Fibo Group Broker Review

Founded in 1998, FIBO Group Holdings is a hybrid ECN/NDD market maker which has been authorised and regulated by CySEC since 2010 (licence number 118/10).  It is also a member of the Investor Compensation Fund (ICF), and in the unlikely event of FIBO Group’s bankruptcy, the ICF will compensate traders up to a maximum of 20,000 EUR.

In addition, FIBO Group Ltd is incorporated in the British Virgin Islands and has been regulated by the BVI FSC since 2016 (No. SIBA/L/13/1063). FIBO Group uses it is BVI office to provide services to customers outside of the EU. Clients trading under the BVI-regulated entity will not be covered by the ICF compensation scheme.

Malaysian traders will be trading under the FIBO Group entity regulated by the Financial Services Commission of the British Virgin Islands (BVI FSC).  

Unlike regulators such as the FCA and ASIC, the BVI FSC has gained a reputation for being less stringent with regard to the regulation of financial services providers.  However, it does require that brokers keep client funds in segregated accounts and that brokers issue monthly statements.  In compliance with these rules, FIBO Group ensures that all client funds are held in segregated accounts at tier-1 banks.

FIBO Group also publishes all trading statistics for all accounts, including execution speed, average and minimum spreads, and slippage percentages.

Additionally, FIBO Group operates as either an ECN or a No Dealing Desk (NDD) market maker. Either way, all client trades are executed without any dealing desk interference, preventing any conflict of interest, except on one of its accounts. 

However, clients are not provided with negative balance protection. Additionally, FIBO Group offers high leverage to its clients – up to 1000:1 on some of its account types. It also has low minimum deposit requirements, which means for traders who deposit small amounts, it will be difficult to hold a substantial trading position without getting stopped out and losing the money in their trading account, and possibly going into a negative balance. 

Overall, because of its long history of responsible behaviour, strong international regulation, and transparency, we consider FIBO Group a safe broker to trade with. However, traders should be aware of the high leverage, low minimum deposit requirements, and lack of negative balance protection, which could see their trading accounts wiped out or even incur a negative balance.

The account-opening and verification process at FIBO Group is seamless, fully digital and accounts are ready for trading immediately. 

All Malaysian residents are eligible to open an account at FIBO Group, as long as they meet the following minimum deposit requirements:

• Cent Account: 0 USD
• MT4 Fixed Account: 50 USD
• MT4 NDD Account: 50 USD
• MT4 NDD No Commission: 50 USD
• cTrader NDD Account: 50 USD
• MT5 NDD Account: 50 USD

FIBO Group offers corporate and individual accounts.  For the purposes of this review, we will outline the process for opening an individual account:

1. From the FIBO Group homepage, you will have to click on the ‘Live Account’ tab where you will be directed to register an account with a name, email address, and telephone number.  
2. A confirmation pin will be sent to your email address to confirm its validity.  A confirmation pin will also be sent to the registered telephone number.
3. FIBO Group’s registration form requires traders to fill in their personal details, including physical address, date of birth, and ID number. 
4. Next, traders are required to fill in their financial details, employment status, and trading knowledge.  
5. Traders will then have to choose their preferred account type (click here for more on FIBO Group’s account types), level of leverage, and account currency.  
6. Traders can then deposit funds into their accounts and begin trading.  
7. In order to use the full range of services available at FIBO Group and to be able to withdraw funds, FIBO Group requires the following documents:
   1. Proof of Identification – FIBO Group 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. 

Overall, FIBO Group’s account-opening process is fully digital and hassle-free and accounts are ready for trading immediately.

In some cases the trading costs are built into the spread, and in others, there is a spread mark-up in addition to a commission per lot.  

The trading costs on FIBO Group’s accounts are around the average seen at other brokers. Most good brokers have an average trading cost of around 9 USD per lot traded.  FIBO Group’s Cent, MT4 NDD, and cTrader accounts have low ongoing trading costs and have low minimum deposit requirements.

Swap Fees

The final trading cost to consider at FIBO Group is the swap rate charged on positions held overnight.   Interest is paid (or received) for each night a position is held.  In the case of Forex instruments, the amount charged depends on both the positions taken (i.e. long or short) and the rate differentials between the two currencies traded.  FIBO Group’s swap rates are published on its website for each financial instrument, and the exchange is automatically converted to the base currency of the trading account of the client.  

Account Trading Costs:

We opened and tested several of Fibo’s accounts:

MT4 Cent: The MT4 Cent Account is an ideal account for beginners or traders looking to test new trading robots. The minimum deposit is 0 USD, the maximum leverage is 1000:1, and the average spread on the EUR/USD is 0.60 pips, making it an extremely low cost account all round.  However, trade size is limited to one standard lot, and traders cannot trade commodities or indices on this account.  Additionally, there are only 38 Forex pairs available for trading.  

MT4 NDD: The MT4 NDD account requires a minimum deposit of 50 USD, maximum leverage of 1:400, and has an average spread on the EUR/USD of 0.3 pips. This account also has a commission of 3 USD/lot per side (6 USD round turn).  Overall, these trading costs are around the average charged at other brokers.  

MT4 NDD No Commission: This account has all the same parameters as the MT4 NDD Account except the trading cost is captured in the spread and no commission is charged. As such, the average spread on the EUR/USD is higher, at 0.8 pips, which is slightly lower than the trading costs at other similar brokers.  

MT4 Fixed: As one might expect, this MT4 account features fixed spreads, instant execution, and no commission. While traders lose the advantages of market execution with this account – such as tight variable spreads and no-requotes – this account suffers less slippage and volatility. The minimum deposit is 50 USD and the maximum leverage is 1:400. Spreads are fixed and start at 2 pips on the EUR/USD, which is significantly higher than the costs at other brokers.  

MT5 NDD: This is the only MT5 account and has a much higher minimum deposit of 50 USD. All trades are executed on the market, with average spreads on the EUR/USD at 0.2 pips. A commission of 10 USD is charged per lot and traders will be unable to open new positions if their balance falls below 100 USD.  The trading costs on this account are above those of other brokers.  

cTrader NDD: This account is almost an exact replica of the MT4 NDD Account but using the cTrader platform. The minimum deposit is 50 USD, maximum leverage is 1:400, and spreads on the EUR/USD average 0.2 pips. The commission is 6 USD per lot.  These trading costs are in line with what is charged at other brokers.

As a well-regulated broker, FIBO Group ensures that all Anti-Money Laundering rules and regulations are followed.

FIBO Group allows deposits and withdrawals in EUR, USD, GBP, CHF, and a range of cryptocurrencies via a wide variety of payment methods. While FIBO Group states that it does not charge for deposits or withdrawals, most deposit and withdrawals methods do have a commission or fee.

FIBO Group also accepts payment in a range of cryptocurrencies, including BTC, ETH, BCH, XRP, and RFC. Accepted payment providers are Raido Finance, bitpay, BLOCKCHAIN, and Raido Spare. Deposits are generally free and instant, but withdrawals are charged a 0.5% commission and can take up to two days.

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

FIBO Group offers a limited range of base currencies compared to other similar brokers.  

FIBO Group clients can choose between 4 base currencies, including EUR, USD, GBP, and CHF.  

However, FIBO Group does not offer MYR trading accounts, which is a disadvantage for Malaysians who will likely have bank accounts denominated in MYR, 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.

All of FIBOGroup’s trading platforms are available on both Android and iOS mobile devices and tablets. As with the web trading platform, traders can choose from multiple languages. 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.  

MetaTrader Mobile Trading

The 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 assists traders while on the move. 

cTrader Mobile Trading

The cTrader mobile app carries over most of the best parts from the desktop version, including the complete range of order types, price alerts, trade analysis, and symbol watchlists. Chart types have been reduced to 4 however.

Trading Platform Comparison:

While 4 of the 6 account types at FIBO Group are on the MT4 platform, there is only a single account each for MT5 and cTrader. All three platforms are available via web browser, desktop applications, and mobile apps.

MetaTrader 4 

MT4 is widely recognised for its trade execution speeds, charting tools, and customisability and it is available in many languages. The benefit of using a third-party platform such as MT4 is that traders can use the platform should they choose to migrate to another broker.  Traders can also trade on a variety of CFDs, including Forex, metals, cryptocurrencies, indices, and cryptocurrencies. Other features of MT4 include:

• Four types of order execution, including Market, Limit, Stop, and Trailing Stop orders.
• Superior charting tools in nine timeframes
• 30 technical indicators
• 23 analytical objects
• Algorithmic trading, which allows any trading strategy to be formalised and implemented as an Expert Advisor. 
• Backtesting capabilities
• Dedicated customer support

MetaTrader 5 

The MT5 trading platform is being adopted by more Forex brokers all the time, it has a more modern interface, allows for an unlimited number of charts to be used, shows Depth of Market and has a built-in Economic Calendar. It also has a larger number of pending order types than MT4 and features an embedded chat system. In addition, the MQL5 scripting language is more efficient than its precursor and MT5 has more advanced charting tools than MT4.  Other features of MT5 include:

• 12 timeframes
• 38 built-in indicators
• 37 graphical objects
• Six pending order types
• Multi-threaded strategy tester

cTrader

cTrader is built and managed by Spotware and functions only as an NDD platform (market execution only with no broker intervention). Because it is NDD-only, traders will have to pay a commission on cTrader accounts. The user interface is more intuitive and modern than the MetaTrader platforms and the application is constantly being updated and improved by Spotware in response to user feedback. cTrader comes with many modern features such as automated trading with cAlgo, depth of market feature, one-click trading, and advanced charting.

cTrader is also one of the most beginner-friendly platforms, with an intuitive interface and clean design.

FIBO Group offers none of the technical or fundamental analytics tools available at other brokers.  However, it offers PAMM accounts, and automated trading solutions.

PAMM

FIBO Group 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. 

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.  

Managed accounts are great for beginner traders who have limited experience with trading.

Signals Rating

FIBO Group offers a small collection of trading signals provided by managers of MetaTrader terminal. In addition, it provides reviews of the signals’ strategy which are attached to the accounts that appear in the rating. Also, for each signal published, useful recommendations regarding the terminal settings to connect to the selected signal are available.  Traders can follow the various signal providers that are ranked according to a number of metrics, including their overall performance, stability, maturity, exposure, and minimum equity required.

Traders have to pay a fee for following a particular signal provider in addition to a subscription fee for using the service.

Trading Tools Comparison:

Market analysis at FIBO Group consists of a weekly video forecast looking forward to the week ahead.  It also offers various articles written by its in-house team of analysts, but these are not updated often.  Beginners who require deeper market analysis should use other third-party market research to supplement this information.

The education section at FIBO Group consists of a single page with an explanation of the basics of Forex trading. The most useful parts of this page are the links out to FIBO Group’s YouTube channel where traders will find a selection of helpful videos in a structured course format.

Playlists included are FOREX – IT’S EASY and ONLINE FOREX ACADEMY, which are both good video primers for new traders. More advanced educational playlists include Forex Trading Using Technical Indicators and MT4 Lessons. The information presented in all videos is accurate and detailed. 

Educational Material Comparison:

Customer support is available via telephone, a call-back service, and email 24/5 in 12 languages.  Most other brokers offer a live chat feature so that traders can have their questions answered quickly and easily.

We tried the call-back service, but to date have not received a call back.  Overall, this is disappointing for beginner traders finding their footing in the forex trading space.