ACY Securities

Indian traders will be trading under the subsidiary, ACY Capital Australia Limited (ACY LTD), incorporated in Vanuatu and regulated by the Vanuatu Financial Services Commission (VFSC).  

Unlike more reputable regulators such as ASIC in Australia, or the FCA in the UK, VFSC-regulated brokers are not required to segregate client funds from their operating capital or offer their traders negative balance protection.  Additionally, brokers only need to submit regular financial reports once a year.  

Essentially, this means that the VFSC does not involve itself in the client protection business. At most, they may release warnings against companies that are found to have repeatedly violated the rules. But if you enter a dispute against VFSC-registered brokers, you cannot expect the agency’s assistance to mediate or get your money back.

However, although Indian traders may be apprehensive about trading under a subsidiary that is unregulated, ACY Securities deposits all client funds in top-tier, well-capitalised banks, separate from the company’s operating funds.  Additionally, ACY Securities is also regulated by a top-tier regulator, ASIC, providing another level of regulatory oversight. 

Indian traders are afforded negative balance protection, but this is evaluated on a case-by-case basis.  

ACY Securities’ account-opening process is as per the industry standard. 

All Indian traders are eligible to open an account at ACY Securities as long as they meet the following minimum deposit requirements.  These are:

• Standard account: 50 USD
• ProZero Account: 200 USD
• Bespoke Account: 10,000 USD

Traders can choose between a business or individual account, but for the purposes of this review, we will outline the process for opening an individual account:

1. Click on the button at the top right-hand corner of the screen labelled “Open an Account.”

2. Register a live account.  This requires filling in a registration form with all your personal details including your name, email address, and telephone number.  

3. The next step requires completing your personal details, including gender, ID number, date of birth, and residential address.

4. Traders will then have to fill in their financial information, including employment details, occupation, and annual income.  Traders will also have to select their preferred platform (MT4 or MT5), base currency (click here for more on ACY Securities’ base currencies), account type, and leverage.

5. Once this step is complete, clients are required to fill out a questionnaire that helps ACY Securities 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. 

6. Traders will then have to verify that they have read the Key Information Statement, the Client Terms and Conditions, and the Privacy Policy Statement.

7. ACY Securities requires at least two documents to accept you as an individual client:

1. Proof of Identification – ACY Securities 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 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 log in and fund their accounts  

Overall, ACY Securities’ account-opening process is fully digital and hassle-free and accounts are generally ready for trading once all documentation has been approved.

ACY Securities’ CFD offering is broader than other similar brokers, and it includes specialty CFDs such as ETFs and cryptocurrencies.

Bespoke Account

A minimum deposit of 10,000 USD is required on this account, spreads start at 0.0 pips on the EUR/USD, and traders are charged a very low commission of 5 USD (round turn) per lot. Overall, the trading costs on this account are among the lowest in the industry.

Demo Accounts

ACY Securities’ demo accounts come loaded with up to 100,000 USD in virtual funds.  Demos mimic the conditions on all of the above-mentioned accounts on both the MT4 and MT5 platforms.  Demos last for six months and can be renewed on request.

Swap Fees

ACY Securities’ swap fees are reasonable, with a swap rate of -3.75 on a long position, and -0.34 on a short position.  

We opened and tested several of ACY Securities’ accounts:

Standard Account

The minimum initial deposit in the Standard Account is 50 USD.  Spreads are variable, starting at 1.00 pips on the EUR/USD, which is slightly wider than similar-sized ECN/DMA brokers, but no commissions are charged. 

ProZero Account

A minimum deposit of 200 USDis required to open a ProZero Account.  Spreads start at 0.0 pips on the EUR/USD, and average at 0.1 pips, and a low commission of 6 USD (round turn) per lot is charged.  These trading conditions are highly competitive for the industry.   

On the ProZero Account, commissions are charged differently depending on the base currency of your account. 

ACY Securities supports the MetaTrader Suite of platforms.  In addition to the desktop applications, ACY Securities also offers MT4 and MT5 WebTrader, which are the browser-based version of the platforms, along with mobile and tablet versions of both iterations. Traders can use Windows, Mac, and Linux operating systems for MT4 and MT5. 

Metatrader 4

While not the most beginner-friendly software, MT4 has been the industry-standard platform for trading Forex and CFDs since 2005.  One of the features that make MT4 popular is its auto-trading feature that enables algorithmic trading and strategy backtesting with expert advisors (trading robots).

Features of the MT4 include:

• 40 technical indicators and 24 graphic objects 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

There are also many advantages of signing up with an MT4 broker:

• The MT4 community is vast, as is the amount of text and video resources to support new and experienced traders alike.
• The MT4 EA (Expert Advisor) community of developers is very active, so renting or buying algorithmic trading software is very easy.
• MT4 has very low system requirements, and MT4 trading can run off any device.

However, 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.

Metatrader 5

MT4’s successor, MT5, is a state-of-the-art, multi-functional platform that boasts advanced technical tools and copy-trading. MetaTrader 5 is designed to accommodate advanced trading across a wider selection of asset classes than its predecessor, MT4. Feature-rich, it boasts advanced tools and offers superior execution.  

 Features include:

• 38+ preinstalled technical indicators
• 44 analytical charting tools
• 3 chart types
• 21 timeframes
• Additional pending order types
• Detachable charts
• Trailing stop
• Depth of Market
• An integrated Economic Calendar.

In line with Anti-Money Laundering policies, ACY Securities operates a “return to source policy,” meaning that withdrawals can only be returned to the original funding source.   Deposits and withdrawals can be made via Bank Transfer, Visa/Mastercard, PayPal, Neteller, Skrill, PerfectMoney, Trustly, dragonpay, PayTrust, and UnionPay. However, Indian traders can only make use of credit cards/debit cards, bank transfer, Skrill, Neteller, and Perfect Money.  Deposits are free and instant.  Withdrawal requests are processed on the same day if a request is received before 14:00 AEST. Requests received after 14:00 AEST might not be processed until the next business day.

ACY Securities offers a larger number of base currencies compared to most other brokers.

ACY Securities offers accounts denominated in USD, EUR, GBP, AUD, NZD, CAD, and JPY but not INR, which means that Indian traders will have to pay conversion fees on all deposits and withdrawals.  Conversion fees can make trading expensive, and affect profitability.

The market analysis section is updated on a daily basis but essentially comprises two sections – Market News and Market Analysis.  Both sections cover articles written by ACY Securities’ in-house team of market analysts.  The material is in-depth and well-structured. 

ACY’s educational materials comprise e-books, trading videos, a video trading course, and various articles about how to trade Forex.  See below for more details:

• E-books: The in-house team of analysts has created a free trading e-book covering the essential aspects of trading, including ‘The Importance of Choosing the Right Company,’ ‘Forex Industry,’ ‘Fundamental Analysis,’ and ‘Technical Analysis,’ amongst others.
• Trading Courses: In this free trading series, ACY Securities’ Chief Market Analyst guides traders on how to apply chart patterns, how to trade according to the latest market events, and using fundamentals to make better trading decisions. 
• Seminars and Webinars: These are run every Tuesday and Thursday evenings in various languages by ACY Securities in-house market analysts.  Webinars are free of charge to all visitors to the site, but require registration. 
• Articles: Various educational articles are published on a daily basis and cover topics such as leverage, how to use the Metatrader platforms, the basics of Forex trading, and more. 

On opening an account, traders receive personalised support, helping them with account setup and any other technical difficulties. For the purposes of this review, we found the customer support responsive, polite, and resourceful.