HFM

No ASIC Regulation: Global clients of HFM will be trading with HF Markets (SV) Ltd, which is authorised by the Financial Services Authority (FSA) of St Vincent and the Grenadines. Unlike other regulators, such as ASIC in Australia and the FCA in the UK, the FSA St Vincent and Grenadines does not force HFM to restrict leverage or to be members of a client compensation scheme. But all Australian client funds are held in segregated accounts with top-tier banks and HFM is subject to frequent audits of its finances and client operations. In addition, all global clients have negative balance protection, meaning they can never lose more money than is held in their trading account.

Opening a live account at HFM is easy and takes less than 3 minutes. While HFM also offers Corporate Accounts and Joint Accounts we will focus on opening an Individual Account:

1. Initially, you will need to provide your full name, phone number, email address, and date of birth. You will also have to choose whether you want the base currency of your account to be USD or EUR. 
2. Once this step is complete, you will have access to your MyHF dashboard. This is the administrative hub for your demo accounts, your live accounts, and your finances.
3. From the MyHF hub, you will need to choose the account type that best suits you and submit your Know Your Customer (KYC) documentation. HFM 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 photos 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 are clearly displayed.
   3. Important Note: The name on the Proof of Identification document must match the name on the Proof of Address document.
   4. You can upload your documents directly from your myHF area; alternatively, you can also scan them and send them to [email protected].
4. Once this step is complete, you will need to make at least the minimum required deposit for your chosen account via one of HFM’s deposit methods. 
5. Your documents will be checked by the verifications department within 48 hours. Any deposits will be credited to the account only after your documents have been approved and your myHF area is fully activated.
6. We advise you to read HFM’s risk disclosure, customer agreement, and terms of business before you start trading.

HFM offers over 1000 CFD trading instruments on all trading accounts, except for the HFcopy Account. Maximum leverage for Forex is 2000:1.

Two of HFM’s accounts, the Premium and Zero, doesn’t require a minimum deposit, while the Pro account has a minimum deposit of 100 AUD. This makes it accessible to most traders. No commissions are charged for the Premium and Pro account, but for the Raw account there is a fee of 6 USD total round turn for major Forex pairs.

An STP broker, HFM offers four market execution accounts, three of which are standard trading accounts. The other account is a specialised copy trading account. Hedging, scalping, and algorithmic trading is allowed on all accounts – they are also available as Islamic accounts.

Premium Account

The minimum deposit on this commission-free account is 100 USD, and leverage is up to 1:500.  With this account, the lots per trade are up to 300, and the spread starts at 1 pip, which is slightly wider than you would find at similar brokers.  The maximum total trade size is 60 standard lots per position, and stop-out levels are at 50%.

ZERO Spread Account

This is a market execution account with spreads starting at 0 pips on the EUR/USD.  Note that zero spreads are only available on major currency pairs, and exotic pairs still carry wide spreads. As with all raw spread accounts, you will be charged a commission – in this case, the charge is 3 USD per lot (6 USD total round turn) on majors and 4 USD per lot (8 USD total round turn) on minors and exotics. 

As with the Premium account, the ZERO Spread account allows traders to keep 60 trade standard lots per position, with leverage of 1:500.  ZERO Spread accounts are good for beginner traders and have lower ongoing trading costs but require a minimum deposit of 200 USD.

HFcopy Account

The HFcopy Account is available to both Strategy Providers (SPs) and Followers who have joined HFcopy. SPs can open an HFcopy Account to build their inventory of Followers and trade in exchange for a Performance Fee, as high as 50%.  Available only on MT4 platform, the spread starts at 1 pip, and leverage is up to 400:1.  Trading instruments offered on this account are limited to Forex, Indices, and Gold.  The minimum deposit is 300 USD for SPs and 100 USD for Followers.  Accounts are only denominated in USD.

HFM offers support for the MT4 and MT5 mobile trading apps for Android and IOS, including a native iPad app.

The HFM MT4 and MT5 apps allow traders to work from anywhere, with nine timeframes, 30 indicators, and interactive currency charts. Functionality to close and modify existing orders, calculate profit/loss in real-time, and tick chart trading further empowers traders while on the move.

While MT4 and MT5 are both excellent trading platforms, many other CFD brokers also offer their own web-based platforms, which tend to be easier to use for beginner traders. On the other hand, the benefit of HFM offering third-party platforms such as MT4 and MT5 is that traders can take their own customised version of the platform with them should they choose to migrate to another broker.

Metatrader 4 (MT4)

Developed by MetaQuotes in 2002, MT4 is still the most popular CFD trading platform in the world.  Although the platform’s interface is now dated, MT4 is still widely recognised for its fast execution speeds, a wide range of charting tools, algorithmic trading, and customisability.  Other features of MT4 include:

• Supports the creation, modification, and utilisation of automated trading strategies.
• Supports MQL4 programming language.
• Algorithmic trading, which allows any trading strategy to be formalised and implemented as an Expert Advisor. 
• Allows traders to develop their own custom indicators.
• Superior charting tools in nine timeframes
• 24 graphical objects
• 30 built-in indicators
• Four pending order types, including buy stop, sell stop, buy limit, and sell limit.

HFM also offers support for MT4 MultiTerminal, providing a convenient method of managing multiple accounts simultaneously from a single interface.

Metatrader 5 (MT5)

Developed in 2010, MT5 is the newer version of its predecessor, MT4.  The primary difference between MT4 and MT5 is that MT4 is a Forex-only platform, while MT5 is a multi-asset trading solution. On MT5, you can trade stocks, stock indices, commodities, cryptocurrencies, ETFs, and precious metals.

MT5 is more powerful and faster than MT4, especially when it comes to back-testing functionality for automated trading algorithms.  MT5 also has a built-in news feed, market depth indicator, economic calendar, and trades that can be made on charts. Additional features of MT5 include:

• 12 timeframes
• 38 built-in indicators
• 37 graphical objects
• Six pending order types
• Multi-threaded strategy tester

As an FSA-regulated broker, HFM ensures that all Anti-Money Laundering rules and regulations are followed. As such, all non-profit funds are returned to the original deposit source. No matter your deposit method, the withdrawal of all profits must be made by bank transfer to a bank account in your name. 

Accepted Deposit Currencies: At HFM, you can only choose from two base currencies: USD and EUR – though thr Premium, and ZERO Spread Account can also be denominated in Nigerian Naira. This is extremely limited compared to most other brokers.

Funding Methods: While deposits and withdrawals are free and deposits are fast, withdrawals do take longer than most other brokers. While HFM allows deposits to be made with credit and debit cards, withdrawals can only be made via bank wire or alternative payment systems.

HFM’s range of trading tools includes Autochartist, a free VPS service, and a set of Premium Trading Tools. While all these tools are provided free, traders are required to make a substantial deposit before access is provided.

Autochartist

Free for all HFM clients with a minimum deposit of 100 AUD, Autochartist is an award-winning automated technical analysis tool that plugs into MT4 and MT5 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

VPS

HFM clients with a minimum deposit of 5000 AUD can also subscribe to a free VPS hosting service provided by external third-party providers. VPS services ensure trades are never disrupted by technological or connectivity issues, such as load-shedding or internet service failure. The VPS service is only available to traders using the MT4 platform.

Premium Trader Tools

Free to all HFM clients with a minimum deposit of 200 USD, Premium Trader Tools give traders access to institutional quality technology, including advanced trading tools, user-configurable news and information, and trade analysis.  It also includes an array of sophisticated alarms and messaging systems, and live sentiment and correlation tracking. The full list of tools in the package includes:

• Trade Terminal: A feature-rich professional trade execution and analysis tool, providing several trading features and order controls that are not included in MT4 or MT5.
• Connect: A customisable news feed aggregator and interactive economic calendar
• Correlation Matrix and Correlation Trader: These tools work together to show correlations between pairs of trading symbols. It functions with any symbols available in the trading platform, allowing a calculation of the correlation between multiple asset classes against Forex. The Correlation Trader will then allow for detailed inspection of the correlation between any two instruments.

Other trading tools available at HFM include a range of trading calculators, which can be used to calculate pip value, swap fees, risk percentages and support and resistance levels.

HFM’s research and market analysis is divided into three main sections, each of which provides a specialised benefit for traders looking for market insight and trading opportunities.

Forex News

In partnership with FXSTREET, a respected market news aggregator and publisher, HFM provides a constant stream of news that impacts the markets. While the main focus is on geopolitical events and macroeconomic movements, there is some reporting on technical analysis – mainly from large banks and other financial institutions. With new stories every few minutes, 24/5, this is an excellent resource for traders using all types of strategies.

HFAnalysis

This is the hub for HFM’s own market research content. The focus is a market news blog, split between fundamental analysis and technical analysis, and trader education. From here traders can also access monthly and quarterly outlooks, video analysis, special reports, and intraday charts. From here traders can also access the HFM podcast; generally published mid-week this is a detailed look at recent market movements and a look ahead to potential market-impacting events. Overall, the analysis provided by HFM’s experts is detailed and accurate and is on par with the in-house research provided by other large international Forex brokers.

Advanced Insights

This plugin for MT4 and MT5 provides sentiment and volatility analysis from an insight engine that applies big data AI to millions of news articles and live trading positions. The plugin also provides a timeline of the upcoming events and presents detailed infographics on HFM’s full range of assets. While this tool is provided free, traders will need to have deposited at least 100 USD and made closed trades worth 10 lots or more in the previous two months.

Trading calculators and economic calendars are also available for reference outside of a trading platform.

Traders who open a demo or live account will get access to the HFM e-Course.  This course is well-structured and includes the basics of Forex theory and Forex trading, reading, and interpreting charts, trading strategies, trading psychology, and technical analysis.

Video tutorials are available without registration, and these cover introductory concepts, Metatrader tutorials, trading strategies, and lessons in economic theory.

Webinars on current events, advanced trading strategies, and risk and money management are run every few days. These webinars do not require an account at HFM, but you will need to register

Overall, the quality of the educational content is very high, and HFM obviously does its best to educate beginner traders. More experienced traders will also find the information and material on offer useful, especially the webinars and video analysis on more advanced topics. This is unusual in the industry, as while most brokers will try to educate beginners, traders with more experience are often underserved.

HFM Demo Account

HFM offers an unlimited demo account, allowing prospective traders to test trading strategies under real market conditions.  Demo accounts are loaded with 100,000 USD in virtual currency and have access to both the MT4 and MT5 platforms. 

Support is available 24/5 in over 27 languages via email, live chat, and telephone.  Toll-free local phone numbers and local email addresses give clients direct free access to quality customer service in their language. 

HFM’s goal is to provide the best customer service to clients by maintaining a client-focused culture.