iFOREX is not a secure Forex broker since it does not hold a license from any worldwide serious Forex authority. Meaning the broker is suspected of being a fraud company since it was not checked for its compliance before establishment, never monitored in terms of its safety and simply may operate the business in any way it wishes.
iFOREX is a brand name of the group of companies that offers a wide range of solutions to trade CFDs and Forex, as well as Binary Options to international clients through an advanced proposal including narrowed specifications like Swap-free accounts forex and other instruments. iFOREX provides round-the-clock, real-time trading services, allowing clients to invest in various CFD instruments (assets) such as shares, commodities, currencies, indices, ETFs and cryptocurrencies. In addition, iFOREX offers online trading education, 1-on-1 training and video tutorials, as well as technical and customer support in multiple languages.
🗺️ Registered in | British Virgin Islands |
🗺️ Type of License | Offshore License |
🛡️ Is iFOREX safe to trade | No |
🗺️ Recommended Licenses | FCA in UK 🇬🇧 & ASIC in Australia 🇦🇺 |
🖥 Alternative Broker | FP Markets - licensed by ASIC in Australia |
The Formula Investment House Ltd. company was founded back in 1996, while serving offices in British Virgin Islands and operates with the regulation from the BVI FSC.
The iFOREX Group’s European subsidiary is licensed and regulated by the Cyprus Securities and Exchange Commission (CySEC) under license # 143/11.
However, the company previously was recently imposed due to several violations. The broker operated through the company ICFD Ltd received a 138,000€ fine that referred to the providing of unlicensed services which included investment advice, as well as that the company did not act in the best interest of its clients and failed to define the high-risk investments.
“iCFD received the decision from CySEC and is currently studying it together with its legal advisors. The fine is a result of an audit conducted by CySEC almost three years ago.”
CySEC, February 2018
The pages and official sources of the international regulators’ list alert shared with the authority directly or by other countries’ supervisory bodies or transmitted centrally. Those tools and general purpose of the regulatory bodies operate in order to enable stability of the market offerings, protect clients from potential and numerous frauds, enable reliability rules to financial service entities and more.
In addition to that, the internet sources are quite full of the complaints and negative reviews from the traders that engaged in the trading with iFOREX.
The reviews mainly concern about the issues during the trading that behaved against the traders’ interests, as well as issues of the advisory service to trade accordingly that eventually led to losses.
It has an exclusive website for Indian traders iForex.in iForex India claims to comply with BVI FSC for its global operation. However, iForex has no mention of complying with any Indian regulators on its website. It is also worth mentioning that Forex trading is actually prohibited in India. The broker is not regulated by any regulatory body in India, that’s why money safety may be the issue here.
The United States is one of the countries that is not accepted by iForex. As per the U.S law, brokers regulated by CFTC are the only brokers allowed for the USA traders. So, except for IQ Option, you are only permitted to trade with the U.S regulated platforms.
Here is the full list of the countries that are not allowed to trade with iForex: Afghanistan, American Samoa, Argentina, Australia, Belgium, Brazil, British Indian Ocean Territory, Canada, Christmas Island, Cocos (Keeling) Islands, Congo, Cyprus, French Southern Territories, Guam, Guernsey, Guinea, Haiti, Vatican State, Iran, Israel, Jersey, Korea, Lebanon, Libya, Netherlands, New Zealand, Puerto Rico, Rwanda, Samoa, Sudan, Singapore, Somalia, Syria, Turkey, United States.
The minimum deposit for opening an account with iForex is 100 USD/GBP/EUR. iFOREX facilitates deposits made both online and offline for your convenience (Read Fortrade broker review, which also offers a minimum deposit of $100). The options include: Bank Wire, Credit Card, Debit Card and e-wallet payment systems Skrill, Neteller, Diners and Western Union. iForex notes that no internal costs apply except a fee of $20 for bank wires, while third-party charges will depend on the payment processor.
As to the withdrawals, a charge up to $20 may be applied, depending on the payment method and withdrawal size. To make a withdrawal, users must fill out a withdrawal request form. Withdrawals can take up to 28 working days to be processed, depending on the clearing solution trader funded his account with. Such a long period for the withdrawals obviously causes a lot of complaints from the clients. (Also read about Alpari Broker’s Deposit & Withdrawals by the link.)
iFOREX offers an advanced mobile platform compatible with most smartphones and tablets. For the ultimate mobile trading experience, you’re invited to download our innovative, free mobile trading apps. Look for iFOREX Trading on the App Store or on Google Play.
A demo account is available to users but only once a real trading account has been activated. There are also time restrictions on how long the demo account can be used. Demo account is a great opportunity to practice strategies and become familiar with the platform with their demo account option.
Overall, there are many questions in regards to the trust of the iFOREX company services and the manner they do operate the online trading itself.
We strongly advise opening a trading account only with the brokers that are regulated by the respected world authorities that comply with the required set of rules and a good reputation through the delivered timeframe of operations. Traders should trade with well-regulated brokers such as UK brokers or brokers in Australia and reliable brokers such as FBS and Eightcap.
You can also share your trading experience with iForex by commenting on this review.