Is FXCM regulated?

The FXCM broker is regulated by many financial authorities like:

• FCA: the Financial Conduct Authority in the UK
• CySEC: the Cyprus Securities and Commission Exchange
• FSCA: Financial Sector Conduct Authority of South Africa
• BMA: the Bermuda Monetary Authority
• ASIC: the Australian Securities and Investments Commission
• FSP: the Financial Sector Conduct Authority in South Africa

Is FXCM a scam?

FXCM safety is divided into 2 parts, the safety of the broker itself and the safety of the client.

Broker safety

FXCM was founded in 1999 and has over 20 years of experience and has survived from different financial disasters up-till-now and regulated by top-tier financial authorities in different countries. FXCM is also listed on NASDAQ stock exchange.

Client protection

FXCM also has client protection amounts under a variety of regulators in a lot of countries as the following table shows below.

FXCM Legal Entities Table

FXCM has also a negative balance protection for the EU clients in case anything wrong happens.

FXCM has a variety of products in different categories like forex, CFDs, baskets, commodities, and cryptocurrencies.

On the other hand, there’s no ETFs, futures, or mutual funds trading.

Disclaimer: CFDs have a high risk of losing money rapidly. About 80% of retail investor accounts lose money due to leverage when trading CFDs with this provider. Please note that CFDs are not complying with the islamic religion. And if you want to trade in CFDs you should consider a swap-free account to follow islamic rules.

Learn more about CFDs for muslims.

FXCM Offering of Investments

Note:

Please note that some of the trading options may depend on your account type and / or your country of residence according to the governmental rules.

Countries that can not trade on Forex

• Africa: Burundi, Central African Republic, Ivory Coast, Liberia, Libya, Sudan, Zaire, Zimbabwe
• Asia: North Korea, Singapore, South Korea
• Eastern Europe: Belarus, Russian Federation, Ukraine
• Island Nations: Cuba, Vanuatu
• Middle East: Iran, Syria, Turkey, Afghanistan

Countries available

FXCM is available in a lot of countries around the world. There are a few exceptions including, but not limited to the USA, Japan, Brazil, Turkey, Hong Kong, Iran, Cuba, Russia, New Zealand, Syria and South Korea.

Please note that FXCM is not available for the US residents as it was banned from United States markets for defrauding its customers.

Account types

FXCM has 3 account options which are:

• Standard Account
• Joint Account
• Active Trader Account

Each one of them has its features and specifications. For example, the standard account is mainly for the traditional traders who does not trade a lot, but for the Active trader Account, it’s directed to the traders who trade with high volumes and need some additional features like:

• Rebates
• 2 free withdrawals each month
• API trading

In addition to the previous account type which is the Corporate account type for larger organizations. Please note that there’s a fee of $300 if you opened this account type and it will be deducted from your first deposit.

FXCM also provides a demo account with 0 fees if you want to experience the trading platform with no risk.

Min deposit

The minimum deposit differs according to the account type,and country of residence as the following.

• Standard account: $/€/£300 (EU customers)

$50 (for non-EU customers)

• Active Trader: $25,000

How to open an account

You can open an FXCM account in minutes through these steps:

1. Select your country of residence and the trading platform you want to trade on.
2. Enter your name, email, and base currency.
3. Enter some personal information like your city, date of birth, and profession.
4. Upload your documents in order to verify your account.
5. Fund your account and start trading.

FXCM - Account Opening

Commissions

FXCM applies commissions on forex currency pairs according to the account base currency.

For example, this is the commissions on trading EUR/ USD per 100K trade per side according to the base currencies:

• EUR: 3.00
• USD: 4.00
• GBP: 3.00
• CHF: 4.00
• NZD: 6.00
• CAD: 6.00
• JPY: 500.00

Trading Fees

Forex fees

The average spread of trading EUR/ USD is 1.3 pips per lot.

Index CFDs

The average spread of trading SPX 500 is 5 pips per lot.

Disclaimer: CFDs have a high risk of losing money rapidly. About 80% of retail investor accounts lose money due to leverage when trading CFDs with this provider. Please note that CFDs are not complying with the islamic religion. And if you want to trade in CFDs you should consider a swap-free account to follow islamic rules.

Learn more about CFDs for muslims.

Commodity fees

The average spread of trading US Oil is 4 pips per lot.

Stock and Shares

The average spreads of trading Apple and Amazon shares are 13 and 211 pips per lot respectively.

Cryptocurrencies

The average spread of trading BTC/ USD is 40 pips per lot.

Non-trading fees

• Account fee: $0
• Deposit fee: $0
• Withdrawal fees: $0

(you can check the full withdrawal fees in withdrawal fees section)

• Inactivity fee: FXCM does apply an inactivity fee and it is $50 per year after one year of inactivity.

Account Currencies

The FXCM account has 7 main base currencies which are:

• EUR
• USD
• GBP
• CHF
• NZD
• CAD
• JPY

Notes:

• You will not be charged with conversion fees if your account has the same currency with your bank account or when you trade assets with the same currency of your account.
• If you want to avoid being charged with conversion fees, you can open a multi-currency bank account at a digital bank.

Deposit

1. Options

FXCM supports depositing using different electronic wallets such that:

• Credit/ Debit cards
• Bank transfers
• Neteller
• UnionPay
• Skrill

FXCM Deposit Methods

2. Fees

All the deposit options are fee-free although your bank may charge you with additional fees that are deducted from the deposit amount.

3. Time

The time required to receive your money into your FXCM trading account varies from a deposit method to another as the following table shows.

FXCM Deposit Options and Time

Withdrawal

1. Options

FXCM provides the same options of depositing for withdrawals which are:

• Credit/ Debit cards
• Bank transfers
• Neteller
• UnionPay
• Skrill

FXCM withdrawal methods and fees

2. Fees

FXCM withdrawals are free of charge for all options except for the bank transfers that have a $25 fee if the beneficiary account is located in the UK and a fee of $40 for international banks.

3. Time

It takes 1 to 2 business days for credit/ debit cards and electronic wallets. Bank transfers may take from 3 to 5 business days to proceed.

FXCM works on a number of trading platforms like:

• Trading Station
• MetaTrader 4
• NinjaTrader
• ZuluTrade
• TradingView

Each one of the previous trading platforms has its own specifications and features that are different from the others. For example: the ZuluTrade trading platform which is a platform in which you can copy trades and strategies from successful traders.

In this section we will dig deeper into the FXCM own trading platform and the MT4 as well in detail. Unfortunately, FXCM is not available on the MetaTrader 5 platform which is a newer version of MT4.

Web Trading Platform

Languages

The FXCM web trading platform is available in 9 main languages which are: Arabic, German, greek, English, Spanish, Italian, French, Chinese and Japanese.

FXCM - Web Platform - Languages

User interface (UI)

The UI of the web trading platform is very user friendly and easy-to-use. You can find all the functions you want in their right places without any problem. Also, the functions work seamlessly without any problems.

FXCM - Web Platform - UI

Login and Security

The FXCM web trading platform lacks the two-factor authentication method and only has a one-step verification by the account number and password.

FXCM - Web Platform - Login

Searching

The searching function within the web trading platform of FXCM works very well. You can explore through the categories of the products as well as searching for any product you want by easily typing the first letters of it.

FXCM - Web Platform - Search

Placing orders

There are 5 types of orders:

• Market
• Limit
• Stop
• Stop trailing
• OCO (one-cancels-the-other)

The web trading platform also has an order confirmation method that saves you and your money from trading risky.

FXCM - Web Platform - Place Order

Notifications and alerts

As a negative point, FXCM does not have any notification or price alerts function.

Portfolio and reports

The platform has clear fee and portfolio reports which you can use in order to track your activities on the platform.

Desktop Trading Platform

Languages

The FXCM web trading platform is available in 17 languages which are: English, Chinese (Simplified), Chinese (Traditional), Russian, Japanese, French, Spanish, German, Arabic, Korean, Italian, Turkish, hebrew, Greek, Portuguese, Polish, and Hungarian.

User interface (UI)

The UI of the desktop trading platform is simple. Beginner traders may find it hard-to-use in the beginning, but they will familiarize themselves with it after a while. The desktop trading platform is also well designed and has a good charting options.

FXCM - Desktop Platform - UI

Login and Security

Like the web platform, there’s no two-step verification method for login.

FXCM - Desktop Platform - Login

Searching

The searching function within the desktop trading platform is good with an option to explore product categories as well as searching for assets.

FXCM - Desktop Platform - Search

Placing orders

There are 6 types of orders:

• Limit
• Market
• Stop
• Stop loss
• Stop trailing
• OTO (One-Triggers-the-Other)

FXCM - Desktop Platform - Place Order

Notifications and alerts

The desktop trading platform has a notification and alerts option in order to never miss a chance to trade.

Portfolio and reports

FXCM desktop platform has a clear portfolio and fee reports with an ability to track the account activity since its opening.

FXCM Mobile Platform

Languages

The mobile trading application in 11 languages which are: English, Spanish, Italian, Russian, Turkish, French, Greek, Chinese and Japanese.

User interface (UI)

The mobile trading application of FXCM is simple and easy to use. You can also find most of the functions and options in their places with an ability to customize the platform as you want.

FXCM - Mobile Platform - UI

Login and security

Unfortunately, the mobile trading platform as well as the desktop and web platform do not have a two-step verification method for login.

FXCM - Mobile Platform - Login

Searching

You will struggle while searching for the search function within the application as you will not be able to find it easily. This is counted as a negative point for the UI of the mobile application as it should be user friendly and all functions should be put in a common place.

The search function is located in Settings -> Symbols as you see in the image below.

FXCM - Mobile Platform - Search

Placing orders

The mobile trading platform has the same order types like the web trading platforms which are:

• Market
• Limit
• Stop
• Stop trailing
• OCO (one-cancels-the-other)

FXCM - Mobile Platform - Place Order

Notifications and alerts

Unusually, the mobile trading platform of FXCM has no notifications or alerts options.

Portfolio and Reports

The portfolio and reports within the applications look good and have all the data you want.

MetaTrader 4

Languages

MetaTrader 4 is available in a number of languages like:

MT4 Languages

User interface (UI)

MT4 has a very customizable UI that you can adjust according to your needs and preferences. On the other hand, it seems hard to find some of the features inside.

MT4 - Mobile Version - UI

Login and Security

Unfortunately, the MT4 does not provide a two-step verification method for logging in, and it does only support a one-step login.

Searching

Searching using the MT4 platform has two different options:

• You can search by categories and find assets.
• You can also type the name of the asset and search for it manually.

MT4 - Mobile Platform - Search

Placing orders

MT4 has a simple order types which are:

1. Market
2. Limit
3. Stop
4. Trailing stop

In addition to those 4 types, there are other orders which are the time limit ‘Good ‘til time’ (GTT) and ‘Good 'til canceled’ (GTC).

There’s also an order confirmation feature in MT4.

Notifications and alerts

Unfortunately, the MT4 web trading platform does not have an option to set price alerts and notifications unlike the desktop and mobile versions.

MT4 - Mobile Version - Notifications Settings

Portfolio and reports

Under the ‘History’ tab, you can find your portfolio reports with a clear fee description.

MT4 - Mobile Version - Portfolio

Sources

FXCM has great research and analysis tools whether on their platform, or the MT4 trading platform. Those tools help you trade smartly and analyze your performance easily and create new strategies.

Trading ideas

FXCM has a great trading signals tool that helps you get a great look at the market trends and take the chance of buying and selling products at their peak times. This tool is available under the name of ‘Market Scanner’ and there’s another tool called ‘Trading SSignals’ in the FXCM Pro program.

FXCM - Research - Market Scanner

Fundamental data

Unfortunately, there’s no fundamental data available on FXCM broker.

Charting

FXCM offers a great charting tool that helps you get an overview of the market, search for market trends, discover trading patterns of some products and predict its peak times within a timeframe with a variety of indicators.

FXCM - Research - Charts

Newsfeed

If you like keeping up with market news, FXCM provides you a great News Feed of the market to never miss any important update.

FXCM - Research - Newsfeed

Economic Calendar

FXCM provides an economic calendar tool that helps you track financial events and get a good idea of the market.

FXCM - Research - Economic Calendar

Heatmaps

The Heatmap is a good tool provided by FXCM that helps you track the market movements visually at a glance.

FXCM - Research - Heatmaps

Other tools

FXCM also has a subscription service called ‘FXCM Plus’. This service is free to try for the first 14 days, then you can pay for it if you like it. The service has a collection of other good tools and features like:

• Trade ideas on 40 currency pairs
• Suggested prices to enter each trade
• Analysis with stop and limit (take profit) orders

Options

FXCM supports different customer service channels like:

• Live chat
• Email
• Phone call

Contact Information

You can call the FXCM customer support team through phone from 42 different countries as the following table shows below.

FXCM - Phone Support

FXCM provides good educational materials on how to trade forex as well as other materials like video libraries, guides and articles, and free SMS trade alerts.

In addition to that, there is a demo account option in case you want to trade virtually with no risk.

FXCM Education

• 1. How long does it take to verify my account?
• It takes about 1 to 3 business days to verify your FXCM account.
  1. Can I open more than one trading account?
• Yes, you can up to 5 trading accounts
  1. Does FXCM allow bot trading?
• Yes, FXCM allows it through API trading.
  1. Does FXCM give a bonus?
• Yes. FXCM gives a $20 Welcome Bonus.
  1. Does FXCM allow scalping and hedging?
• Yes. Scalping and hedging are available for FXCM clients.
  1. What happens to my funds if the bank which holds my funds goes insolvent?
• All retail client funds are housed in segregated accounts at top global banks.
  1. How to enable the swap-free option in my account?
• Go to FXCM Interest-Free webpage and click the ‘Form Application’ button and complete with your details.
  1. How do I login using the MT4 mobile platform?
• Steps:

1. Go to ‘Settings’

2. Click on 'Manage Accounts' or 'Settings'

3. Then click on the small plus sign or select 'New Account'

4. Then select 'Log in to an existing account'

5. Search for the broker name

6. Select the server your account was set up on

7. Enter your login credentials and password

8. Click on 'Sign In'

• 1. When will my demo account expire?
• After 30 days.
  1. When trading forex, will you lose more than your initial deposit?
• Both our MetaTrader 4 and Trade Station platforms are set to automatically close your positions when your margin requirement reaches 100% (stop out level).
• Please note that this process is automated and is not a guarantee that your account will not enter into a negative equity situation and you should keep a balance amount in your account above your required margin.
  1. Can I login to more than one account from the same computer?
• Yes, you can do such a thing by using the MT4 Multi Terminal.
  1. Can I login to the same account through different devices?
• Yes, you can login to the MetaTrader 4 platform using the same password and username through different devices.
  1. Does FXCM accept payments from third parties?
• No, payments should be from an account under your name.
  1. Can I transfer money from an FXCM account to another?
• Yes, by logging in using the login credentials from the account you're transferring funds from.
  1. Is there a maximum deposit applied to my FXCM account?
• Yes. The maximum deposit on a credit or debit card is 20,000 (base currency) per month. If you would like to deposit 20,000, this needs to be broken up into two 10K.
  1. The amount deposited in my trading account is less than the amount I sent. Why?
• If the amount that is credited to your FXCM trading account is less than the bank wire you initiated, your bank may have used a “send-through” bank in order to send the funds. These banks are also referred to as intermediary banks and usually charge an additional fee for their service.
• For more information regarding the use of Intermediary banks, please contact your personal bank.
  1. How much can I withdraw via debit or credit card?
• Debit or Credit card withdrawal amounts are limited to the amount originally deposited using that card(s).
• For example, if you have deposited a total of $500 using your credit or debit card, the maximum amount you can withdraw to your credit or debit card is $500. Once the principal amount (deposit amount) has gone back to your card, the remaining funds may go back to a bank account in your name.
  1. What’s the minimum amount I can withdraw from my FXCM account?
• You may withdraw any amount. Please keep in mind that your bank or card issuer may charge additional fees to receive the funds. So, check with your bank to confirm before withdrawing smaller amounts.
  1. Does FXCM offer a corporate account?
• Yes, it does.