StarkMarkets – Are They Safe?

Website URL: https://starkmarkets.com/

Founded: 2020

Regulations: Not Licensed

Languages: English, All Google Translate Languages

Deposit Methods: Bank Wire, Debit/Credit Card (Visa, MasterCard), Russian Mir

Minimum Deposit: $1,000

Free Demo Account: No

Number of Assets: N/A

Types of Assets: CFDs on Forex

Trading Accounts and Conditions

StarkMarkets offers you the following trading account types:

• Bronze: The minimum deposit you need to make to trade on this account is $1,000.
• Silver: The minimum deposit you are required to make is $2,500.
• Gold: You are required to deposit a minimum of $10,000 to trade on this account.

While the broker has not mentioned any trading conditions on their website, we were able to check their platform. When we did, we found out that the maximum leverage offered is 1:400, and the spreads for the EURUSD currency pair stands at 3 pips.

StarkMarkets – Advantages

Here are the advantages of StarkMarkets:

• High Leverages

As we said, this broker offers their customers a leverage as high as 1:400, which is quite generous. However, we also need to mention that high leverages come with equally high risks. In fact, most traders end up losing most of their money when the trade with such leverages. Because of this, with the exception of Australia, most countries have put a cap on how much leverages traders are given to work with.

StarkMarkets – Disadvantages

Here are all the reasons why it would be best not to contract with StarkMarkets:

• Unregulated Broker

StarkMarkets claims that it is owned by a company called Swissgems Ltd., which is based out of Sofia in Bulgaria. Bulgaria is a member of the European Union, and so for a broker to operate out of this country, they must either be regulated by the local financial authority, the FSC (Financial Supervision Commission), or by a financial regulator of another member country.

When we checked the FSC’s online registry, we found that this broker or their parent company was not listed, which means that they are unregulated and therefore operation unlawfully.

When you deal with an unregulated broker, you are at a very risk of losing your funds by being scammed. Which is why we strongly advise all our readers to only deal with regulated brokers.

Plus500

$100

Minimum Deposit

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Plus500 is a FTSE 250 listed brokerage providing online trading services in CFDs, across 2,000+ securities and multiple asset classes.

 

AvaTrade

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The company was created as a combined effort of financial professionals and experts in web-commerce with the goal of perfecting the online experience for retail traders.

• Blacklisted by Italian Financial Regulator

While doing our due diligence on this broker, we found out some even more worrying information. This broker has been blacklisted by the Italian financial regulator, the CONSOB.

The regulator has issued a public warning that this broker is most probably a scammer and that all traders in their jurisdiction should not deal with StarkMarkets in any way, and that their website is going to be blocked by the regulator to prevent them for gaining access to customers in Italy.

This is a clear warning to all traders that this broker is not to be trusted.

• Unusual Fees Charged by Broker

While StarkMarkets charges the usual withdrawal, roll-over and dormancy fees, there are certain other fees that this broker charges that are pretty unusual. This broker charges their clients a monthly maintenance fee of $20.

Not only that, you will also be charged a profit clearance fee that ranges from 1.50 to 5.00 for every trade that you execute – even if you have suffered a loss.

It is to be noted that such fees are not a common practice among regulated brokers – another indication that StarkMarkets is not a safe broker to deal with.

• Web-Based Trading Platform

Rather the offering their clients the world-class MetaTrader 4 or MetaTrader 5 trading platforms, StarkMarkets offers their clients an unknown web-based interface that pales in comparison.

The MT4 and MT5 platforms are renowned for their ease of use as well as the many features available for advanced trading – top-of-the-line charting as well as market analytics options, automatic trading tools, customization ability, and so on.

What we get with StarkMarkets is a web-based interface that imports its charts from the independent third-party market data provider TradingView, and has poor trading conditions.

• Unfair Withdrawal Conditions for Bonuses

Firstly, this broker is offering their clients bonuses, which is something no regulated broker does. This is because such bonuses are highly controversial and are usually designed to scam traders.

Secondly, as expected from a broker that offers trading bonuses, the withdrawal conditions are unfair. This broker states that if a trader has availed of the bonus, then the only time they will be allowed to withdraw their funds will be if they have been able to meet the trading volume target set by StarkMarkets.

The catch here is that that trading volume target is so high that almost not trader will be able to meet it. Which means that they never get to withdraw their funds. In essence they end up losing their money to this broker.

This is a strategy that is frequently adopted by scammers as a way to rip people off.

• Very High Spreads

We also noticed on their trading platform that the spreads offered by StarkMarkets stand at 3 pips, which is ridiculously high and completely unfavorable for traders. On average, brokers charge a spread that ranges from 1 pip to 1.5 pips.

• Very High Minimum Deposit

To be able to open an account with StarkMarkets, you need to make a deposit of at least $1,000, which is massively high. Most brokers, especially the legitimate ones, charge between $100 and $250 for traders to open account with them. And there are now many reputed brokers that charge even less.

Conclusion

StarkMarkets is not a broker that you should trust. It is unregulated, blacklisted by a reputed financial regulator, charges unfair fees, has poor trading conditions and offers an unknown trading platform.

StarkMarkets

2.6

User Experience

3.4/10

Payment Options

2.5/10

Security

2.3/10

Support

2.2/10

Reputation

2.5/10

Pros

• High Leverages

Cons

• Unregulated Broker
• Blacklisted by Italian Financial Regulator
• Unusual Fees Charged by Broker
• Web-Based Trading Platform
• Unfair Withdrawal Conditions for Bonuses