Alpari

Indians will be trading under the subsidiary, Alpari Limited, authorised and regulated by the Financial Services Authority of St. Vincent and the Grenadines (SVGFSA).  

For all intents and purposes, the SVGFSA is not considered a forex broker regulator and applies no supervision of any CFD trading-related activities.  Indian clients must rely solely on the reputation of Alpari, as no additional measures exist to ensure client protection. However, in a show of good faith, Alpari segregates all funds from the company’s operating capital at top-tier banks, and it offers negative balance protection to all its clients.  

Alpari has also been a member of The Financial Commission since 2013. Based in Hong Kong, the Financial Commission is an independent international body specialising in the resolution of disputes between Forex brokers and traders.  The fund provides investor protection up to 20,000 EUR per case, placing it on par with similar funds offered by EU-based regulators. 

Overall, because of its long history of responsible behaviour, provision of negative balance protection, and the fact that Alpari participates in a compensation scheme, we consider Alpari a trustworthy broker for Indian traders to trade with.

Opening a trading account at Alpari is a fully digital process and is hassle-free compared to other brokers.

All Indian traders can open an account at Alpari but will need to meet all the minimum deposit amounts to do so; these are:

• Nano MT4 Account: No deposit
• Standard MT4 Account: 20 EUR, USD
• Standard MT5 Account: 100 EUR, USD
• ECN MT4 Account: 300 EUR, USD
• ECN MT5 Account: 500 EUR, USD
• Pro Account: 500 EUR, USD

Creating an account is straightforward, the process is fully digital, and accounts are usually ready within one to two business days.  

How to open an account at Alpari:

1. First, click on “Register.”

2. Alpari’s intake form requires clients to fill in their personal details, including name, country of residence, email address, and to provide a telephone number so that Alpari can send a verification PIN code. 

3. Clients are then required to fill in their financial information, employment status and answer questions about their trading knowledge.

4. Clients are required to choose their preferred trading account, trading account currency, level of leverage, and choose a trading account password.  

5. Accounts are immediately available for trading, and traders can make a deposit. 

6. In order to withdraw funds, Alpari requires individuals to submit a copy of their National ID or Passport with the signature page, as well as a copy of a recent utility bill or bank statement.  

7. Documents can be scanned or sent through as a high-quality digital camera picture.

8. We advise you to read Alpari’s risk disclosure, customer agreement, and terms of business before you start trading.  

Overall, Alpari’s account-opening process is fully digital and hassle-free – new traders will be especially happy that they can start trading right away without having to wait for account verification.

Alpari’s range and depth of trading instruments are limited compared to many other brokers.

The trading costs on the commission-free Nano MT4 and Standard MT4/MT5 Accounts are 17 USD, making these rather expensive options.  

However, the commission-free ECN MT4 Account has a trading cost of 9 USD, and a minimum deposit of 300 USD, putting it well within the reach of most traders.  Additionally, the commission-based ECN MT5 and Pro Accounts have a minimum spread of 0.3 pips in exchange for a round turn commission of 3.2 USD, making them some of the most competitive offers available. 

Swap Fees

Another cost to consider are the swap fees for holding a position open overnight.  A swap is the interest paid on leveraged positions.  When trading a currency, you are borrowing one currency to purchase another. The swap interest fee is calculated based on the difference between the two interest rates of the traded currencies.

For example, Alpari charges a swap fee of 1.0.1 on a short position and -0.67 on a long position.:

We opened and tested a variety of Alpari’s accounts:

Standard Accounts

There are three standard accounts at Alpari and all use instant order execution, and are available on the MT4 and MT5 platforms. Spreads are generally wider than market execution accounts, but no commission is charged, and they are available as swap-free accounts.

Standard MT5 Account – This account type requires a 100 USD/EUR minimum deposit. Spreads start at 1.70 pips (EUR/USD), which is wider than the spreads on other brokers’ entry-level accounts, and the stop out is set at  20%. With this account, you will be able to trade 33 Forex pairs as well as spot metals and spot CFDs. Leverage is floating, but the upper limit is 1:1000, which is risky and could see accounts wiped out. If you are a new trader, we would recommend setting your leverage much lower.

Standard MT4 Account – This account requires a minimum deposit of 20 USD/EUR.  Spreads also start at 1.70 pips on the EUR/USD, and the stop out level is 20%.  Again traders can trade on 33 Forex pairs, spot metals, and CFDS.  Leverage is also floating, with a maximum of up to 1:1000.  

Nano Account – This is an entry-level account, with no minimum deposit requirement. Spreads are wide, starting at 1.7 pips (EUR/USD), and the stop-out is set at 10%. You are limited to trading only 33 Forex pairs (no exotics) and spot metals. Leverage is fixed at 1:500, which is still quite high, so be aware of this before you start trading. The real advantage of this account is the tiny minimum deposit, and the ability to trade in micro-lots, but if you can afford it, we would recommend opening the Standard Account instead, as spreads are tighter.

ECN Accounts

The three ECN accounts at Alpari use market execution and the Forex ECN account supports MT5 as well as MT4, though the MT5 platform will not support Islamic/swap-free accounts. As with all ECN accounts, spreads are much tighter.

ECN MT4 Account – This account requires a minimum deposit of 300 USD/EUR, and offers spreads of 0.9 pips on the EUR/USD, which is average compared to other similar brokers.  No commissions are charged, and a maximum leverage of 3000:1 is available.  Trading is offered on 46 currency pairs, spot metals, and CFDs, and stop-out levels are at 60%.   

ECN MT5 Account – This account requires a minimum deposit of 500 USD/EUR and offers spreads starting from 0.3 pips (EUR/USD). The commission is 1.6 USD/lot per side and leverage is floating from 3000:1. Traders can trade on 46 currency pairs, metals, and CFDs and stop out levels are set at 60%.

Pro-Account – This account is made for professional traders only and requires a minimum balance of 500 USD/EUR. Spreads start at 0.3 pips on the EUR/USD and a commission of 1.6 USD per lot per side is charged.  Leverage is floating with an upper limit of 1:300, and the stop-out levels are at 60%. The only real downside to this account is that it is not supported on the MT5 platform.

Demo accounts – Demo accounts are only available for the Standard and ECN account options.  Virtual funds can be topped up on request and demo accounts do not expire unless no trading takes place for over 14 days, in which case it is deleted.  However, traders can open a new demo account should this occur. 

MT4 and MT5 are 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 brokers or use multiple brokers. 

Alpari’s MT4 and MT5 apps allow traders to work from anywhere, with nine timeframes, 30 indicators, and interactive currency charts. Functionality to close and modify existing orders, calculate profit/loss in real-time, and tick chart trading further empowers traders while on the move.

Alpari offers support for MT4 – the most popular trading platform globally – and MT5 – the latest version of the industry standard. In addition to the desktop applications, Alpari also offers MT4 and MT5 WebTerminal, which are browser-based versions of the platforms, along with mobile and tablet versions of both iterations. The advantages of using MT4 are numerous, but most centre around the community support and the number of users that the tool boasts. 

The new and updated version of MT5 boasts state-of-the-art features including options for hedging, while MT4 is slightly less advanced and more suited to traders who are new to the markets.  MT5 also has a built-in news feed and an economic calendar, and trades can be made on a chart.

Trading Platform Comparison

Image URL (Small)

Broker

Platform Choice

Copy Trading

Platforms

Alpari

4.5

/ 5

Read Review

Yes

MT4

MT5

AvaTrade

4.5

/ 5

Read Review

Yes

MT4

MT5

Avatrade Social

AvaOptions

Plus500

4

/ 5

Read Review

No

Plus500

Metatrader 4 

Developed by MetaQuotes in 2002, MT4 is still the most popular CFD trading platform in the world.  Although the platform’s interface is now dated, MT4 is still widely recognised for its fast execution speeds, a wide range of charting tools, algorithmic trading, and customisability.  Other features of MT4 include:

• Supports 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
• 31 graphical objects
• 30 built-in indicators
• 9 timeframes
• Three order execution types.
• Four types of pending orders

Metatrader 5

MT5 is more powerful and faster than MT4, especially when it comes to back-testing functionality for automated trading algorithms.  MT5 also has a built-in news feed, market depth indicator, economic calendar, and trades that can be made on charts. Additional features of MT5 include:

• 21 timeframes
• 38 technical indicators
• 44 graphical objects
• Six pending order types
• Multi-threaded strategy tester
• Economic Calendar
• MT5 allows traders to chat with other traders directly on the platform.

The benefit of brokers offering third-party platforms such as MT4 and MT5 is that traders can use the platforms should they choose to migrate to another broker.  However, MT4 and MT5 are often not as user-friendly as platforms that are developed in-house.   

Note that MT4 and MT5 desktop versions are only available on Windows PCs.

A well-regulated broker, Alpari ensures that all Anti-Money Laundering rules and regulations are followed. As such, all non-profit funds are returned to the original deposit source. No matter your deposit method, the withdrawal of all profits must be made by bank transfer to a bank account in your name.

Alpari offers a number of deposit and withdrawal methods, including credit cards/debit cards, bank transfers, and e-wallets such as Bitcoin, Skrill, Neteller, Webmoney, and Perfect Money.  

Deposits are generally processed instantly, except for bank transfers, which can take up to 3 – 5 days, and withdrawals are processed within 24 hours.  No fees are charged for deposits, but a withdrawal fee may apply, depending on the method.  Of particular note is the fee for bank wire transfers, which costs 30 EUR per transaction.

At Alpari, you can only choose from two base currencies; EUR and USD.   

This is a disadvantage for Indian residents who will likely have bank accounts denominated in INR and who will be able to avoid paying currency conversion fees on deposits and withdrawals.  Conversion fees can make trading very expensive and are usually not presented on the fee report but affect your profitability.

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

Alpari CopyTrade allows you to copy the trading positions of other traders, which Alpari calls Strategy Managers. This is especially useful for new traders who want to start profiting from the market while they are still learning, as you don’t need any advanced knowledge of forex trading to get started. Strategy Managers usually have a wealth of experience in the markets, with tried-and-tested strategic trading decisions. Once you decide whom to follow, you can subscribe to their trades and pay them a percentage of whatever profits you make. 

Overall, although Alpari offers an excellent copy trading service, it lacks other analysis tools, such as Autochartist, Trading Central, and Trading View that are often available at other brokers.

Alpari supports the newest iteration of the popular MetaTrader platform, MetaTrader 5 (MT5). MT5 has a built-in economic calendar to keep track of important events in the financial world and live a market depth tracker, which is an excellent way to keep track of other traders’ moves in the market. However, most other brokers offer daily insights written by their team of inhouse analysts, which is unavailable at Alpari. 

Unfortunately, there are no video tutorials or webinars on offer at the moment, although Alpari dedicates a page on its website to webinars. 

The written material available is mainly composed of a Beginners Guide to Forex Trading. This includes an explanation of the main concepts involved in Forex trading and a glossary of the most commonly used terms. It’s capped off with an introduction to the different types of charts used by traders.

Accompanying the Beginner’s Guide is an introduction to trading strategies, which is useful for familiarising yourself with the ideas and terms used when developing a trading plan.

Unusually, Alpari also offers customer support from 12:00 – 20:00 (all hours GMT+2/3) on weekends. This is very welcome and something we wish more brokers would do. Help is available via live chat, Telegram, phone, email, and the myAlpari hub.

Please note that the Deposit/Withdrawal customer service team only work from 02:00 – 20:00 during the week and from 13:00 – 17:00 on Saturday.

For the purposes of this review, we found the customer service responsive and well-informed.