Amana Capital

Indians will be trading under the subsidiary, AFS Global, regulated and authorised by the Labuan Financial Services Authority (LFSA) in Malaysia.  While the LFSA’s rules are not as strict as those of the FCA or CySEC, it does allow Amana Capital to provide its clients with higher leverage.  

In accordance with LFSA regulation, Amana Capital holds all client funds in segregated accounts and provides negative balance protection, which means that clients can never lose more than is in their trading accounts.  Amana Capital’s clients with accounts under the LFSA licence will also benefit from 1,000,000 USD protection insurance should the Company be liquidated. 

Amana Capital has not won any recent awards, but based on its broad regulatory oversight, we deem it a reliable and secure broker.

The account opening process at Amana Capital is user-friendly, fully digital and accounts are ready for trading immediately.

All Indian residents are eligible to open an account at Amana Capital but have to meet the minimum deposit requirement of 50 USD.  

Creating an account is straightforward, the process is fully digital, and accounts are usually ready immediately. Amana Capital offers individual, joint,  and corporate accounts, but we will focus on opening an individual account:

1. New traders will have to click on the “Open Real Account” button at the bottom of the page where they will be directed to fill in their personal details, including name, surname, telephone number, and country of residence.    
2. Next, traders will have to choose their preferred platform, base currency, nationality, and employment type. 
3. Once this step is complete, clients are required to fill out a questionnaire that helps Amana Capital 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. Amana Capital requires at least two documents to accept you as an individual client:
   1. Proof of Identification – Amana Capital 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 Amana Capital’s 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, Amana Capital’s account-opening process is fully digital and hassle-free and accounts are generally ready for trading once all documentation has been approved.  

Amana Capital offers one commission-free account with trading costs included in its variable spreads.  This means that the spread will fluctuate and get wider or tighter depending on trading volume and market volatility.  Overall, at 14 USD per lot traded, Amana Capital’s trading costs are higher than the industry average.  The trading costs on the EUR/USD at other good brokers tend to be around 9 USD per lot traded.   

However, Amana Capital also offers two high deposit accounts that are suitable for more experienced traders – the Amana Active Account and the Elite Account.  The Amana Active Account requires a minimum deposit of 25,000 USD and spreads tighten to 0.1 pips on the EUR/USD in exchange for a commission of 3 USD per lot traded, which is highly competitive.  Trading costs improve further on the Elite Account, but this requires a minimum deposit of 250,000 USD. 

Swap Fees

Another important cost to consider is the swap rate charged on positions held overnight.   Interest is paid (or received) for each night a position is held. 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.

The swap fee is credited or debited once for each day of the week, at midnight server time, when a position is rolled over, with the exception of Wednesday for spot Forex, WTI, & Brent oil, when it is credited or debited 3 times.

Account Trading Costs:

We opened and tested several of Amana Capital’s accounts:

Amana Classic

The commission-free Amana Classic Account has a minimum deposit requirement of 50 USD.  Spreads start at 1.40 pips on the EUR/USD, which is wider than other market makers.  Stop Out levels are at 20%, and accounts are denominated in USD, EUR, or GBP.  No commissions are charged on Forex or Cash CFDs, but 10 USD/lot is charged on Futures trading and 0.02 USD/share on share CFDs.

Amana Active

The Amana Active account requires a minimum account balance of 25,000 USD and a minimum volume of 100 million USD per calendar month, but spreads are much tighter (down to 0.1 pips on the EUR/USD).  A commission of 0.0 USD/lot traded is charged on Forex and 5 USD/lot on future CFDs. Traders have access to a personal account manager, API Trading, trading signals and technical studies, and a free VPS service.  

Amana Elite

The Elite account is Amana Capital’s professional account. With a minimum deposit requirement of 250,000 USD, traders can access the tightest spreads and can negotiate their commissions.  Traders also have access to a personal account manager, personal coaching sessions, and elite trading tools. 

Swap Free Accounts: 

Amana offers Swap-Free accounts for traders who choose not to receive or pay daily swaps in adherence to Islamic religious principles. When trading a Swap Free Account, currency pairs held overnight will not be ‘paid or charged’ a daily swap fee. Swap-Free terms are not applicable on the following: 

• FX pairs containing CZK, HKD, NOK, PLN, SEK, SGD, TRY, ZAR, RUB. 
• Cash CFDs: U30USD, NASUD, 100GP, E50EUR, D30EUR, F40EUR, SPXUSD. 
• Spot Energies: WTIUSD, BRENTUSD. 

Fees may be applied on a Swap Free trade in case trading positions are held open for more than 10 (ten) days, unless waived by Amana. Such fees can be applied from the time the position was opened and at the sole discretion of Amana Capital.  Please contact customer support for more details.  

Demo Account

Amana Capital offers a demo account that allows you to trade instruments without risking real money.  It comes loaded with virtual funds and is available for 30 days on the MT4 and MT5 trading platforms.   

Amana Capital offers support for MT4 and MT5 mobile trading apps for Android and iOS. 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. 

Trading Platform Comparison:

Amana supports the MetaTrader Suite of platforms.  In addition to the desktop applications, Amana Capital also offers MT4 and MT5 WebTrader, which are the browser-based version of the platforms, along with mobile and tablet versions of both iterations.  Multiterminal is also available if you are managing numerous accounts simultaneously.  

While MT4 and MT5 are both excellent trading platforms, many other CFD brokers also offer their own web-based platforms, which tend to be easier to use for beginner traders. On the other hand, the benefit of Amana Capital offering third-party platforms such as MT4 and MT5 is that traders can take their own customised version of the platform with them should they choose to migrate to another broker.  Additionally, there are thousands of plugins and tools available for the MetaTrader platforms.   

Metatrader 4

While not the most beginner-friendly software, MT4 has been the industry-standard platform for trading Forex and CFDs since 2005. Its intuitive interface and user-friendly environment provide essential tools and resources for successful online trading.    Features of the 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

Continuing its predecessor’s reputation, the MT5 platform provides traders with everything they need to trade the financial markets.  It incorporates all of the key features of MT4 and an optimised environment for algorithmic trading using Expert Advisors (EAs). 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.

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

In line with Anti-Money Laundering policies, Amana Capital does not accept payments from third parties and only accepts funds received directly from the named trading account holder. Accounts can be funded via Credit Card, Bank transfers & e-wallets.  Amana Capital charges a fee for handling deposits dependent on the payment method, and commissions can be as high as 1.5% for withdrawals. Withdrawals take around 3 – 4 days to be processed, which is longer than the industry average. 

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

Amana Capital offers a limited number of base (trading account) currencies compared to other similar brokers.

Trading accounts can only be denominated in three base currencies – EUR, USD, and GBP, which is limited compared to other brokers.  Most other brokers denominated accounts in at least five to ten currencies.  Additionally, Amana Capital does not offer INR trading accounts, which is a disadvantage for Indians who will likely have bank accounts denominated in INR, and who will have to pay currency conversion fees on deposits and withdrawals.

For traders that trade in large volumes (more than 10 lots a month), it is better to open an account denominated in USD at a digital currency bank, 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.

AutoChartist

Free for all Amana Capital clients, no matter the account balance, Autochartist is a popular third-party trading tool.  Autochartist continuously scans markets and automatically recognises trade setups based on support and resistance levels. Once an opportunity has been identified, traders are alerted.  Some of Autochartist’s key features are:

• Chart pattern recognition
• Fibonacci pattern recognition
• Key level analysis
• Pattern quality indication 

Autochartist is one of the most valuable tools on the market.

Trade Captain

Free for all Amana Capital clients, Trade Captain is a third-party tool that provides a wide selection of innovative educational information, insightful analytics, and news, daily updates on financial markets and trading opportunities.

VPS

Amana Capital clients can also subscribe to a VPS hosting service provided in-house.  The VPS service is only available for Amana Capital Active Traders.  VPS services ensure that trades are never disrupted by technological or connectivity issues, such as load-shedding or internet service failure, which is a benefit to algorithmic traders who need to be connected to a server 24/7 to maximise uptime.  Other benefits of the VPS service include:

• 24/6 VPS email support
• 24/7 Redundant power to your VPS
• 24/7 Redundant internet connectivity to your VPS
• Low latency connectivity to FP Markets trading servers for precision trading
• Uninterrupted EA trading

Zulutrade

Zulutrade is a powerful auto-execution system that duplicates the trades of other successful traders.  Features of Zulutrade include:

• Automated strategy copying without any human intervention
• Direct access from mobile and desktop
• Personal portfolio creation without any fees
• A rich set of tools to customize and protect your trades
• Social features to enrich the ZuluTrade experience
• Complete monitoring of open positions in real-time
• Full control of funds

It is free to all Amana Capital clients and offers a rich set of tools to customize and protect your trades. 

Risk Pulse

Risk Pulse is a free analytics tool offered to Amana Capital clients.  It is designed to help traders analyse and understand their trading habits.  The Risk Pulse dashboard displays information about trading performance, calculated predictions of future results, and solutions to enhance trading performance. 

Trading Tools Comparison:

Amana Capital’s market analysis materials are minimal compare to other similar brokers, but it does offer research through third-party providers, Autochartist and Trade Captain.  

Apart from a basic Economic Calendar, there is no real market analysis to speak of. Amana Capital will argue that its clients have free access to AutoChartist and Trade Captain (two powerful third-party analytical tools) and therefore, it does not need to provide further analysis – which is a fair point – but it is always good to have as many information sources as possible.

Educational Material is freely available to all visitors at Amana Capital and is divided into six sections:

• Seminars – Amana Capital holds regular free seminars across the Middle East. If you live in the region, check the listings to see if there is one scheduled.
• Webinars – Webinars are also free but require registration, and are held frequently. Subjects vary widely from basic concepts to advanced trading strategies.  Most webinars are only available in Arabic.
• Videos – Amana Capital offers a small collection of introductory trading videos, but don’t expect anything too in-depth.
• Ebooks – Amana Capital offers a fairly comprehensive collection of eBooks for those who prefer to read when they learn – the material available is more in-depth and more comprehensive than the video library.
• Forex Trading – A brief section on the basics of Forex for those who don’t have the patience to educate themselves thoroughly.
• CFD Trading – Similar to the section above, this material will introduce you to the concepts and intricacies of CFD trading.

Educational Material Comparison:

Amana Capital offers multilingual support available 24/5 via telephone, call back, email, and messenger services such as WhatsApp, Facebook Messenger, Twitter, and Telegram.  Support is offered in five languages.  

For the purposes of this review, the live chat feature was not working.  We also emailed customer support numerous times and got no response.  Amana Capital also advertises a call-back service which we tried, but again, there was no response.  Overall, it seems that Amana Capital really needs to focus on improving its customer support.