Alpforex – Are They Trustworthy?

Website URL: https://alpforex.com

Founded: 2022

Regulations: None

Languages: English, Thai

Deposit Methods: Bank Transfer

Minimum Deposit: $10

Free Demo Account: No

Number of Assets: N/A

Types of Assets: Forex, Commodities, Index CFDs

Trading Accounts and Conditions

Alpforex offers their clients the following trading accounts:

• Standard: The minimum deposit is $10. The leverage is 1:1000. Spreads start from 1.0 pips. Commissions per lot are at $0.0, and the minimum lot size is 0.01.
• ECN: The minimum deposit is $10. The leverage here is 1:500. Spreads start from 0.0 pips. Commissions per lot are at $5.0 and the minimum lot size is 0.01.

Alpforex – Advantages

Here are some of the advantages we found in Alpforex:

• MetaTrader 4 Software Available

Alpforex offers their clients the use of the MT4 software, one of the best trading platforms in the world. We were unable to verify that this software worked perfectly because of the information required during the registration process.

To register for an account with Alpforex, you need a Thai bank account and local phone number. We had neither, so we could only check out the demo account on offer.  The demo account working perfectly, so we had nothing negative to say about their trading platform.

• Advantageous Trading Conditions

The trading conditions offered by Alpforex are quite advantageous for the trader.

The spreads for the basic account (Standard Account) start from 1.0 pips. Considering the industry average which ranges from 0.5 to 1.5 pips, a 1-pip spread is quite decent. You can get even lower spreads with the ECN account, but then you will have to pay a hefty $5 commission for each trade, so that evens it out.

The minimum deposit is just $10, so that is excellent too.

Alpforex – Disadvantages

Alpforex is a broker that seems to be targeting specifically Thai traders. The website is in Thai and every time you click on a new page, you need to use the translate option to convert that page into English.

Having said this, there are many things that have us concerned about this broker that tell us that we may be dealing with yet another scammer. Here are the red flags that warn us not to trust Alpforex:

• Lack of Regulation

The first issue we find is the fact that this broker is unregulated.

On their website, there is no corporate information provided. We cannot find the name of the company that runs this brokerage, or any address for that matter.

However, in their Terms and Conditions, which is only in Thai, the broker mentions the name of a company – Alpfx Company Limited. But they do not tell us explicitly what their relationship to that company is. We can only assume that it is their parent company. There is also a Bangkok address provided in this document (but no phone number).

The confusion continues, because in their Contact Us page, the broker lists a Hong Kong address (but no phone number, once again).

Here is the issue. There are two regulators from which this broker would need to get licenses to operate legally – from the Thai Securities and Exchange Commission (Thai SEC) and the Hong Kong Securities and Futures Commission (HKSFC).

We checked both regulators’ websites (where the registers are online) and found that this broker is listed with neither authority.

What this means is that despite the fact that this broker has gone to great pains to list all their services, this broker is operating illegally – both in Thailand as well as in Hong Kong. This means that this broker is unregulated and most probably a scammer.

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• Leverage Too High

While Alpforex’s other trading conditions are excellent, we do have some issues with the leverage ratio they offer. A leverage of 1:1000 is extremely high and very, very risky.

Most regulated brokers offer their clients a much lower – and safer – leverage ratio. In fact, in the more strictly regulated jurisdictions (the EU, UK, Australia, US and so on), leverages are not allowed to cross double digits. In Australia, the UK and Europe, the leverage is capped at 1:30. In Canada and the US, it is 1:50, and in Hong Kong, it is 1:20.

So, the fact that this broker offers such high leverage means that they are not regulated.

• Bonuses Offered

Alpforex offers bonuses, a practice that has been banned in most other jurisdictions. This is because bonuses come with rather unfair withdrawal conditions. These conditions are usually used by scammers to make sure that traders never get a chance to withdraw their funds once they make use of the bonuses offered.

With this broker, we see some of that unfairness in their withdrawal conditions. If you use the bonuses they offer, then you will not be allowed to withdraw your funds until you have met their trading volume requirements. So, if you accept a $30-bonus, then you need to trade up to 3 lots, which means about 300,000 currency units.

• Single Payment Option

Alpforex also offers only a single payment option, which once again raises a red flag for us.

Regulated brokers offer their clients multiple forms of payment – credit cards, debit cards, bank transfers, wire transfers, e-wallets such as Skrill, PayPal, Neteller and so on, and even cryptocurrencies.

When there are limited payment options, we tend to get suspicious.

This broker also has not mentioned if they charge transaction fees, so we do not know if there is a charge for withdrawals and so on.

Conclusion

Alpforex is a confusing broker. Their website offers a lot of detail and their trading platform is one of the best in the world. However, they are not regulated and this is a huge issue. This leads us to believe that we cannot trust this broker – they could well be a scam. Because of this lack of clarity, we would not recommend this broker to any trader.

alpforex

2.4

User Experience

2.5/10

Payment Options

2.2/10

Security

2.8/10

Support

2.0/10

Reputation

2.6/10

Pros

• MetaTrader 4 Software Available
• Advantageous Trading Conditions

Cons

• Lack of Regulation
• Leverage Too High
• Bonuses Offered
• Single Payment Option