Is GAIN Capital 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 GAIN Capital try to check whether it is regulated. Traders Union experts have already done that. In this article, you will learn whether GAIN Capital 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 GAIN Capital
GAIN Capital is a platform for investors. The company includes three subsidiary brokers, which are: City Index, Forex.com, and Daniels Trading.
GAIN Capital has been operating since 1999 and is registered in Poland. The company has eight offices in as many countries, including the USA and Australia. As of 2021, brokers controlled by GAIN Capital have more than 140,000 active accounts. The activities of these brokers are controlled by financial regulators CFTC and NFA (USA), IIRO (Canada), ASIC (Australia), and MAS (Singapore).
| 💰 Account currency: | EUR, GBP, USD, CHF, HUF, AUD, JPY, PLN |
|---|---|
| 🚀 Minimum deposit: | From $100 |
| ⚖️ Leverage: | Up to 1: 5 (for CFDs on stocks), up to 1:30 (for Forex) |
| 💱 Spread: | From 0.5 pips |
| 🔧 Instruments: | Currency pairs (84), stocks (4500), ETFs (690), indices (22), bonds (12), cryptocurrencies (6), and commodities (29) |
| 💹 Margin Call / Stop Out: | 100%/50% |
Pros and cons of GAIN Capital
👍 Advantages of trading with GAIN Capital:
•Open access to Forex through three large brokerage companies.
•The company offers clients professional capital management; hence it is suitable for investment.
•GAIN Capital's work is controlled by reputable financial regulators in the UK. USA, Singapore, Australia, etc.
•Brokers offer 12,500+ trading instruments.
•Profitable fee policy.
👎 Disadvantages of GAIN Capital:
•Participation in the brokers' affiliate program requires applying with GAIN Capital and its individual consideration.
•24/5 support.
•You can get acquainted with the functionality of your personal account only after verification.
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 GAIN Capital Regulated? Broker’s license
Security (Protection for Investors)
GAIN Capital operates under licenses from reputable financial regulators like CFTC (USA), NFA (USA), MAS (Singapore), and ASIC (Australia). The company also has a financial license issued by the UK’s Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) # 190864.
The reliability of GAIN Capital is also confirmed by the fact that the company's shares are traded on the NASDAQ stock exchange. The company also provides clients with negative balance protection.
👍 Advantages
- Client funds are segregated from GAIN Capital and held in segregated accounts
- Negative balance protection is active
- In case of violation by the broker of the obligations prescribed in the offer, the client can file a complaint with the regulator
👎 Disadvantages
- Opening an account with each of these brokers requires separate verifications
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 GAIN Capital, which you can see below.
The experts at Traders Union analyzed GAIN Capital's fees and commissions. In the Forex market, traders are charged a fee in the form of a spread. The minimum spread in the company is 0.5 pips. When it comes to stock trading, Gain Capital charges a flat fee depending on the trading instruments used. For example, 0.1% of the transaction amount for Barclays shares. For Apple shares, a flat fee of $0.04 per share is applied. You can learn more about GAIN Capital fees on the broker's website. As for non-trading fees, GAIN Capital only charges a fee for inactivity on an account. It is 12 USD per month and is charged if there are no transactions for more than 1 year. There are no fees for deposits and withdrawals.
| Account type | Spread (minimum value) | Withdrawal commission |
| Standard | From $5 | No |
Brokers that are similar to GAIN Capital
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 GAIN Capital conditions with its closest competitors.
Comparison of GAIN Capital with other Brokers
| GAIN Capital | RoboForex | Pocket Option | Exness | Eightcap | AMarkets | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Trading platform |
MT4, WebTrader |
MT4, MT5, R MobileTrader, R StocksTrader, R WebTrader |
Pocket Option, MT5, MT4 |
Exness Trade App (mobile), Exness Terminal (web), MetaTrader5, MetaTrader4 |
MT4, MT5 |
MT4, MT5, AMarkets App |
Min deposit |
$100 |
$10 |
$5 |
$10 |
$100 |
$100 |
Leverage |
From 1:1 |
From 1:1 |
From 1:1 |
From 1:1 |
From 1:30 |
From 1:1 |
Trust management |
No |
No |
No |
No |
No |
No |
Accrual of % on the balance |
No |
No |
No |
No |
No |
No |
Spread |
From 0.5 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 |
No |
Cent accounts |
No |
Yes |
No |
No |
No |
No |
GAIN Capital is a company that provides access to financial markets through three large brokers providing services in different countries under different licenses.
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.
Eightcap has favorable working conditions due to a large choice of instruments, tight spreads, high leverage, and no withdrawal fees. Integration with popular trading platforms and basic deposit/withdrawal options greatly facilitates work with the broker and reduces the entry threshold. In addition to comfortable conditions and low financial costs, traders get free educational materials and special services for technical analysis. Some solutions, like Capitalise.ai, have no constructive counterparts. A relative disadvantage is the absence of opportunities for passive income. Also, the broker works only with CFDs, so other groups of trading instruments are not available.
AMarkets is a broker that is more suitable for professional trading. Everything here is designed to accommodate trading with EAs and that is the broker’s strength. The weakness of the broker is that it won’t be easy for traders without experience to work here.
Conclusions
GAIN Capital is a quite reliable broker for trading. GAIN Capital 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.