RECOMMENDED FOREX BROKERS
Trive is a common FX broker based in Europe that provides very common trading conditions, except for its accounts the last two of which seems to be aimed at a more mature audience, if you will. Read the review to see what Trive is made of.
Trive is operated by Trive Financial Services Malta Limited, a broker fully regulated by the Malta Financial Services Authority (MFSA).
Malta is a popular FX trading destination, considering that its license issuer is well knows throughout the world of FX trading. As a member of the EU, Maltese brokers have to abide by all pre-existing trading legislations – like the European Securities and Markets Authority – , which puts an extra layer of protection.
As for the MFSA it is a typical regulator, in charge of filtering scams and making sure that the nation provides a fair and stable trading ecosystem. Requirements for all brokers include leverage caps, transparency, regular statements, segregated accounts, negative balance protection policies, and others. One of the most important requirement is that all Maltese brokers have a starting capital of at least €730,000.
The available assets for trading are indicated as being forex currency pairs, commodities, stocks and ETF, with a leverage capped at 1:30, which is the maximum retail FX leverage in the EU, as capped by ESMA.
The EUR/USD cost of trade has been indicated as being 0.5 pips, while the account section claims that the typical Classic account spread starts at 0.7 pips, meaning that the advertised EUR/USD spread on the site is actually from a higher account.
Speaking of accounts, there are a total of 3 account types, where the last one, the Prime Plus has an attached commission of €5 per lot.
LOGIN
The broker seems to offer some proprietary mobile trader on which we have not all the info, but it looks decent enough.
Plus, Trive states to offer both the MT4 and MT5, but there were no download links, leaving us hanging on the situation. But no legitimate broker would ever lie about offering some of the best platforms, it would be very counterproductive.
MINIMUM DEPOSIT
The minimum deposit depends on the account type being opened. It's €0 for the Classic Account, €2500 for the Prime one, and €15 000 for Prime Plus. It seems that the broker tries to accommodate the two big player types in the industry: the high rollers and those that are just getting started.
The available payment methods are credit cards, debit cards, bank transfer, Neteller, and Skrill.
All bank transfer deposits are charged a 0.9% fee, which is apparent issued by the bank system and no by the broker. There is also a 1.5% on all other payments methods, which again seems to be issued by the payment system. It seems to us that Trive pays the fees required by the transactions and then asks the user for reimbursement.
WITHDRAW TIME AND FEES
All withdrawals can take up to 3 days to process under different circumstances.
There is a 0.9% commissions applied on all transactions bank transfer, with a maximum fee of €75. We read at some point that withdrawals can only be processed via bank transfer. There is an element of confusion here since on all different occasion the broker tells that that withdrawals are processed via the payment methods indicated above. The case above is the only time when we are told that withdrawals happen through banks only. We don't know whether it's a mistake or an implication, but its definitely a sign that the broker has not edited its information.
BOTTOM LINE
Trive is a great broker for anyone looking to not get overwhelmed by what the some industry participants have to offer, while also being deep enough to remain interesting in the long run. However, there are certain details that we wish it could fix, that other brokers do better, and that might be a dividing line for many as it is for us.