Trades.com

Trades.com has the look of a legit broker. The website is meticulously crafted as to lure both novice and expert traders. But, as we dug deeper we reached a disappointing conclusion. Read on to find what it is.

The biggest tell is the confusion surrounding the regulatory status of the broker. The details we leeched from the Terms and Conditions. The domain of the broker is operated by Domainmatch Limited that is positioned in Cyprus. There is another company going by the name of Trade Up Ltd, which seems to us is the actual broker, that has agreed to Domainmatch Limited operating the site. Trade Up Ltd is located in Cyprus. Within all this confusion there is no mention of an actual license.

Nevertheless, Domainmatch Limited is registered in Cyprus, making them directly under the oversight of CySEC. After checking the public register of the agency for Domainmatch Limited we got zero results. Furthermore, the Marshall islands do not have a financial regulator. If we bring all these clues together we get a clear message that Trades.com is in fact UNREGULATED.

We strongly advise traders to invest in proven CySEC brokers. This body’s work is to oversee brokers and their operations, and if necessary to take disciplinary actions. Furthermore, brokers under their jurisdiction are members of The Investors Compensation Funds (ICF) (under CySEC), that has as objective to compensate traders if a member of the ICF is unable to carry out its obligations. If this occurs then the trader is reimbursed a maximum of €20 000 from the collective fund.

The broker offers a leverage of up to 1:200, which immediately excludes it from being regulated in Europe. On the Old Continent the leverage has been limited by ESMA to 1:30.

The spread for the EUR/USD pair is 3 pips. Considering that this spread is twice the size of what is considered the industry standard, it’s simply not worth a trader’s effort. We wanted to check with the trading platform, but were unable to register.

The assets for trade as advertised on the website are: Forex Pairs, Commodities, Indices, Stocks. We cannot confirm these to be accurate since registering an account was impossible for us.

The only language, aside form English, is Russian.

TRADES.COM LOGIN

Trades.com has included a MT4 trader, and hints at another platform, both plagued by a major problem, as we have seen and as we shall see.

METATRADER 4

Metatrader 4 still holds on its own when it comes down to delivering what is necessary. The functionalities are all there including drag and drop charts, user friendly accessibility and pending order types. With MetaTrader 4 you can set automatic trading bot to do your deals for you while you preoccupy your time with different activities. Trades.com also has included Algorithm Trading (if one is to trust it) that helps traders get the best trading strategies using complex mathematical algorithms.

However, we were unable to register for we were getting a 403 ERROR. Thusly, we cannot back up the 3 pips EUR/USD spread or 1:200 leverage.

Because of the unavailability of the platform, we cannot say for sure what devices it supports, and if it comes on desktop and browser or both.

TRADES.COM PLATFORM

The second alleged trader is one inaccessible to us. The broker claims that it’s solely a browser trader but we cannot confirm this. The only hint we get of how it looks are a bunch of scattered images throughout the website.

TRADES.COM MINIMUM DEPOSIT

The minimum deposit is the whooping $5000. This is probably the second biggest tell of the shadiness of the broker. Legitimate brokers simply do not cap the minimum this high. This high an amount means that the scammers are targeting more affluent investors.

Funding methods are made via Bank Transfer, Credit Card, YandexMoney, QIWI, WebMoney, and others that are not mentioned. Due to the inability to register we cannot confirm the presence or absence of these methods.

All signs point to the obvious: that this broker is not to be trusted due to its lack of regulation. It’s only logical that we advise traders against it. Brokers with proper licenses from CySEC (among others) operate in ways that put the trader’s security of funds and personal information as a pivotal priority.

DON’T PROVIDE YOUR CREDIT CARD CVV CODE

The three digit CVV code is essential to making purchases or completing transactions online. By handing this info to someone claiming to be a broker, your are exposing your savings to the biggest risk of all!

DON’T PROVIDE ACCESS TO YOUR COMPUTER AND BANK ACCOUNT VIA ANYDESK OR TEAMVIEWER

Be sure to never give AnyDesk or TeamViewer access to your PC to unverified agents. These 2 platforms allow for your PC to be taken over by a second party, often times for help or guidance, but in the case of these brokers for the sole purpose of looting your bank account(s) and personal information. However, in order to do so your consent is needed, and this is the only thing standing in the scammers’ way.

TRADES.COM WITHDRAWAL TIME AND FEES

There is no indication on a minimum deposit. This is typical for unlicensed brokers, since they will most likely not return your funds.

Processing times have not been mentioned.

There are no withdrawal fees that we were able to find. However seeing that this broker has all the freedom in the world because of its unlicensed nature, it can easily launch sudden charges.

ADDITIONAL FEES AND TAXES

There is vague mention off fees and charges in the T/C, but they are so ambiguous that we were left puzzled.

This can be interpreted as a scapegoat for any unexpected fees.

There is a dormant account fee of $25 per month, after 90 consecutive days of inactivity:

Unlicensed brokers utilize smartly crafted tactics to keep you as invested as possible into their schemes of deception. These scammers are smart and use different tactics to postpone you from withdrawing so as to drain more money from you, either by finding or creating loopholes in the T/C, by reassuring that the more you postpone your withdrawal the better the chance of quadrupling your initial investment, or just asking for more deposits.

ACCOUNT VERIFICATION

Traders will sooner or later realize that something is a foot. Filing for a chargeback might not be as easy as it seems if, beforehand, the user has given away a copy of his ID and proof of address to the unlicensed broker. With these in their possession the broker can easily refute any claims you might have against them.

We are positive that this so called broker will not return your funds; the evidence we have laid out before you work in sync against it. The sound thing to do is to direct your attention and investment to an FCA or CySEC licensed broker where the law is integrated in every aspect of their operations.

HOW TO RECOVER

Filing for a chargeback is the best advise we could give you. Immediately contact your bank or credit card company and lay out the circumstances.

Cancel your credit card if you have shared any notable details with the fraudulent broker, especially if you have provided them with the card’s CVV code. If such is the case, annul your credit card ASAP.

At some point or another you might stumble upon a “recovery” agent or agency that promises to retrieve all your money back. This sounds all too good to be true, and that’s because it isn’t. Before proceeding with the recovery they will ask a payment for their services. If you chose to indulge them, they will disappear with the money without a hint of remorse.

The last line of defense for these indecent folk is more like a desperate cry: often times they will comment on reviews and cite the whole ordeal as a conspiracy initiated by competitive brokers against them; at times even claiming that reviewers are anything but objective, and that no one writes good reviews. The absurdities are limitless

BOTTOM LINE

Trades.com tries to cover its operations but fails to do so once a little research is done. As is with ALL unregulated brokers, we definitely do not recommend it. Stay away!