Spreadex

Founded in 1999, Spreadex is regulated by the UK’s Financial Conduct Authority (FCA). FCA regulation ensures that Spreadex segregates its client funds from company funds and provides all traders with negative balance protection. It is also insured by the Investor Compensation Fund up to a maximum of 85,000 EUR per trader should the company be liquidated. On this basis, we consider Spreadex a safe broker for clients to trade with.

The account opening process at Spreadex is hassle-free and fully digital and accounts are ready for trading within 48 hours.

Australian clients cannot open an account at Spreadex. 

Creating an account is straightforward, the process is fully digital, and accounts are usually ready within 48 hours. 

How to open an account at Spreadex:

1. Click on “Create an Account.”
2. Spreadex’s intake form requires clients to fill in their personal details, including name, email address, and country of residence. They will also have to create a password and choose a username.
3. Clients will then be required to confirm their physical address. 
4. Thereafter, clients will have to detail their previous trading experience and financial status.
5. Spreadex requires individuals to submit a copy of their National ID or Passport with the signature page, as well as a copy of a recent utility bill or bank statement. Documents can be scanned or sent through as a high-quality digital camera picture.
6. 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.
7. We advise you to read Spreadex’s risk disclosure, customer agreement, and t&cs before you start trading.

Overall, Spreadex’s account opening process is fully digital and accounts are ready for opening within 48 hours.

Alongside Forex pairs, Spreadex offers cryptocurrencies, equities, commodities, indices, ETFs, and metals. Due to FCA regulations, maximum leverage on all assets is relatively low.

There is no CFD account choice at Spreadex, which is unusual as most of its serious competitors have several account types with tighter spreads linked to higher deposit requirements. However, Spreadex’s UK-based traders may open a tax-free spread betting account. 

Spreadex has a simple account structure with lower than average trading costs. Spreadex states that its revenue is derived from the spread, but it is not transparent about how the spreads are derived, and it does not publish the average spreads on its site.

Unfortunately, Spreadex does not publish the average spreads associated with each account, so these calculations are based on the minimum spreads. The trading costs are built into the spread, which is variable and gets wider or tighter depending on trade volume and market volatility. 

The cost of trading one lot of EUR/USD is 6 USD, which is significantly tighter than other similar market makers. There are also no minimum deposit requirements, putting it within the reach of all traders.

Swap Fees

If you hold a position overnight with Spreadex, a swap fee will also be charged, which is the interest paid on a leveraged position. A leveraged position is the money borrowed from the broker to trade. Interest is paid (or received) when a position is held overnight. Unfortunately, Spreadex does not publish the swap fees on its website, but they are available to view inside the MT4 trading terminal. 

We opened and tested Spreadex’s Retail Account:

Retail Account

A market maker, Spreadex’s retail account is commission-free and has spreads that start at 0.60 pips on the EUR/USD, which is lower than other similar market maker brokers.  There are no minimum deposit requirements to open account, but trading is only offered on the Spreadex proprietary platform, which is limited compared to most other brokers. Traders can choose between a wide range of tradable assets, including over 60 Forex pairs, share CFDs, interest rates, bonds, ETFs, commodities, and cryptocurrencies. 

Spreadex offers fewer mobile trading platforms than other large international brokers.

Spreadex has a well-designed and user-friendly mobile trading platform for trading on the move that users can download and access on Android and IOS tablets and mobile phones, including a native iPad and iPhone app. It allows traders to open and close positions and has the same indicators and charts. 

The Spreadex web trader is web-based and offers a streamlined trading experience, appealing to traders who want to avoid the complexity of third-party platforms.  The platform is intuitive and easy to use.

Spreadex’s trading platform is a fully-customizable, fast and reliable proprietary platform under constant development to ensure it stays up-to-date with modern tools and advanced trading capabilities.  Spreadex traders get access to spread bets and CFDs with advanced charting tools, award-winning execution, price alerts, and watch lists from a single account. It also offers a comprehensive suite of technical indicators and drawing tools, in addition to historical prices.  Note that the Spreadex platform is not available for desktop use.

Regrettably, the MT4 trading platform is not supported, as Spreadex focuses on sports spread betting, which is unsuitable for MT4.

Spreadex does not offer demo accounts.  This is a real shame, as practice accounts are a fantastic way to get a feel for the broker and the platform.

A well-regulated broker, Spreadex ensures that all anti-Money Laundering rules and regulations are followed, and as such, all withdrawals are returned to the deposit source. 

Spreadex’s funding methods are limited to bank transfers and debit cards or credit cards. The absence of third-party processors including e-wallets such as Moneybookers, Neteller, Paypal, is disappointing and a serious downfall of this broker. 

Withdrawals are only cleared with a minimum of 50 GBP, and CHAPS same-day transfers are available at a fee of 25 GBP.  Deposits are free, but Spreadex reserves the right to charge 1 GBP on debit card deposits under 50 GBP. 

While Spreadex does not charge a fee for payments using UK cards, international bank transfers, and bank transfers in currencies other than GBP will be subject to additional currency conversion charges.

Direct withdrawal times range from two business days for bank transfers to up to five days for debit cards.

Spreadex offers a limited range of base currencies compared to other similar brokers.  

Spreadex clients can choose between three base currencies, including EUR, USD, and GBP.  

However, for traders with bank accounts denominated in other currencies, a currency conversion fee will be charged for deposits and withdrawals. 

For traders that trade in large volumes (more than 10 lots a month), it is better to open an account denominated in USD at a digital currency bank, especially for trading on assets such as the EUR/USD. This is because when trading a USD quoted currency pair with another currency account, there will be a small conversion fee for every trade made.

Overall, Spreadex offers fewer trading account currencies than most other large international brokers.  

Most other brokers offer technical and fundamental analysis tools such as Autochartist, Trading Central, or TradingView. They also sometimes offer free VPS services and various copy trading services.

Like the education section, Spreadex’s market analysis materials are lacking

Spreadex’s research is curated by third-party analysts. While Spreadex publishes a weekly trading update, a financial trading blog, an economic calendar, and a financial markets news section, it doesn’t make up for the lack of trading ideas, limited fundamental data, and a poor selection of analytic tools. 

The trading platform has a candlestick pattern recognition program, which may assist in identifying trading opportunities, but overall, compared to other large international brokers, the absence of proper research is dominant. 

Spreadex lacks educational content for beginner traders. One will find a video training center, but this material mainly delves into the specifics of how to set up a Spreadex trading account.  Spreadex also only offers a few written materials on chart analysis and chart patterns.  

Customer support is available during business hours, seven days a week in English, via telephone, email, and live chat.  For the purposes of this review, we found the customer support responsive, polite, and helpful.