held in segregated accounts; the CySEC-regulated entity must safeguard client assets under MiFID-based rules. 
• Negative Balance Protection (EU retail CFDs): Provided where required by EU rules following ESMA’s CFD product-intervention measures for retail clients. Availability may differ outside the EU. 
• Compensation Scheme (EU entity): As a CySEC-authorised CIF, Liteforex (Europe) Ltd participates in Cyprus’s Investor Compensation Fund (ICF), which covers eligible clients up to €20,000 per person; non-EU entities (e.g., Mauritius, SVG) are not covered by the ICF. 

The account-opening process at LiteFinance is easy, hassle-free, and fully digital.

Eligible traders can open an account at LiteFinance as long as they meet the following minimum deposit requirements:

• Classic Account: 50 USD
• ECN Account: 50 USD

Like other brokers, LiteFinance requires customers to submit their KYC (Know Your Customer) documentation in order to open an account.   

Traders are also required to submit an electronic form of identification to make withdrawals in line with Anti Money Laundering rules.

We suggest you read LiteFinance’s customer agreement before opening an account.  

Overall, the account opening process at LiteFinance is similar to other international brokers.  

LiteFinance’s CFD offering is limited compared to what is available at other similar international brokers, which may leave more experienced traders dissatisfied.

Trading costs on the ECN Account are significantly lower than those on the Classic Account. However, these costs are still above those of other good brokers, which have trading costs of 9 USD per lot traded. Additionally, spreads are variable, which means they get tighter or wider depending on trade volume and market volatility.

Swap Fees

The other main trading cost to consider is the overnight swap fee. This is charged on trades held open overnight and is derived from the difference between the interest rates of the two currencies being traded.  For example, the swap fees for the EUR/USD on a long position are -5.616, and on a short position are -0.156.  

Both LiteForex’s accounts are market execution, with no requotes, and are available on the Metatrader 4 and Metatrader 5 platforms. LiteForex allows hedging and scalping and offers an excellent copy trading service.  South African traders can access maximum leverage of 500:1, and both accounts are available as Islamic swap-free options.  See below for details on the accounts:

Classic Account

The Classic Account was designed for experienced traders.  Its variable spreads average at 2.0 pips, significantly wider than other brokers.  Classic Accounts only allow base currencies to be denominated in USD, EUR, and MBT.  The minimum deposit on this account is 50 USD, and transactions start at 0.01 lots. Commissions only apply to cryptocurrency trading, at 12 USD per lot. 

ECN Account

The ECN account offers an interest rate of 2.5% on surplus funds and unlimited transactions. The trading account provides access to the best prices on the market, and variable spreads start at 1.90 pips with no re-quotes.  Leverage is up to 500:1, the minimum deposit is 50 USD, and LiteForex charges 10 USD per lot on major Forex pairs, and 30 USD  per lot on minor pairs, which is much higher than the commissions at other brokers.  

Demo Account

LiteForex demo accounts allow traders to trade virtual money under real market conditions. They are free of charge and allow beginner traders to refine trading strategies using MetaTrader platforms. Traders receive real quotes from liquidity providers and have access to all trading instruments.  

MetaTrader is freely available on both Android and IOS mobile phones and tablets.  The advantage of using the MetaTrader platform is the cross-device and multi-broker functionality, making it easier to change broker or use multiple brokers. All applications and their contents are supported in more than eight languages and are regularly updated.

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.

LiteFinance offers support for the MetaTrader platforms – MT4 and MT5.  Developed in 2005 and 2010 respectively, these systems have become the leading platforms for online forex and CFD trading. They come with multiple chart types, including line, candlestick, and bars. Other popular features include Expert Advisors, automated trading support, strategy backtesting, customisable charting, indicators, and copy trading functionality.

MetaTrader 4

MT4 is still the most popular platform on the market. Its beginner-friendly elements, such as a copy trading system and automated Expert Advisor apps, come in handy for less-experienced traders. Advanced traders can take advantage of complex analytics and charting tools. Moreover, they can design their own trading indicators using the proprietary MQL4 programming language.  Other features of MT4 include:

• A built-in library of more than 50 indicators and tools to streamline the analysis process.
• An impressive array of analytical tools, available in nine timeframes for each financial instrument.
• Live price streaming on live accounts and demo accounts 128-bits encryption for secure trading
• Algorithmic trading, which allows any trading strategy to be formalised and implemented as an Expert Advisor. 
• Customisable alerts
• Access to MetaTrader market and MQL4 community

MetaTrader 5

LiteFinance offers support for the MT5 platform, the latest iteration of the industry-standard MetaTrader.  It offers 30 technical indicators, 24 analytical objects, 21 timeframes, and an unlimited number of charts.  The application also supports both netting and hedging systems and includes all the tools and features necessary for trading: Market Depth, trading operations, and history monitoring. 

Overall, although LiteFinance only offers the MetaTrader suite of platforms, which are not as beginner-friendly as the proprietary platforms offered at other brokerages, MT4 and MT5 are considered some of the best third-party platforms in the industry.

In line with the Anti-Money Laundering Directive, LiteFinance operates a “return to source” policy, meaning that withdrawals must be made via the same method and into the same account as the original deposit. 

LiteFinance does not charge fees for deposits, and as a bonus, it covers deposit fees imposed by the provider.   Withdrawal fees are dependent on the method.

LiteFinance offers an automatic withdrawal feature that enables traders to withdraw funds up to 100 USD per day within 24 hours, which is available on Skrill, Perfect Money, and Neteller. Withdrawal charges are specific to the provider.  Note that withdrawal requests are processed manually by the Financial Department during its working hours and are processed within one working day of the date of submission.  Bank wire transfers can take up to five working days to be processed, depending on the sender’s and beneficiary’s banks’ operation speed.

Trading accounts can only be denominated in four base currencies – USD, EUR, GBP, and PLN which is limited compared to other brokers. Most other brokers denominated accounts in at least five to ten currencies. 

LiteFinance offers access to a VPS service at an extra cost, analytical materials from Claws&Horns, a social trading platform, and various trading calculators:

VPS

LiteFinance offers a discounted VPS (Virtual Private Server) service on the MT4 and MT5 platforms. VPS hosting allows traders to run automated algorithmic strategies, including expert advisors 24 hours a day 7 days a week on a virtual machine. Traders are charged a fee of 15 USD per month to use the service.  

The LiteFinance VPS service has dedicated 24/5 customer support teams that can help new users get set up and install EAs and indicators directly to the virtual machines. VPS services have the advantage of never suffering connectivity issues and have extremely low latency due to their proximity to major international exchanges.

Forex Social Trading

LiteFinance has created its own proprietary social trading platform.  The automated copy-trading system will allow you to duplicate the best trades, trade independently, share information, and communicate with other traders. LiteFinance provides a list of the most profitable traders, with their performance profiles from which followers can choose. 

Claws & Horns Analytics

Traders receive independent market news and analysis from third-party provider, Claws & Horns.  Available for free to all LiteFinance clients, Claws & Horns provides fundamental and technical analysis, video reviews, and various signals.  It also provides recommendations for trade opening with entry/exit points that are updated throughout the day, which are intended for medium-term trading strategies. 

Calculators

LiteFinance provides a host of trading calculators, including a trader’s calculator to calculate trading costs and required margin, a Fibonacci calculator, and a currency rates calculator.  

Overall, LiteFinance offers a range of useful trading tools to help traders make better trading decisions.  

LiteFinance’s market analysis materials are in-depth, comprehensive, and frequently updated.  

LiteFinance provides up-to-date reviews and forecasts for all market instruments. Its fundamental analysis consists of daily news on significant political and economic events that impact the world markets. In-house analysts and traders produce all forex fundamental analytical reports. LiteFinance also provides its clients with a free high-quality analysis prepared by an independent Company, Claws&Horns.

LiteFinance’s educational suite includes archived webinars, a glossary of terms, a set of books written by professional traders, and an extensive blog with topics for beginners and experienced traders alike.

Webinars: Webinars are run on a weekly basis, and traders can access archived webinars on the website.  Topics include Technical Analysis, Trader Psychology, Testing Strategies, Money Management, and Trading Basics.

Forex Books: LiteFinance lists a set of books for suggested reading.  Written by professional traders, these books provide beginners with the fundamentals of successful trading. Traders should note that they will have to purchase these books separately – they are not available through the website.  

Blog: LiteFinance’s blog is written by its team of in-house analysts. The blog is updated on a daily basis and provides materials for beginners, professionals, investors, and partners.  

Overall, LiteFinance provides a comprehensive education section that is frequently updated.

However, one has to register an account to access the live chat service. For the purposes of this review, we found customer support to be slow and sometimes unresponsive. They were also unable to answer most of our questions.