Valutrades Review

Is Valutrades safe?

Established in 2012 and headquartered in London, Valutrades is regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) and the Seychelles Financial Services Authority.  It is also a UK Member of FSCS (Financial Services Compensation Scheme) with deposits of up to 85,000 GBP per person protected.   See the following list of Valutrades registered companies:

• Valutrades Limited is a limited liability company registered in England and Wales, authorised and regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority. Financial Services Register Number 586541.
• VALUTRADES (SEYCHELLES) LIMITED is a limited liability company registered in the Republic of Seychelles, authorized and regulated by the Seychelles’ Financial Services Authority. Securities Dealer License No SD028.

All client funds are held in separate, secure accounts in top-tier banks in the European Economic Area (EEA). Valutrades also offers negative balance protection.

Trading Conditions

Valutrades offers trading in forex, commodities, and indices.  Valutrades offers trading on a standard ECN account and a professional account.  Leverage on the ECN account is at 30:1 for major FX pairs and is up to 500:1 on the professional account.  Professional traders are only afforded the protection of the FSA (Seychelles).  There is no minimum deposit, and spreads are tight, starting at 0 pips.  Valutrades charges a commission of 3 USD/lot per side.  It allows scalping, hedging, and copy trading.  Valutrades denominates accounts in a range of currencies, including AUD, CHF, EUR, GBP, JPY, USD, ZAR, NZD, CAD, HKD, NOK, SEK, and SGD.  Furthermore, it does not charge a fee on dormant accounts.

Valutrades does not offer Islamic Swap-Free accounts.

Demo Accounts

Valutrades offers a free unlimited demo account where clients can test out trading strategies with virtual funds. The customer support team is available to help with any account setup or technical difficulties. 

Spreads & Commission

Valutrades offers some of the tightest spreads on the market and charges a commission of 3 USD/lot per side. Spreads on the EUR/USD average at around 0.2 pips, 0.4 pips for the GBP/USD, and 0.1 pips for the USD/JPY.  Fees are only charged if positions are held open overnight. The specific fees for each asset will depend on the market – full details can be found on the Valutrades website.

Deposits and Withdrawals

As a well-regulated broker, Valutrades ensures that all Anti-Money Laundering rules and regulations are followed, and as such, all withdrawals are returned to the deposit source.  Deposits are instant and free, except for bank wire transfers and local bank transfers, which may take one to two days to reflect in trading accounts.  Withdrawals are processed within 24 hours, and the first three withdrawals in a month are free.  After that, a 5% fee is charged per withdrawal.  Withdrawals can only be performed on a balance of 50 USD/EUR/GPB in the trader’s account.  Deposit and withdrawal methods include:

• Bank Wire
• Credit and Debit cards
• Skrill
• Neteller
• American Express
• AstroPay
• Diners Club
• Giropay
• iDeal
• JCB
• Klarna
• POLi Internet Banking
• Paysafe card
• Przelewy24
• Rapid Transfer
• Sticpay
• Trustly
• Paypal
• Local bank transfers (Brazil, China)

Valutrades for Beginners

Valutrades provides an extensive, well-organized selection of educational and market analysis materials, far exceeding other brokers.  Valutrades also offers regular webinars, a Trading News section, and Live Quotes.    

Educational Materials

Valutrade’s excellent written educational materials help traders develop skills to improve trading performance.  Several guides have been compiled and cover topics ranging from beginner forex tips to trading strategies.  Valutrades also provides a range of training video courses.

Market Analysis Materials

Valutrades has an in-house market and research team. It offers various market analysis materials, including trading news and daily market news with commentary and updates to guide trading.  It also offers an economic calendar and custom indicators for MT4.

Customer Service

Customer support is available during business hours, five days a week, via email, live chat, and telephone in Chinese, English, Portuguese, Spanish, and German. For the purposes of this review, we found the customer service to be responsive, knowledgeable, and polite.

Trading Platforms

Valutrades offers forex trading on both MetaTrader4 (MT4) and MetaTrader5 (MT5), two of the industry’s leading platforms.   Both provide automated trading systems with expert advisors (EAs), and are simple to navigate yet offer a powerful range of features, charts, and analysis tools.   

MetaTrader 4

MT4 was developed in 2005 and is still considered one of the best trading platforms on the Forex market.  It is simple and easy to use and allows traders to customise the interface to their trading needs.  Price tracking is made easy and accurate, with over 50 technical tools, 30 built-in indicators, multiple chart types and 9 timeframes.

MetaTrader 5

Developed in 2010, the MT5 platform offers all the features provided by MT4, in addition to improved trading functionalities and enhanced scripting tools for custom indicators.  It offers 80+ technical analysis indicators and analytical tools and powerful algorithmic trading with built-in MQL5 development.  Additionally, users can access an economic calendar, Depth of Market view, and trading robots.

Fix API

FIX API uses the Fix Protocol method of trading, allowing clients to trade directly on Valutrade’s ECN matching engine. FIX API is an application-based trading interface that allows clients to program their own trading strategies in FIX protocol, and run algorithms. FIX API commissions start at USD 30 per million USD traded. The minimum deposit for FIX API is USD 10,000, and the highest possible leverage is 100:1 on Valutrades Limited (professional client) and Valutrades Seychelles.  Users are given direct market access to forex, CFDs, and commodities. Fix Protocol is suitable for anyone with API knowledge.

Traders will need to contact customer support and submit their email addresses to set up their FIX API account.

Mobile Apps

Users can download and access MT4 and MT5 on Windows PC, Webtrader, Android, and iOS.

Evaluation Method

We value transparency and openness in the way we review the partners. To bring transparency to the forefront, we have published our review process that includes a detailed breakdown of how we review Valutrade’s product offering. Central to that process is the evaluation of the broker’s reliability, the platform offering of the broker, and the trading conditions offered to clients, which are summarised in this review. Each one of these is graded, and an overall score is calculated and assigned to the broker.

Valutrade’s Risk Warning

Trading Forex is risky, and each broker is required to detail how risky the trading of Forex CFDs is to clients. Valutrades would like you to know that:  CFDs are complex instruments and come with a high risk of losing money rapidly due to leverage. 63% of retail investor accounts lose money when trading CFDs with this provider. You should consider whether you understand how CFDs work and whether you can afford to take the high risk of losing your money.

Overview

Valutrades is a dependable ECN broker.  Whilst non-forex products may be slightly limited, Valutrades offers low spreads and advanced trading on the MT4 and MT5 platforms. The FCA regulation ensures a safe trading environment while the no minimum deposit and well-organised selection of educational and research materials make it an accessible broker for beginners.