IronFX Broker Review

BMA Regulation: Founded in 2010 and headquartered in Limassol, Cyprus, IronFX is the trading name of Notesco Financial Services.  We were pleased to find that Malaysian traders are onboarded through Notesco Limited, which is registered in Bermuda under the Bermuda Monetary Authority (BMA).

Safety Features: The BMA’s rules for forex brokers are not as strict as those of the EU or the UK.  For example, the BMA does not require brokers to offer negative balance protection, comply with leverage restrictions, or force brokers to participate in compensation schemes.  Additionally, the BMA allows brokers to offer bonuses and promotions.  However, in addition to segregating client funds from its operating capital, IronFX provides Malaysians with negative balance protection, but it does not participate in any compensation schemes.

Overall, because of its strong regulation, a long history of responsible behaviour, and wide industry acclaim, IronFX is considered a safe broker to trade with.

The account opening process at IronFX is fast and hassle-free.

All Malaysian traders can open an account at IronFX if they meet the minimum deposit requirements. 

The four-step account opening process is fully digital, and accounts are generally ready for trading in one day.  IronFX offers individual, joint, and corporate accounts, but we will focus on opening an individual account.

How to open an account at IronFX:

1. Click on the ‘Register’ button and register your email address and password.  Additionally, traders need to select the account type, base currency, bonus, and level of leverage.  
2. Next traders are will have to wait for the IronFX personnel to confirm the account.
3. The third step requires depositing money through the client portal.  
4. The last step is to confirm your identity in order to make withdrawals.  IronFX will need two documents from you:
   1. A photo ID (passport, driver’s license, or national ID card) and; 
   2. A secondary ID (a bank or utility statement with your full name and address dated in the last three months).

We suggest you read IronFX’s risk disclosure, customer agreement, and terms of business before you start trading.

Compared to other similar brokers, IronFX’s account opening process is fast, generally hassle-free, and fully digital. 

Unlike most other Forex brokers that offer trading on up to three account types with tighter spreads linked to higher minimum deposits, IronFX offers trading on seven different accounts that have a very complicated account structure. IronFX offers four instant execution accounts and three market execution accounts with various spread/commission combinations.  To make matters more complicated, traders can choose between fixed or floating spreads on the instant execution accounts.  

Additionally, the overall trading costs are higher than average across all seven accounts, though the accounts offer more benefits tied to higher minimum deposits.

For some unknown reason, IronFX does not publish the minimum deposits associated with each account, and it was very difficult to extract this information from customer service.  

Account Trading Costs:

We opened and tested several of IronFX’s accounts:

The Live Floating/Live Fixed Accounts: These are instant execution commission-free accounts with Standard, Premium, and VIP tiers.  Leverage is up to 1000:1 and traders can choose between floating or fixed spreads:
 

• • Standard Account: Fixed spreads start at 2.2 pips on the EUR/USD or 1.8 pips on the floating-spread option, which is much wider than other similar brokers.  Accounts are denominated in USD, EUR, GBP, AUD, JPY, BTC, PLN, and CZK.  Note the Standard Account is available as a Micro Account with a minimum deposit of only 50 USD.
  • Premium Account: Fixed spreads start at 1.8 pips on the EUR/USD and start at 1.6 pips if one chooses the floating spread option. Again, these spreads are wider than other similar brokers. Accounts are denominated in USD, EUR, GBP, AUD, JPY, BTC, PLN, and CZK.
  • VIP account: Fixed spreads start at 1.6 pips on the EUR/USD and start at 1.4 pips if one chooses the floating spread option.  Accounts are only denominated in USD.  Even with the high minimum deposit, traders will be disappointed with these wide spreads. 
• The Live Zero Fixed Spread Account also uses instant execution, but spreads are fixed at 0 pips for the EUR/USD, and a commission of 18 USD round turn/lot is charged for major FX pairs and 23 USD round turn/lot on minor pairs.  These commissions are some of the highest in the industry. Accounts are denominated in USD and EUR.

STP/ECN Accounts:

These accounts are market-execution accounts with a leverage of up to 200:1:

The STP/ECN No Commission Account is a market execution account.  No commission is charged, and fees are included in the spreads, which start at 1.7 pips on the EUR/USD.  Again, even though traders have direct market access, these spreads are unusually wide, and the minimum deposit requirement is high. Accounts are denominated in EUR, USD, JPY, and BTC.

• The STP/ECN Zero Spread Account offers spreads as low as 0 pips on the EUR/USD, and a commission is charged per lot traded. The commission is 18 USD per lot on major pairs, and 23 USD per lot on minors.  Again, the commissions on this account make it unpalatable for most traders.  Accounts are denominated in USD, EUR, and JPY.
• The STP/ECN Absolute Zero Account is a fully customisable market execution account, where 1.1 pip average spreads on the EUR/USD are offered with no commission. Accounts are only denominated in USD, EUR, and JPY. This account offers the lowest ongoing trading costs of all the accounts at IronFX, but with a spread of 1.1 pips on the EUR/USD, is still wider than those found at other brokers. 

Demo Accounts

IronFX offers demo accounts so traders can test the platform and practice strategies. There are four demo accounts available:

• Demo Floating Spread
• Demo STP/ECN Zero Spread
• Demo STP/ECN Absolute Zero
• Demo STP/ECN No Commission

Each demo account imitates actual trading conditions and comes loaded with 100,000 of the base currency of your choosing.  Demo accounts expire after three weeks of inactivity and cannot be reactivated.  Most other brokers have demo accounts that don’t expire, so this is an unusual move on the part of the broker.

In line with Anti-Money Laundering rules, IronFX does not process payments to third-party accounts. All withdrawal requests from a trading account will be funded to a bank account or source in the trader’s name.   

Trading Account Currencies: Accounts can be denominated in the following base currencies: EUR, GBP, USD, JPY, PLN, AUD, BTC, IRX, ADA, PMA, CZK, ETH, and CHF. IronFX does not offer accounts denominated in MYR, which means that Malaysians will have to pay currency conversion fees.  However, because IronFX offers such a range of trading account currencies, Malaysians can open multiple trading accounts with different base currencies to avoid paying fees on every trade. 

Deposits and Withdrawals: IronFX offers a range of account funding and deposit methods, including local bank transfers, debit cards/credit cards, Bitcoin payments, and various eWallets.  Deposits are free on all funding methods and are processed within 24 hours, which is around the industry average.  However, it takes 48 hours on average for IronFX to process withdrawals, which is longer than most other brokers.  

IronFX charges admin fees on some withdrawal methods and a fee of 50 USD for bank transfers under 300 USD. 

Traders should note that IronFX does not publish the list of deposit and withdrawal methods it supports – one has to register an account to find this information.  This is unusual and not consumer-friendly, as most brokers publish their withdrawal and deposit fees on their websites.  

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

Webtrader App

The webtrader mobile app is a portal for MT4 that links seamlessly with the webtrader desktop version. It is simple to set up and use and traders can trade from the charts, deposit and withdraw funds, and can access IronFX’s educational and market analysis materials.

MT4

MT4 is available for both Android and iOS. 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.  

Additionally, spotty mobile connections can lead to a poor overall trading experience. Generally, it is better to be at your desktop to conduct day-to-day trading and use a mobile device to keep an eye on the markets or close open positions.

Trading Platform Comparison:

IronFX offers the standard out-of-the-box MT4 platform and an upgraded package labeled MT4 Advanced. The added functionality transforms MT4 into a state-of-the-art trading platform, allowing access to the industry’s latest trading features, such as permitted automated strategies and built-in ability to use EAs (Expert Advisors).  A multi-page PDF is available to explain the added functionality.

As a trading platform, MT4 remains one of the most popular for its wide community support, trade execution speeds, charting tools, and customisability. Additionally, traders can take their own customised version of the platform with them should they decide to migrate to another broker.

VPS: IronFX offers VPS hosting through third-party providers free of charge for accounts above 5,000 USD. For those accounts which do not meet that threshold, a 30 USD monthly fee will apply.  VPS enables you to upload and run your MT4 Expert Advisors and cAlgo Robots 24 hours a day, without needing to keep your trading terminal running.  VPS services have the advantage of never suffering connectivity issues and have extremely low latency due to their proximity to major international exchanges.

PMAM: A Personal Multi-Account Manager (PMAM) is available, an in-house version of the MT4 Multi Account Manager (MAM) and the Percentage Allocation Management Module (PAMM) usually seen at other brokers. PMAM accounts are those on which a manager trades on the behalf of investors.  

Trading Central: Trading Central is available to clients who register a live account.  A third-party tool, Trading Central’s professional analysts use the most advanced technical analysis tools in the industry to curate relevant information. This tool essentially supports traders without the technical know-how in making trading decisions.  Trading Central is one of the most popular trading tools available and provides excellent market analysis, and IC Markets does well to offer this service to its clients.

TradeCopier: TradeCopier is a platform developed by IronFX. It allows you to connect a part of your portfolio with the portfolio of a trader of your choosing. Once you copy a trader, all of their opened trades are copied to your account. All of their actions in the future are automatically copied to your account, as well. When you first register, you can select only one Strategy Provider, but later on you can follow more Strategy Providers through the TradeCopier platform. Copy trading is a great option for traders who lack the experience or time to follow the markets.

IronFX also offers a range of trading calculators, including a currency converter, a pip calcultor, a margin calculator, and a profit calculator.

Overall, IronFX offers a good range of trading tools, but its VPS service requires a high minimum deposit. 

Trading Tools Overview:

IronFX’s research and analysis materials are more comprehensive than its education section, but compared to other large international brokers, they are still lacking.

A duo of in-house analysts provides market commentary on breaking news insights.  The presentation and depth of these materials are acceptable but fall short of what is on offer at other large brokers.  Additional market news can be found in the video section mentioned above. 

Live economic news, current rates, analysis, and economic calendar data are delivered directly to your trading platform to help you plan your trading day and uncover the most profitable opportunities.

Overall, while the market research is updated frequently, the breadth of the material trail many of IronFX’s competitors. 

On the whole, besides the video material, blog content, and one downloadable e-book, IronFX’s educational materials lack depth and provide only a sweeping overview of the basics of forex trading.  

Videos: The video materials highlight IronFX’s market experts and analysts as they explain the basics of forex trading and the fundamentals to risk management and advanced trading strategies.  They also cover concepts that interest more advanced traders. Some of the video material is only available for traders who open a live trading account and make a deposit.  However, the video material, while more comprehensive than other aspects of IronFX’s education section, is disorganized, and it’s difficult to find what you’re looking for.

IronFX’s blog content is curated by IronFx’s in-house analysts and is updated frequently.  The blog content is a mixture of educational materials, explaining concepts such as technical and fundamental analysis, and also provides an overview of the markets.  The blog content is updated every two to three days.  

IronFX used to offer webinars and seminars, but unfortunately, these are no longer available.  

Overall, although IronFX offers a wide range of informative video content, the materials generally lack substance and are not well-structured.

Education Material Comparison:

IronFX can be contacted on local toll-free phone numbers, live chat, and email.

For the purposes of this review, we found customer support responsive but uninformed.  They were unable to answer many of our questions and seemed generally confused.