ETFinance

Why ETFinance Sucks In 50 Words

Let’s address the elephant in the room: the company is suspended! According to CySEC, Magnum FX (Cyprus) LTD does not appear to act honestly, fairly, and professionally among other reasons, Also, they are restricted from offering financial services to UK residents. ThatSucks!

And although the above is more important, we also have to mention that on the Accounts page they advertise super-tight spreads, as low as 0.07 but when you click on “more details”, they show a 2.2 spread for EUR/USD (which is usually the pair with the tightest spread). Now, 2.2 pips are not so bad (albeit it is on the expensive side) but why advertise 0.07?

Why ETFinance Doesn’t Suck In 50 Words

Good choice of trading platforms and a bunch of awards. However, we cannot give these awards too much weight, mainly due to the recent developments regarding the company’s licenses. As for the trading platform: it’s Meta Trader 4, which is very good but also available at a large number of regulated brokers.

Is ETFinance A Scam?

In light of recent developments, we have to warn you that your funds may be in jeopardy if dealing with ETFinance. We advise you to skip this broker even if the CySEC license will be restored. For the sake of accuracy, we will leave the text of our original review (written before the license was partially suspended) unchanged. This will also show you that we have warned about possible risks way before the financial watchdogs did:

With two authorities supervising the activity, you would think there’s no risk of scam. And we are not saying there is, but you always have to be careful when someone is in possession of your money. Some users have complained that ETFinance didn’t let them withdraw, without providing additional details about the problem, others have said they’ve received too many phone calls from the broker’s representatives. However, two of the negative reviews were 99% identical but posted under different names, so either those two guys are telepathic or it’s the same guy who is just trying to spread negative vibes.

The bottom line is: be extra careful, especially now that their license is partially suspended by the CySEC and they are no longer able to offer services to UK residents as per FCA restrictions.

Should I Open An Account With ETFinance?

ETFinance is an online broker launched in 2018 that offers CFD trading on various assets such as Forex, stocks, indices, ETFs, cryptocurrency, and more. The website is operated by Magnum FX (Cyprus) Ltd, a company regulated by the Cyprus Securities and Exchange Commission (CySEC) under license number 359/18. However, the license is Partially Suspended and several restrictions apply. More details below.

Magnum FX (Cyprus) LTD is also EEA Authorised by the British Financial Conduct Authority (FCA), with reference number 821560 but the company has restrictions/suspensions on its activity.

The broker hasn’t been in business for long, which may be viewed as a disadvantage, but hey, all brokers started somewhere, so we cannot dismiss ETFinance simply on the fact they are new. The trading platform is Meta Trader 4, which is one of the most popular out there, with mobile applications as well and a browser-based version. So you have the best of both worlds: mobility with WebTrader and/or smartphone apps and on the other hand, you can use a full range of technical analysis tools on the desktop (downloadable) version.

The account structure is made up of three tiers: Silver, Gold, and Platinum but unfortunately the deposit requirements are not specified for either of them, which is a major let-down. We’ve tried contacting a support representative but all the info we could get was that we need to open an account and then a manager will contact us with information. I don’t understand why this basic info is locked behind the wall of registering; after all, it is one of the first things you need to know if you are going to open an account. Maybe you would open an account if the minimum deposit is $50, but no way you’ll do it if they ask for $1,000. Not providing this info is a good way to keep clients away, but that’s their decision.

Education consists of trading-related articles, VOD (video on demand), tutorials, and e-books. As a note, the videos and some of the other materials are provided by MTE-Media (a company that provides this type of content for a large number of brokers), so don’t expect to learn something completely new, especially if you are a trained trader.

To conclude, ETFinance may be a good choice when looking from afar, but unfortunately, they fall short when taking a closer look. The spreads are high, the minimum deposit is not displayed on the site and the info wasn’t made available when we specifically asked for it. We even opened an account and still no info about deposits. A basic FAQ is missing, as well as information about withdrawals. Considering all this, and the recent suspension, we cannot recommend you to open an account with ETFinance.

The company’s registered office is at KPMG Center, 1 Agias Fylaxeos Street, 2nd Floor – Office 1, 3025 Limassol, Cyprus and the broker can be contacted at email [email protected] and phone +8006 003 7004.

ETFinance Complaints

As mentioned previously, this broker received some negative reviews, but not all of them are believable. For example, we’ve located two almost identical negative posts, coming – allegedly – from two separate persons (or at least the username was different). It’s obvious those posts were actually coming from the same person, so we cannot give them too much credit.

On the other hand, we did locate some believable posts coming from clients who complained about high-pressure phone calls and failed withdrawals. However, “believable” doesn’t mean true, so take it with a pinch of salt.

ETFinance Regulatory Warnings And Announcements

01/06/2020: CySEC announced that Magnum FC (Cyprus) LTD is partially suspended “as the Company does not appear to act honestly, fairly, and professionally when providing investment services to clients”. There are more reasons for the suspension; please read them in the official CySEC Decision here. The initial suspension was for 1 month but now ETFinance is prohibited from accepting new clients; other restrictions apply as well.

ETFinance Withdrawals

A lot of basic information is missing from ETFinance’s website and that includes withdrawals. There’s absolutely nothing on the website about methods, processing times, or minimum amounts so we had to look deep into their Legal documents. There we found out that the minimum withdrawal for bank wires is 50 EUR, a fee of 15 EUR will be charged, and the processing time is the same day if the request is received before 09:00 AM GMT.

ETFinance Extras

They offer Islamic accounts, an Economic Calendar, and an Earnings Calendar. You decide if these can be considered extras, but other than this, the broker lacks anything that can be treated as special features.

ETFinance Overall Ratings

User Friendliness 15/20

The website is missing important information, which doesn’t make it too user-friendly but at least the layout is clutter-free and there are 7 languages available. The platform is great but new users may find it a tad complicated. Demo accounts are available but only for 7 days, US traders are not accepted.

Range Of Markets, Spreads And Leverage 15/20

When it comes to tradable assets, there’s nothing to complain about and all major asset classes are covered: stocks, indices, currencies, cryptocurrencies, commodities, and more. The advertised spreads are extremely low (0.07 pips), but unfortunately when logging into the platform we found out that EUR/USD spread is above 2 pips, which is on the expensive side. The spread for BTC/USD is about 60 bucks, which is average. Leverage goes up to 1:30 for Retail clients and up to 1:500 for Professional clients, which is again, the average for the industry.

Fees And Support 10/20

Just like many other things, the fees are not described on the website so we headed to the Terms and Conditions where we learned that the client will pay a 15 EUR fee for wire withdrawals and a 50 EUR fee if the client withdraws before trading more than once.

The inactivity fees are obnoxiously steep:
– 160 EUR monthly if the account is inactive for over 61 days (charged retroactively);
– 120 EUR monthly if the account is inactive for over 91 days (charged retroactively);
– 200 EUR monthly if the account is inactive for over 181 days (charged retroactively);
– 500 EUR monthly if the account is inactive for over 271 days (charged retroactively).

Needless to say that you have to be very careful and just withdraw all your money if you don’t plan on trading.

Support is available via email, phone, and live chat, with the latter being almost useless because even the most basic of questions (in this case “What is the minimum deposit”) was answered along the lines: Open an account and someone will get in touch.

Deposits And Withdrawals 13/20

The minimum deposit is not specified and the minimum withdrawal amount is buried deep in their T&C document: 50 EUR for wires (no info about the other methods). The processing time is the same day if the request is received before 09:00 AM GMT or the next day if the request comes after that time. As for the methods, they only show some logos on the website (Visa, MasterCard, Neteller, Skrill, etc.) but no additional information is provided.

Extras 12/20

Islamic accounts, Economic and Earnings Calendars, and cryptocurrency trading. Nothing that we’ve never seen before and overall this broker lacks innovative features.

ETFinance Ratings (65) + Regulated (+3) = 68/100