FXOpen Review 2023
FXOpen started as a trading education center created by a group of traders. It transitioned into brokerage services in 2005 to satisfy traders’ need for transparent trading conditions. Since then, the company has become one of the fastest-growing Forex brokers in the world, offering competitive services to both beginners and professionals.
To ascertain how good FXOpen is at what it does, we reviewed the company’s brokerage services. In this post, we covered its regulations, platforms, global access, registration, leverage, and education.
Regulation and Security
Launched in 2005, FXOpen has over 17 years of experience in brokerage services and prides itself as the first Forex broker to offer ECN trading via the MetaTrader 4 platform.
FXOpen as a whole, has multiple entities operating under a wide range of regulatory licences. With the organization having tier 1 and tier 2 regulatory licences from regulators including FCA (UK), ASIC (Australia) and CySEC (Cyrpus).
The FXOpen trading brand is owned and operated by FXOpen Markets Limited, a company duly registered in Nevis under company No. C 42235. As such, it is regulated by the Nevis Financial Services Regulatory Commission (FSRC), which is responsible for the regulation and supervision of financial services business conducted within and from Nevis.
FXOpen is also a member of the Financial Commission — an international organization that resolves disputes between Forex brokers and their clients.
Negative Balance Protection
This is a safety mechanism to make sure your account balance doesn’t get to negative levels, in the event of a huge loss, and you end up owing the broker. FXOpen monitors your maintenance margin and issues a margin call early enough to prevent your equity from getting to negative levels, but in the event that it does due to a market gap, your balance would be reset to zero to avoid a negative balance.
Funds Segregation
FXOpen keeps clients’ funds in top banks and keeps them separate from the company’s operational funds. The company cannot use clients’ funds for personal purposes.
Is FXOpen available worldwide?
FXOpen operates from Nevis and the UK and offers its services to clients from different parts of the world. However, it states that it does not provide services for United States residents and neither is the information on its website intended to be addressed to the public of Belgium and Japan, or any person in any country or jurisdiction where such distribution or use would be contrary to local law or regulation.
Supported Platforms
Using the right trading platform helps with accurate analysis and smooth trade executions. This is why FXOpen provides traders with multiple trading platforms to choose from. These are the trading platforms and tools FXOpen makes available to traders:
MetaTrader 4
FXOpen provides traders with the MetaTrader 4 (MT4) platform, which is seen as the industry standard. Since its launch in 2005, MT4 has been holding the title of the most popular Forex trading platform, accounting for over 90% of all transactions in the retail Forex market.
MT4 features 3 chart types, 9 timeframes, multiple indicators, many drawing tools, and lots more. It supports the use of custom indicators, trading scripts, and expert advisors, as well as a strategy tester which you can use to test your expert advisors. The platform is available as a desktop application for Mac and Windows computers, a web-trading terminal, and a mobile app for smartphone devices.
MetaTrader 5
Abbreviated as MT5, MetaTrader 5 is a multi-asset trading platform that was created to improve on the features of MT4. The platform provides the familiar user interface of MT4 with many new functions, providing traders with all they need for successful Forex trading. You can find a comparision of the trading platfroms by clicking here.
In addition to the features in MT4, MT5 features more timeframes (21), 9 chart types, and more trading tools, including fundamental analysis tools, such as an economic calendar and news forecast. The platform is available on desktop, web terminal, and mobile app versions.
TickTrader
This is a brand-new trading platform that allows clients to trade five asset classes — forex, stocks, commodities, indices, and cryptocurrencies — using one trading account. It facilitates both margin trading and deliverable trading, which is achieved either directly through the platform or via a FIX, REST, or WebSocket API.
TickTrader boasts comprehensive functionality that makes it suitable for every type of trader, from beginner to institutional. The platform is available as a desktop terminal, mobile app for iOS or Android devices, and a web terminal that can be accessed from any modern web browser.
Mobile apps
Both the MT4/MT5 and the TickTrader platforms are available as mobile apps for Android and iOS devices. The mobile apps make it easy for you to access the market from anywhere, even when you are on the move. You can download the apps from the Google and Apple play stores or via the broker’s website.
Other Trading Tools
FXOpen also provides traders with various trading tools, such as the FIX API and Forex VPS to make the trading process smoother. Forex VPS allows you to run 24/7 algo trading as long as the market is open. The Forex VPS is free for each month you maintain equity of 5000 USD in your accounts or have traded volumes of 10,000,000 USD (per calendar month). The broker also offers copy trading via Myfxbook.
EXPLORE FXOPEN’S TRADING PLATFORMS
Account Types
FXOpen offers various account types to suit traders of different experience levels and trading capital. Here are the different account types and their features:
- Micro: This account requires a minimum deposit of only $1, but the maximum balance must not exceed $3000. You can use leverage of up to 1:500. The spread is floating, and there are no commissions. Available instruments include 28 currency pairs plus gold and silver.
- STP: This account offers market execution and requires a minimum deposit of $10. There is up to 1:500 leverage and no commissions — trading fees are included in the marked-up floating spreads. Available instruments include 50 currency pairs plus gold and silver.
- ECN: This account offers direct access to the interbank market. A $1.5 commission fee is charged per lot per side, and the spreads start from 0.0. You can open this account with a minimum deposit of $100.
- Crypto: The minimum deposit is $10, and you can trade up to 43 crypto pairs. There is a commission of 0.5% per side and up to 1:3 leverage.
The Micro, STP, and ECN accounts allow an Islamic account for Muslims who do not want swap charges for faith reasons. However, it still charges a commission for overnight positions. The broker also provides a demo account which you can use to practice trading and test and optimize your trading strategy in a risk-free environment before deciding to put your money on the line. You can also explore the pre-requisites for each account by clicking here.
Signing Up
To open a trading account with FXOpen, click on the Live Trade button on the top-right corner of the broker’s website. You will have to select your country of residence to get started. It will then direct you to the online application page where you will be required to key in your email, create a password, and fill in your phone number.
After submitting your application, you log in to the MyFXOpen client portal and follow the steps below:
- Select the type of account you want
- Read and accept the important documents
- Fill in the account opening form.
When you finish, you will see the registration data for your new trading account. Before you can start trading on a live account, you will have to fund your trading account via any available payment systems in My FXOpen.
Deposit and Withdrawals
FXOpen provides clients with multiple payment methods for instant deposits and fast withdrawals, including UnionPay, FasaPay, PayPaid, and various cryptocurrencies. The minimum and maximum deposit/withdrawal amounts and commission charges vary with the payment methods.
Instruments
Many tradable instruments across different asset classes, such as Forex, indices, cryptocurrencies, commodities, shares, and ETFs, are available with FXOpen. You can trade over 50 Forex pairs, including major, minor, and exotic pairs, as well as over 40 cryptocurrencies, precious metals and energy commodities, major market indices, shares of the biggest companies, and some popular ETFs.
Trading different assets can help diversify your portfolio, and you can trade some of the markets (cryptos) during the weekends.
Commissions and Fees
FXOpen’s trading fees include spreads, commissions, swap charges, and inactivity fees. There are no commission charges on the Micro and STP accounts, but the ECN account charges at least $1.5 per lot per side, while the crypto account charges 0.5% per side.
The spreads are floating and start from 0.0 for the ECN account. On the Micro and STP accounts, the spreads are marked up to include the trading fees. Swap charges for overnight positions vary from day to day; the actual value can be seen from the trading platform.
The broker charges inactivity fees on accounts without any transactions over 90 days. Such accounts are charged a maintenance fee of $10 per month, and on reactivation, they will be charged a reactivation fee of $50.
Available Leverage
Leverage is the ability to increase your overall buying power by borrowing from the broker. While it helps you increase your trading position and potential profits, it can also magnify losses, so do not misuse it.
FXOpen offers up to 1:500 leverage for currency pairs in all accounts except the Crypto account. For indices and shares, it offers up to 1:100 and 1:5 respectively. The leverage on the Crypto account is 1:3.
Analysis and Education
FXOpen started as a trading education center, so education is their thing, which is why the resources section of the website is replete with many educational sections, including Market Analysis, Blog, Forex Forum, and the Help Center.
All these sections offer lots of educational materials and market insight. The Help Center has a lot of trading guides, while the Forex Forum is where traders discuss and share their opinions about the market.
Customer Service
You can reach the broker’s customer support team via multiple channels, such as live chat, phone (+64-9-801-0123), and email (sales@fxopen.com). You can also open a ticket on the customer support portal or reach them via social media channels — Twitter, Facebook, Telegram, LinkedIn, or WhatsApp.
Reputation amongst Traders
The broker gets lots of positive reviews on multiple trading forums and review websites. Traders love it for its real ECN model and trading education. On Trustpilot, a popular review website, FXOpen got 4.5 out of 5 based on 122 reviews.
Can beginners trade with FXOpen?
Yes, FXOpen offers plenty of trading education and client support, which can help beginners understand the trading process and how the market works. It also offers a demo account that beginners can use to practice in a risk-free setting before deciding whether trading is for them.
When a beginner eventually wants to test the waters, there is a micro account that they can use to trade with a small deposit and minimize their risks.
Summing Up
FXOpen is a fast-growing Forex broker that is based in various countries and serves traders in different parts of the world. It offers competitive trading conditions, including multiple account options, low commissions, and ECN trade executions.
The broker offers many trading instruments, including shares, ETFs, commodities, indices, and cryptos. Traders can get up to 1:500 leverage on currency pairs. One of the broker’s shining lights is its numerous educational resources, which is expected given its origin as a trading education center.
FXOpen has many regulatory licences and their UK entity is FCA regulated. Given that they have Tier 1, Tier 2 and Tier 3 regulatory licences they are strongly regulated.
