GFX – Can You Trust Them?

Website URL: www.gfx-i.net

Founded: 2015

Regulations: Unregulated

Languages: English, Vietnamese

Deposit Methods: Wire Transfer, Pre-Paid Debit Card, Credit/Debit Card, Local Transfer, Third Party Vendors

Minimum Deposit: $1,000

Free Demo Account: Yes

Number of Assets: N/A

Types of Assets: Forex, Precious Metals, Crude Oil, Commodities, Shares (UK/US), Stock Indices, CFDs

Trading Accounts and Conditions

GFX offers the following trading accounts to its customers:

• Silver: The minimum deposit amount is $1,000. The spreads for this account start from 2.5 pips and the leverage offered is a maximum of 1:500.
• Titanium: The minimum deposit amount is $5,000. The spreads start from 1.5 pips and the maximum leverage level offered is 1:500.
• Platinum: The minimum deposit amount is $25,000. The spreads start from 0 pips and the maximum leverage level offered is 1:500.

GFX – Advantages

There are no advantages to trading with GFX.

GFX – Disadvantages

Here are all the reasons why it would be a bad idea to trade with GFX:

• Lack of Regulation

GFX’s website shows that it is registered in St. Vincent and the Grenadines under the company name GFX International Limited, which means that you will be dealing with an offshore broker. Being an offshore broker is not really a problem – if the entity has appropriate licenses to operate. Not from SVG, since this country does not offer regulatory oversight for brokers that provide forex and CFD services, but from the country (or countries) in which the broker operates.

In GFX’s case, the only reference that the broker has to regulations is in its Terms of Use section, where the broker states that it follows the regulations of Cambodia. The financial services market in this country is overseen by the Securities Exchange Commission of Cambodia (SECC).

We therefore, checked the SECC’s online register to see if GFX was registered with the financial watchdog. However, there was no company or brokerage by that name.

This leads us to conclude that this broker is not licensed to offer financial services.

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• Sharing Users’ Personal Information with Third Party

GFX states that it shares your personal information with a third party, but the broker omits to mention the name or names of these parties. The broker also claims that it is not responsible for what these third parties do with your information.

This is a huge red flag since brokers that are legitimate do all they can to ensure that your personal information is protected.

• Stand-Alone Trading Platform

GFX offers its users the use of the MetaTrader 4 trading platform, which is most cases would be a huge advantage for the broker. This is because the MT4 platform is the world’s most popular. It offers a wide range of features that make trading much easier, such as charting options, market analysis tools, and even automatic trading algorithms, to name a few.

However, the MT4 platform offered by GFX is a stand-alone trader and is not linked to this broker.

• Lack of Clarity on Commissions

On its account comparison page, GFX states that its premium account, the Platinum account has a $7 commission on each lot traded. However, when we check the Risk Disclosure page’s Commissions and Other Charges section, we find a strange condition – that clients should get clear explanations about all the commissions and charges that they are liable for. However, the broker does not clearly mention what these commissions and charges could be.

• High Minimum Deposit

GFX requires you to make a minimum deposit of $1,000 to open a basic trading account with them. This is an excessively high amount since the industry standard ranges from $100 to $250. There are even legitimate brokers that ask for minimum deposits as low as $5.

• Very High Spreads

The spreads offered in the basic account start from 2.5 pips. Such spreads are highly unprofitable for traders, since it means that trading will be very expensive.

Just for your information, the market average for spreads ranges from 0.5 pips to 1.5 pips. So, even if this broker were regulated and did not have conflicting information on its website, we would still no recommend GFX to any of our readers.

• Strange Terms and Conditions

There are so many strange terms and conditions on this broker’s website that we cannot list all of them. But here are the key conditions that we feel are truly unfair:

• Fees and Commissions

GFX states that their clients have to pay commissions and fees, but they fail to mention the amounts. Furthermore, this broker states that it reserves the right to change its fees and commissions structure at any time without giving any notice.

• Account Closure

GFX also states that if your account is unfunded for over 60 days, then your account will be closed – even if it has a balance remaining. The broker also states that they can close your account at any time without providing a reason or giving you notice.

• Cancellation of Customer Complaints

This broker also states that it will cancel customer complaints after a 24-hour period. These complaints can range from issues related to execution periods of orders or requests, issues related to the functioning of the broker’s website, rates offered by GFX versus other companies, and so on.

• Indemnity Clause

GFX also has an indemnity clause in place through which it claims it will not take any responsibility for any complaints that its customers may make against them for infringement of customer rights. And if the customer does take legal action, then they will have to pay for the legal fees incurred by the broker.

Conclusion 

GFX is a very suspicious broker – it is unregulated, has very unfair terms and conditions, and its trading conditions are not friendly for traders. We do not recommend this broker at all.

GFX

2.5

User Experience

3.3/10

Payment Options

2.3/10

Security

2.1/10

Support

2.4/10

Reputation

2.2/10

Pros

• None

Cons

• Lack of Regulation
• Sharing Users’ Personal Information with Third Party
• Stand-Alone Trading Platform
• Lack of Clarity on Commissions
• High Minimum Deposit