Is FOREX.com Regulated? Is it safe? - TU Expert review
License is the most important document you have to consider when choosing a broker. Many traders, who would like to start working with FOREX.com try to check whether it is regulated. Traders Union experts have already done that. In this article, you will learn whether FOREX.com is regulated, what regulatory authorities supervise the broker and whether it is safe to work with the company in general.
Short summary about the broker FOREX.com
Forex.com is a company owned by GAIN Capital Holdings, Inc. (NYSE: GCAP) and has earned a reputation as a reliable broker in the trading industry for its transparent work and high quality of services. The company cooperates with clients in 140 countries. The broker is registered in the Cayman Islands and supervised by CIMA (Certified Institute for Management Accountants). The license number is 25033. The parent company of the Forex.com broker is registered in England and Wales under the number 1761813 at the UK Companies House. It is licensed by one of the most reputable regulators in the world, FCA (No. 113942).
| 💰 Account currency: | USD, EUR, GBP |
|---|---|
| 🚀 Minimum deposit: | $1000 |
| ⚖️ Leverage: | Up to 1:400 |
| 💱 Spread: | From 0.2 pips |
| 🔧 Instruments: | Forex, cryptocurrencies, indices, commodities, stocks |
| 💹 Margin Call / Stop Out: | N/a |
Pros and cons of FOREX.com
👍 Advantages of trading with FOREX.com:
•average rate of order execution is 0.04 ms;
•reliability is controlled by several regulators so customer funds are kept on separate accounts from the company's assets;
•attractive trading conditions are tight spreads on over 90 assets, including currency pairs and metals, and over 4,500 markets, including FX, indices, commodities, stocks, and cryptocurrencies.
👎 Disadvantages of FOREX.com:
•poor quality of site optimization, little specifics in the descriptions of services, tabs at the top of the page do not work. To find the information you have to use a tab called "Sitemap";
•it is difficult to contact the support service due to its high workload;
•large fixed commission for withdrawing funds;
•high initial deposit, it starts from $1,000;
•there are few options for depositing and withdrawing funds, the terms rarely correspond to those stated.
Why is it important to work with a regulated broker?
License is a document that certifies that a broker operates legally and guarantees fulfillment of its obligations to the traders. A financial license is issued by a financial regulatory authority of a country (the National Bank) or a specialized authority (for example, Securities Commission, Futures Trading Commission, etc.). It is important to choose licensed brokers for the following reasons:
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A license guarantees that the broker operates in compliance with the rules of the financial regulator that issued the document.
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In order to obtain the license, a broker must comply with certain requirements, for example, the size of the authorized capital or personnel qualification. It is simply not lucrative for scammers to comply with such requirements.
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A broker’s license provides access to real markets, and you can be sure that the quotes are real and up-to-date.
The best option is to work with a broker that holds the license of the jurisdiction, where the trader resides. You can also choose a company with a financial license of another reliable jurisdiction, for example, the U.S. or the European Union.
Is FOREX.com Regulated? Broker’s license
Security (Investors’ Protection)
Information
Broker Forex.com is a part of I GAIN Capital Holdings financial group. With more than 10 years of reputation, Forex.com is committed to responsibly fulfilling its obligations to customers. Forex.com broker itself is licensed by the Cayman Islands regulator CIMA. It is also worth noting that the subsidiaries of GAIN Capital Holdings have licenses from other jurisdictions, in particular FCA, NFA (0339826), IIROC, ASIC (ACN: 141 774 727), MAS, CySEC (400/21), FSA (Japan, 2010401047199).
👍 Advantages
- Segregated accounts Withdrawal following the requirements of the regulator
- Independent external audit
👎 Disadvantages
- It is unlikely that licenses from other jurisdictions will somehow be useful to clients in the event of a conflict of interest
Brokerage fees
Broker’s regulation is the most important choice criterion. However, before you start working with the broker, it is also important to analyze its commissions and fees. TU analysts have studied the commissions and fees charged by FOREX.com, which you can see below.
Traders Union analysts have analyzed Forex.com trading conditions for explicit and implicit fees. Although there are no hidden fees, potential clients should pay attention to the fact of differentiation of fixed and floating fees for different groups of instruments. Commission and DMA accounts are subject to additional trading fees.
| Account type | Spread (minimum value) | Withdrawal commission |
| Standard | From $8 | Yes |
| Commission | From $2 | Yes |
| DMA | From $0 | Yes |
Brokers that are similar to FOREX.com
Many brokers operate legally, obtaining relevant licenses and permissions. However, when choosing a broker, it is important to compare their trading conditions. TU experts have prepared a comparative analysis of FOREX.com conditions with its closest competitors.
Comparison of FOREX.com with other Brokers
| FOREX.com | RoboForex | Pocket Option | Exness | Vantage Markets | FreshForex | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Trading platform |
FOREX.com, MT4, MT5 |
MT4, MT5, R MobileTrader, R StocksTrader, R WebTrader |
Pocket Option, MT5, MT4 |
Exness Trade App (mobile), Exness Terminal (web), MetaTrader5, MetaTrader4 |
MT4, MT5, WebTrader, Mobile Apps |
MT4, MobileTrading |
Min deposit |
$1000 |
$10 |
$5 |
$10 |
$50 |
No |
Leverage |
From 1:1 |
From 1:1 |
From 1:1 |
From 1:1 |
From 1:1 |
From 1:1 |
Trust management |
No |
No |
No |
No |
No |
No |
Accrual of % on the balance |
No |
No |
No |
No |
No |
No |
Spread |
From 0.2 points |
From 0 points |
From 1.2 point |
From 1 point |
From 0 points |
From 0 points |
Level of margin call / stop out |
No |
No |
No |
No |
No |
No |
Execution of orders |
Market Execution, Instant Execution |
Market Execution, Instant Execution |
Market Execution |
Market Execution, Instant Execution |
Market Execution |
Market Execution, Instant Execution |
No deposit bonus |
No |
No |
No |
No |
No |
$30 |
Cent accounts |
No |
Yes |
No |
No |
No |
Yes |
Broker Forex.com can be of interest to both novices and professional traders, who are primarily interested in fast order execution.
The minimum deposit in RoboForex is $10. Leverage up to 1:2000. Traders choose RoboForex for reliability, favorable trading conditions, minimum spreads, and commission fees. The company is recommended for beginner traders and experienced investors.
Pocket Option offers a wide range of trading instruments and copy trading services. It constantly improves its service quality and expands the list of assets and trading platforms. The broker is suitable even for novice traders without significant capital due to the low initial deposit. Experienced traders who work with CFDs and binary options can also use Pocket Option’s services.
Exness broker is a trusted broker partner that is compliant with all relevant terms. Exness complies with all payment obligations and pays money earned.
Vantage Markets is a broker that is a real catch for traders who prefer ECN trading.
FreshForex is a reliable Forex broker providing a standard set of trading tools. The company is a good option for traders of all levels, from beginner to professional traders. It is mid-range in terms of size and number of registered traders and they are reliable based on our research and analysis.
Conclusions
FOREX.com is a quite reliable broker for trading. FOREX.com operates on the license of a reliable jurisdiction and its operation is regularly monitored. However, the company does not offer the best trading conditions compared to competitors. You can choose this broker and not worry about the safety of your funds, but there are better options in terms of trading conditions.
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FAQ
How difficult is it to obtain a brokerage license?
The procedure for obtaining a license differs depending on the jurisdiction, but it is very difficult and expensive to get the document in a reliable jurisdiction. This is why only reliable brokers obtain licenses.
Why is it not recommended to work with offshore brokers?
Offshore brokers have to meet minimum requirements for obtaining a license and reporting, which is why often scammers get such licenses.
Can an offshore broker be reliable?
Yes, although there are not many of such brokers. There are brokers with a good reputation, but with an offshore license. You still need to be very cautious when working with such companies.
How do I check a broker’s reputation?
In order to check a broker’s reputation, you need to read user reviews. However, it is recommended to only use independent websites for that.
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Team that worked on the article
Mikhail Vnuchkov joined Traders Union as an author in 2020. He began his professional career as a journalist-observer at a small online financial publication, where he covered global economic events and discussed their impact on the segment of financial investment, including investor income. With five years of experience in finance, Mikhail joined Traders Union team, where he is in charge of forming the pool of latest news for traders, who trade stocks, cryptocurrencies, Forex instruments and fixed income.
Olga Shendetskaya has been a part of the Traders Union team as an author, editor and proofreader since 2017. Since 2020, Shendetskaya has been the assistant chief editor of the website of Traders Union, an international association of traders. She has over 10 years of experience of working with economic and financial texts. In the period of 2017-2020, Olga has worked as a journalist and editor of laftNews news agency, economic and financial news sections. At the moment, Olga is a part of the team of top industry experts involved in creation of educational articles in finance and investment, overseeing their writing and publication on the Traders Union website.