TrioMarkets

British traders will be trading under the subsidiary, EDR Financial Ltd, authorised and regulated by the Cyprus Securities and Exchange Commission (CySEC).  A top-tier regulator, CySEC is credited with active regulation of the markets, and proactively making changes to protect clients.

Under CySEC regulation, TrioMarkets segregate client funds from its operating capital in various banking institutions, and will not use customers’ funds in its operation or any other investment, ensuring their protection at all times.  It also provides its clients negative balance protection, so that they cannot lose more than is in their trading accounts. 

TrioMarkets also insures all client money through the Investor Compensation Fund (ICF).  The objective of the ICF is to secure any claims of covered clients against members of the ICF by paying its clients compensation in the event that the company is liquidated.

TrioMarkets stays out of the limelight in the Forex trading industry and does not engage in marketing activities like award shows, and has thus not won any awards.  That said, it has a good reputation among professional traders, and from our industry contacts and experience, we believe TrioMarkets to be a safe broker.

The account opening process at TrioMarkets is user-friendly, fully digital and accounts are ready for trading within one day.

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

• Basic Commission Free Account – 100 USD
• Standard Commission Free Account – 5,000 USD
• Advanced Account – 25,000 USD
• Premium Account – 50,000 USD

Creating an account is straightforward, the process is fully digital, and accounts are usually ready within one day. TrioMarkets offers individual and company accounts, but we will focus on opening an individual account:

1. New traders will have to click on the “Register” button at the top of the page where they will be directed to register an account
2. Traders will then have to confirm their email address.    
3. Once this step is complete, clients are required to fill out a questionnaire that helps TrioMarkets 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. TrioMarkets requires at least two documents to accept you as an individual client:
   1. Proof of Identification – TrioMarkets 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 TrioMarkets 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 TrioMarkets’ risk disclosure, customer agreement, and terms of business before you start trading. 

Overall, TrioMarkets’ account-opening process is fully digital and hassle-free and accounts are generally ready for trading within one business day.   

TrioMarket’s trading costs are built into the spread on its Zero Commission accounts– though the two ECN accounts have a relatively high commission in exchange for tighter spreads. Spreads are variable at TrioMarkets, meaning that they will get wider or tighter depending on trade volume and market volatility. 

Overall, spreads are wider than average at TrioMarkets. The average cost for trading one lot of EUR/USD among similar brokers is about 9 USD per lot. As you can see from the table above, this is only achievable with the Premium Account, which is prohibitively expensive to open for most traders – requiring a minimum deposit of 50,000 USD.

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. TrioMarkets’ swap rates are published on its website for each financial instrument. TrioMarkets charges swap fees of -4,7748 on the EUR/USD on a long position, and -4,2202 on a short position.

Account Trading Costs:

We opened and tested some of TrioMarkets’ accounts:

Basic Account

TrioMarkets’ entry-level account, the minimum deposit is 100 USD and spreads start at 2.40 pips on the EUR/USD, which is extremely wide compared to other STP/ECN brokers.  No commissions are charged on this account.

Standard Account

A commission-free account, the Standard Account is suitable for beginner traders with an extremely high minimum deposit of  5000 USD. Spreads start at 1.4 pips on the EUR/USD, which is still wider than the spreads on most other broker’s entry-level accounts.  Additionally, most other brokers have a minimum deposit requirement of around 100 USD, if any at all.  

Advanced Account

The Advanced Account is suitable for more experienced traders who want to trade on the raw spread.  The minimum deposit requirement on this account is 25,000 USD, which is very high compared to the professional accounts at other brokers. While the minimum spread of 0 pips is about average for an ECN account, the 11 USD round turn commission is very high when compared to other STP/ECN brokers.   In addition to the training materials offered on the Standard Account, traders can access a daily market briefing along with free trading signals.

Premium Account

A minimum deposit of 50,000 USD is required to open a Premium Account.  Traders are offered better trading conditions – with spreads starting at 0.0 pips on the EUR/USD and a commission of 4 USD/lot per side charged on each trade.  Still, this commission is much higher than the industry average.  Premium account-holders receive the highest service standards, with a dedicated account manager and access to all educational materials. 

Demo Account

TrioMarkets has a demo training account funded with 100,000 USD to sharpen your trading and test your strategies before committing to live trading.  TrioMarkets’ demo account is only unlimited once traders open a live account, which is an unusual move on the part of the broker.  

MT4 is available on both iOS and Android as a downloadable app.  The app provides a simple interface for secure trading and integration with TrioMarkets’ accounts.

Although there is slightly limited functionality compared to the desktop version of the platform, with reduced timeframes and fewer charting options, traders will still have access to analytics with technical indicators, graphical objects, and a full set of trading orders.

Trading Platform Comparison:

TrioMarkets offers the MetaTrader 4 platform and the corresponding Web Trader software that loads in a browser.  MT4 trading on TrioMarkets is highly customisable, with a range of tools and plugins that can be added to the platform to make it more powerful. For more on TrioMarkets’ trading tools, click here.

Developed by MetaQuotes in 2002, MT4 is still considered one of the best CFD trading platforms in the world.  While not the most accessible software for beginners, it provides a seamless transition from one broker to another should trading conditions change.

Although the platform feels somewhat outdated, it is still widely recognised for its execution speeds, excellent charting tools, algorithmic trading, and customisability.  Other features of MT4 include:

• The creation, modification, and utilisation of automated trading strategies.
• Supports MQL4 programming language.
• Algorithmic trading, which allows any trading strategy to be formalised and implemented as an Expert Advisor. 
• Allows traders to develop their own custom indicators.
• Superior charting tools in nine timeframes
• 24 graphical objects
• 30 built-in indicators
• Four pending order types, including buy stop, sell stop, buy limit, and sell limit.

In line with Anti-Money Laundering policies, funds will only be transferred into an account registered in the same name as the TrioMarkets’ account holder.

Payment methods include Bank Wire Transfers, Visa/Mastercard, Skrill, and Neteller.  Triomarkets charges a fee of 1.5% per withdrawal with a minimum charge of 25 USD on Bank Wire Transfers. A 3% deposit processing fee is charged on credit card/debit cards (Visa/Mastercard), Skrill, and Neteller payment methods. These are very high fees compared to other similar brokers.  

The speed of withdrawals depends on the account type: Standard, Basic and Advanced account-holders have a 24-hour payout period, while Premium account-holders will have a six-hour waiting time. 

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

TrioMarkets offers four base currencies, which is limited compared to other similar brokers.

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

Having accounts denominated in GBP is an advantage for British traders who will likely have bank accounts denominated in GBP, and who will be able to avoid paying conversion fees on deposits and withdrawals.  

TrioMarkets offers a wide range of useful tools, including premium tools for MT4, known as TrioExtend, VPS hosting, MAM/PAMM accounts, and FIX API.  

Trio Extend

The MT4 TrioExtend gives traders access to institutional quality technology, including advanced trading tools, user-configurable news and information, and trade analysis.  It also includes an array of sophisticated alarms and messaging systems, and live sentiment and correlation tracking. Features of the package include:

• Trade Terminal: A feature-rich professional trade execution and analysis tool, providing several trading features and order controls that are not included in MT4.
• Connect: A customisable news feed aggregator and interactive economic calendar
• Correlation Matrix and Correlation Trader: These tools work together to show correlations between pairs of trading symbols. It functions with any symbols available in the trading platform, allowing a calculation of the correlation between multiple asset classes against Forex. The Correlation Trader will then allow for a detailed inspection of the correlation between any two instruments.
• Live Sentiment: Offers live sentiment data across markets, enabling traders to be updated real-time on market sentiment and trade more effectively. The app also shows historic sentiment stats alongside market prices. 
• Mini Terminal: Allows traders to create pending and market order templates for ultra-fast execution. The Mini Terminal is a stand-alone smaller version of the Trade Terminal, focusing on a single market.
• Tick Charts: Displays a variety of different tick charts and boasts a one-click trading functionality allowing traders the opportunity to execute short-term trades swiftly and precisely. This tool is perfect for scalpers.
• Indicators: An Indicator package filled with highly sought-after chart indicators, featuring Renko, Order History, Pivot, Chart Group, Candle Countdown, Freehand Drawing, and many more.

Social Trading

TrioMarkets provides its own proprietary social trading platform.  Traders can choose from the top-listed strategy providers in the Marketplace. The Marketplace provides a search tool and a filter function that help traders to determine the Risk Ratio, Maximum Loss, and Profitability of each provider.  Strategy providers then take a portion of the profits they generate for each trade.  This tool is excellent for beginner traders finding their footing in the world of trading.  

FIX API

FIX (Financial Information Exchange) API (Application Programming Interface) is an electronic communications protocol for financial information exchange.

FIX API allows any trader to connect directly to TrioMarkets’ liquidity pool with minimized latency and cost. 

VPS

VPS (Virtual Private Server) hosting allows Forex traders to use the virtual environment on the hosting company’s servers to run the MetaTrader expert advisors 24 hours a day 7 days a week. VPS services have the advantage of never suffering connectivity issues and have extremely low latency due to their proximity to major international exchanges. 

MAM/PAMM

TrioMarkets offers an account management service to its clients which allows account managers to trade on their behalf.  In order to perform this service, bespoke technology or software is required, also known as MAM/PAMM.  The MAM software communicates all allocation settings directly with the TrioMarkets MetaTrader 4 server.    

MAM stands for Multi-Account Manager which permits a range of customisable ways to sub-allocate trades.  PAMM stands for Percentage Allocation Module Manager which means investors can be part of a set of sub-accounts that are traded together by a money manager or trader who has permission from clients to trade on their accounts.  Account Managers take a portion of the profits generated by the trades. 

Unique to TrioMarkets MAM/PAMM accounts is how the equity is allocated:

For example, the trader opens 1 lot on EURUSD with an equity status of 10k, 20k, 30k, 15k, and 25k in each sub account. PAMM/MAM allocates the 1 lot proportionally to each sub account as 0.1, 0.2, 0.3, 0.15 and 0.25. This equity method is used because it is solid and easy to implement.  There are various advantages to trading forex with a PAMM/MAM application. One of the most unique advantages is slippage interception. Since the sub accounts only mirror the master account pricing, it is impossible to see price discrepancies. This method guarantees that all sub trades will be entered from the master trade price.

Trading Tools Comparison:

Market Analysis materials are also limited, and TrioMarkets offers a basic Market News section, a Market Calendar, and a Video Chart Analysis section, which helps traders understand how to use technical analysis to spot the best trading entries. 

Educational Material Comparison:

For the purposes of this review, we found the customer support largely unresponsive and unavailable.  The live chat agents virtually never replied to our questions, and customer support via email provided very little response either.  We were told that somebody would contact us via telephone, but to date have still not received a callback. It seems, however, that the more advanced your account, the more attentive the service may be.