Valutrades

FCA and FSA Regulation: Unlike most other brokers that direct traders to a particular subsidiary based on their location, Valutrades allows traders to choose their regulation.  Traders can choose between the Valutrades Limited (regulated by the FCA) or VALUTRADES (SEYCHELLES) LIMITED (regulated by the FSA).

Considered one of the world’s best regulators, the FCA maintains a high level of regulatory oversight, ensuring that all client funds are held in segregated accounts and that all traders are offered negative balance protection, meaning that they cannot lose more than is in their trading accounts.  The FCA also requires brokers to restrict Forex leverage to 30:1 to further protect its traders. This subsidiary also participates in a compensation scheme, the Financial Services Compensation Scheme, which covers up to 85,000 GBP per person, should the company go into liquidation.  This benefit is not available under the FSA-regulated entity.  

Traders can elect to trade under the subsidiary,  VALUTRADES (SEYCHELLES) LIMITED, which is authorised and regulated by the Financial Services Authority (FSA) of Seychelles.  The level of protection offered by the FSA is low compared to regulators of Europe and Australia, and CFD brokers registered with the FSA are not required to segregate client money from company operational capital or participate in compensation schemes.  They are also not required to offer negative balance protection and have no leverage restrictions. 

VALUTRADES (SEYCHELLES) LIMITED holds all client money in segregated client trust accounts with a number of top-tier banks and provides negative balance protection. As mentioned above, client money is not covered by any compensation schemes.  However, many traders will be interested in trading under this subsidiary, because they are afforded leverage of up to 500:1.   

Another consideration for traders is that the FSA-regulated only allows accounts to be denominated in USD, while the FCA-regulated entity allows accounts to be denominated in 14 base currencies.

In short, the trade-off for choosing the FSA-regulated entity is less protection and no FSCS compensation in exchange for higher leverage, but accounts are only denominated in USD.  

Overall, because of the strong regulatory oversight and FSCS compensation through its UK-based entity, Valutrades is considered a safe broker to trade with.  

The account opening process at Valutradesis user-friendly, fully digital, and accounts are ready for trading within one day.

All Australian residents are eligible to open an account at Valutrades.  

Creating an account is straightforward, the process is fully digital, and accounts are usually ready within one day. Valutrades offers individual and company accounts, but we will focus on opening an individual account:

1. New traders will have to click on the “Open a Live Account” button at the top of the page where they will be directed to register an account with the subsidiary under which they prefer to trade – Valutrades UK or Valutrades Seychelles.  
2. Traders will then have to fill in their personal details (including name, email address, physical address, date of birth, account type (which includes leverage level), and account currency).  
3. Valutrades requires at least two documents to accept you as an individual client:
   1. Proof of Identification – Valutrades accepts all government-issued identification documents such as Passport, national ID card, driving license, or other government-issued ID. 
   2. Proof of Address – Proof of residence/address document must be issued in the name of the Valutrades’ account holder within the last 6 months and must contain a trader’s full name, current residential address, issue date, and issuing authority. 

After the application is approved, traders can login and fund their accounts. We advise that you read Valutrades’ risk disclosure, customer agreement, and terms of business before you start trading. 

Apart from the wide selection of Forex pairs, Valutrades has a disappointing range of CFDs.  That said, the range within each asset class is broader than most other brokers.   

Trading costs are 7 USD on Valutrade’s account, which is significantly lower than the costs at other brokers.  Most other brokers have a trading cost of 9 USD per lot of EUR/USD traded, making Valutrades one of the lowest cost brokers in the industry.

Account Specifications

Valutrades’ single account requires no minimum deposit.  Spreads start at 0.10 pips pips on the EUR/USD, some of the tightest in the industry; and a reasonable commission of 3 USD per lot per side is charged.  

Demo Accounts

Valutrades offers a free unlimited demo account where clients can test out trading strategies with virtual funds. The customer support team is available to help with any account setup or technical difficulties. 

Valutrades’ mobile trading platforms are average compared to other similar brokers.

MetaTrader4 (MT4) and Metatrader 5 (MT5) are available on IOS, Android, and Windows mobile phones and tablets. The app will connect to the same account as the desktop software, allowing a synchronised and mobile trading experience.

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.

Valutrades’ platform support is average compared to most other brokers.  

Valutrades offers CFD trading on both MetaTrader4 (MT4) and MetaTrader5 (MT5), two of the industry’s leading platforms.   Both provide automated trading systems with expert advisors (EAs) and are simple to navigate yet offer a powerful range of features, charts, and analysis tools.   

All platform choices are free to use, all can be downloaded to your PC and all have web versions of the platform. All platforms are also available on mobile Android and iOS devices.

MetaTrader 4

MT4 was developed in 2005 and is still considered one of the best trading platforms on the Forex market.  It is simple and easy to use and allows traders to customise the interface to their trading needs.  Valutrades’ MT4 platform is the standard version of MT4, and while numerous upgrades are available, most of them come at a price.  

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.
• 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. 

There are also many advantages of signing up with an MT4 broker:

• The MT4 community is vast, as is the amount of text and video resources to support new and experienced traders alike.
• The MT4 EA (Expert Advisor) community of developers is very active, so renting or buying algorithmic trading software is very easy.
• MT4 has very low system requirements, and MT4 trading can run off any device.

While MT4 has great customizability, the platform feels outdated, and some of the features may be hard to find.  In addition, only the basic orders are available, including Market, Limit, Stop, and Trailing Stop.

MetaTrader 5

Developed in 2010, the MT5 platform offers all the features provided by MT4, in addition to improved trading functionalities and enhanced scripting tools for custom indicators.  It offers 80+ technical analysis indicators and analytical tools and powerful algorithmic trading with built-in MQL5 development.  Additional features of MT5 include:

• Depth of market display and technical indicators
• 6 pending stop order types, including Buy Stop Limit and Sell Stop Limit
• Improved strategy tester for algorithmic trading and expert advisors (EAs)
• In-built market of trading systems & apps
• Trading functions and alerts with e-mail and push notifications on mobile devices
• Improve precision in forex and CFD trading through trading robots for scalpers
• Exchange trading allowed
• Forex Signals and Copy Trading
• 21 time frames and 8 order types
• Access to comprehensive analytical tools, with over 80 technical indicators and 44 analytical objects.

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 Valutrades 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.  Additionally, there are thousands of plugins and tools available for the MetaTrader platforms.  

As a well-regulated broker, Valutrades ensures that all Anti-Money Laundering rules and regulations are followed, and as such, all withdrawals are returned to the deposit source. 

Trading Account Currencies: At Valutrades, traders can choose from fourteen base currencies through the FCA-regulated entity, including AUD, CAD, CHF, EUR, GBP, HKD, JPY, NOK, NZD, SEK, SGD, USD & ZAR. However, if traders choose the Seychelles-based entity, they can only select USD. Traders should consider this trade-off before selecting the entity under which they prefer to trade. Australian traders that choose the Seychelles entity will have to pay currency conversion fees on all deposits and withdrawals. Conversion fees can make trading expensive, and are usually not presented on the fee report, but affect profitability

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 an AUD account, there will be a small conversion fee for every trade made.

Deposits and Withdrawals: Withdrawals are processed within 24 hours, but a 5% fee applies from the fourth withdrawal in one calendar month.  Withdrawals can only be performed on a balance of 50 USD/EUR/GPB in the trader’s account.

Valutrades offers its traders FIX API and a VPS service for traders who trade more than 10 lots per month. It also offers a basic sentiment indicator on some of the major Forex pairs, in addition to seven different custom indicators for its MT4 platform.  Most other brokers will offer comprehensive technical analysis tools such as Autochartist or Trading Central to help traders make better trading decisions, which is unavailable at Valutrades.

Fix API

FIX API uses the Fix Protocol method of trading, allowing clients to trade directly on Valutrade’s ECN matching engine. FIX API is an application-based trading interface that allows clients to program their own trading strategies in FIX protocol, and run algorithms. FIX API commissions start at USD 30 per million USD traded. The minimum deposit for FIX API is USD 10,000, and the highest possible leverage is 100:1 on Valutrades Limited (professional client) and Valutrades Seychelles.  Users are given direct market access to forex, CFDs, and commodities. Fix Protocol is suitable for anyone with API knowledge.

Traders will need to contact customer support and submit their email addresses to set up their FIX API account.

VPS

Valutrades VPS has partnered with BeeksFX to provide a discounted VPS service to clients. As one of the largest Forex VPS providers, BeeksFX gives users access to very low latency networks and expert advisors. 

VPS hosting allows traders to run automated algorithmic strategies, including expert advisors 24 hours a day 7 days a week on a virtual machine. VPS services have the advantage of never suffering connectivity issues and have extremely low latency due to their proximity to major international exchanges. 

Valutrades’ VPS services are offered for free to clients who trade more than 10 lots per month. 

Sentiment Indicator

Valutrades’ sentiment indicator allows its clients to measure traders’ consensus towards global currency pairs.  However, these are limited to EUR/USD, XAU/USD, USD/JPY, GBP/USD, and AUD/USD.   

MT4 Trading Indicators

Valutrades offers MT4 trading indicators, which help identify break and support lines and entry and exit points. These include:

• Double Top/Bottom Chart Patterns
• Inside Out Bars
• Three Strike Pattern
• Support Resistance Lines
• RSI CCI Divergence
• Doji Pattern
• Hammer Pattern

Traders will receive access to one of the seven trading indicators after opening a live account. 

Valutrades has an in-house market and research team. It offers various market analysis materials, including trading news and daily market news with commentary and updates to guide trading.  It also offers an economic calendar, custom indicators for MT4, and various sentiment indicators.

Valutrades’ excellent written educational materials help traders develop skills to improve trading performance.  Several guides have been compiled and cover topics ranging from beginner forex tips to trading strategies.  Valutrades also provides a range of training video courses and offers regular webinars.

Blogs: The blog covers topics such as trading strategies, updates on new trading products and services, and daily market news, commentary, and updates to guide your trading.   Valutrades’ blog is updated regularly by its in-house team of analysts.  

Videos: Valutrades offers a range of videos, all of which are available for free on its Youtube channel.  Video tutorials cover various topics, including Forex Trading, Market Analysis, Trading Psychology, Trading Strategies, MT4/MT5 indicators, and CFDs.  

Trading Guides: Valutrades provides excellent trading guides that cover the basics of Forex trading, in addition to risk management, and How to Develop a Forex Trading Plan, among others.  

Learn to trade: The learn to trade section offers materials that are relevant for beginners, intermediate, and more advanced traders.  

Webinars: Webinars are run weekly and all previous webinars are available in an archive. The webinar subjects vary from more fundamental concepts like News Trading Strategies to Technical Analysis and Chart Theories like Standard Elliot Wave Models.

For the purposes of this review, we found the customer service to be responsive, knowledgeable, and polite.