Global Prime

ASIC Regulation: Founded in 2010 and headquartered in Australia, Global Prime provides services to over 10,000 traders in 196 countries worldwide.  It maintains regulation from the Australian Securities and Investments Commission (ASIC) of Australia, and the Vanuatu Financial Services Commission (VFSC).

Safety Features: In early 2021, ASIC tightened its restrictions on CFD trading to better protect traders. As a result, Global Prime clients in Australia will have a leverage limit of 30:1 for Forex trading and will be provided negative balance protection, meaning that traders can never lose more money than they have in their trading accounts. In addition, ASIC regulations ensure that Global Prime keeps its operational funds segregated from client accounts, but also prevent Global Prime from offering promotions or bonuses. 

All traders are eligible to open an account at Global Prime but will have to follow the five-step application process. 

Creating an account is straightforward and accounts are usually ready within one day. Global Prime offers joint and individual accounts, but we will focus on opening an individual account:

How to open an account at Global Prime:

1. New traders will have to click on the “Live Trading” button at the top of the page where they will be directed to choose their preferred base currency and country of residence. 
2. Next, traders will have to register an account with their name, email, and register a password.  
3. Global Prime’s intake form requires clients to fill in their personal details, including date of birth and mobile number. 
4. Prospective traders are then required to fill in their physical addresses and review the account application details.
5. Traders will then have to accept that they have read the Declaration and consent to identification verification.
6. Once this step is complete, traders are asked to complete a short survey and FX Quiz that will help Global Prime assess the state of their finances and trading knowledge. While most brokers don’t include this step in the account-opening process, it is a responsible move in an industry that is often accused of an irresponsible approach to consumer protection.
7. Global Prime needs at least two documents to accept you as an individual client:
   1. Proof of Identification – current (not expired) coloured scanned copy (in PDF or JPG format) of your passport. If no valid passport is available, a similar identification document bearing your photo such as an ID card or driving licence will work.
   2. Proof of Address – a Bank Statement or Utility Bill. Please ensure, however, that the documents provided are not older than 6 months and that your name and physical address is clearly displayed.

We advise you to read Global Prime’s risk disclosure, customer agreement, and terms of business before you start trading. Once the application is approved, traders can log in and fund their accounts.  

Global Prime offers a limited range of tradable instruments on MT4, but it offers a wider range of cryptocurrencies than is typically available at other brokers.

The trading costs on the Commission-free Account are built into the spread and are marginally lower than the costs on the ECN Account, which has a small commission that changes depending on your base currency.

Global Prime‘s Swap Fees

Another important cost to consider is the swap rate charged on positions held overnight. Interest is paid (or received) for each night a position is held.  In the case of Forex instruments, the amount charged depends on both the positions taken (i.e. long or short) and the rate differentials between the two currencies traded. Swap rates are driven by the interbank spread and cross-currency basis.  Global Prime’s swap rates are published on its website for each financial instrument.

Global Prime offers two simple ECN account types which are suitable for beginners and more experienced traders.  Due to ASIC regulation, traders can access leverage of up to 30:1 on major Forex pairs.

Hedging, scalping, and algorithmic trading are unlocked on both accounts, but Global Prime does not offer Islamic Accounts. 

Standard Account

The Standard Account has no commission and offers spreads that start at 0.00 pips on the EUR/USD, which is tighter than other brokers. There are no minimum deposits on either account, but due to the margins required when making leverage trades, a minimum starting balance of 200 AUD is recommended. This account is better suited to beginner traders who do not want to spend time calculating commission costs.  Micro-lot trading is also available on this account.

Raw Account

The Raw Account is Global Prime’s raw spread account. Spreads average at 0.13 pips on the EUR/USD – which is extremely tight compared to other brokers.  However, a commission of 7  AUD (round turn) is charged per lot traded. As with the Standard Account, there is no minimum deposit.

Demo Accounts

Global Prime also offers a demo account with virtual funds that can be topped up on request. Demo accounts do not expire unless there is no activity on the account for more than 30 days, at which time they will be suspended.  However, they can be reactivated at any stage. Demo accounts are a great way to practice trading in a risk-free environment, and it allows traders to familiarise themselves with the MT4 platform.

Global Prime’s only offers mobile trading via the MT4 app. This is disappointing considering most brokers offer two or more mobile trading apps.

Global Prime offers support for the MT4 mobile trading apps for Android and iOS. 

Traders should be aware that there is some loss in functionality when compared to the desktop trading platforms, including reduced time frames and fewer charting options, but traders can close and modify existing orders, calculate profit and loss, and trade on the charts. 

Global Prime offers support for MT4, the world’s most popular trading platform. MT4 is available in a browser and via downloadable apps for PC and Mac.

MT4 allows for a smooth trading experience with all the necessary trading tools and resources on hand to conduct research and analysis, enter and exit trades, and use third-party automated trading software.

Metatrader4 (MT4)

While not the most beginner-friendly software, MT4 has been the industry-standard platform for trading Forex and CFDs since 2005. Its intuitive interface and user-friendly environment provide essential tools and resources for successful online trading.    Features of the MT4 include:

• A built-in library of more than 50 indicators and tools to streamline the analysis process.
• An impressive array of analytical tools, available in nine timeframes for each financial instrument.
• Live price streaming on live accounts and demo accounts 128-bits encryption for secure trading
• Algorithmic trading, which allows any trading strategy to be formalised and implemented as an Expert Advisor. 
• Customisable alerts
• Access to MetaTrader market and MQL4 community 

Traders should note that TradingView is not available on the MT4 platform, but traders have access to Myfxbook Autotrade, AutoChartist, and VPS services.

Global Prime offers a reasonable range of base currencies, including AUD, USD, GBP, EUR, CAD, SGD and JPY, which is good for who will likely have AUD bank accounts. traders will therefore be able to avoid paying conversion fees, unless trading on instruments with other base currencies, such as the EUR/USD.

In line with Anti-Money Laundering laws, Global Prime does not accept payments from third parties. Traders must ensure all deposits into their Global Prime trading account come from a bank account in the same name. 

No fees are charged for deposits or withdrawals, but traders should note that intermediary fees apply.  Additionally, while most deposits, except for bank wire transfers, reflect immediately, withdrawals are processed within 1 – 10 days, which is slower than the industry average.

Global Prime’s range of trading tools includes complimentary VPS services, Myfxbook Autotrade and Autochartist.

VPS

Available on MT4, Global Prime offers a free VPS service to traders who trade over 20 lots per month. The service is offered a third-party provider – NYC Servers.   VPS services ensure trades are never disrupted by technological or connectivity issues, such as load-shedding or internet service failure, which is a benefit to algorithmic traders who need to be connected to a server 24/7 to maximise uptime.  Other benefits of the VPS service include:

• 24/6 VPS email support
• 24/7 Redundant power to your VPS
• 24/7 Redundant internet connectivity to your VPS
• Low latency connectivity to FP Markets trading servers for precision trading
• Uninterrupted EA trading

Clients trading less than the required volume will receive the discounted VPS rate charged to their MT4 account monthly. If there is insufficient balance available in the client’s account to charge for the VPS, the VPS will be cancelled.

Myfxbook Autotrade

Myfxbook Autotrade is one of the most popular copy trading platforms on the market. This service allows you to copy the trades of any system you select directly into your Global Prime MetaTrader 4 account.  Traders will have to contact MyFXbook Autotrade to find out about the charges associated with using the service.

One of the benefits of using the Myfxbook Autotrade copy trading platform is its functionality. It offers multiple copy trading modes and there is no limit on the number of Strategy Providers that can be followed.  

On the whole, copy trading is useful for traders who are interested in the financial markets but lack the experience and knowledge. 

Autochartist

Free for all clients, Autochartist is an award-winning automated technical analysis tool that plugs into MT4 and scans all available CFD markets for trading opportunities.

Autochartist’s advanced pattern recognition engine identifies the strongest potential trading opportunities and predicts future price movements. Some of Autochartist’s key features are:

• Chart pattern recognition
• Fibonacci pattern recognition
• Key level analysis
• Pattern quality indication

The market scanner provides statistically significant market movements and identifies important price levels that are catalysts for market movements.

Apart from a demo account and a few paragraphs in the FAQs section, Global Prime offers no trading education for beginners. This is a serious drawback as we always recommend that new traders educate themselves appropriately before trading with a live account.

We found the customer service responsive (our questions were answered immediately), polite, and very knowledgeable.