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Vantage FX Review – Is This A Scam Broker?

Jon
Overall
4.3
  • Easy To Use?
  • Cost
  • Profitability
  • Time Needed

A Look at Forex & CFD Broker Vantage FX

Vantage FX is a leading Australia-based global forex and CFD broker.

Originally developed in 2009 for an Australian audience, Vantage FX has expanded significantly in the past decade-plus and now enjoys an international user base of over 50,000 traders. (Nevertheless, clients in many countries, including the United States, cannot use Vantage FX; see the exclusion list below).

Vantage FX claims to have the lowest trading costs in the industry and offers a 50% welcome bonus, “lightning-fast execution,” award-winning 24-hour support, free forex signals, and negative balance protection.

In this review, we start with a bird’s-eye overview of the company and then do a deeper dive into a few key areas.

The 10,000-foot View

Instruments

Over 300 are offered, which, as of this writing, include 44 currency pairs, 16 indices, 19 commodities, 226 stock CFDs, and six cryptocurrencies.

Credentials/Authority

Vantage FX is regulated by the Vanuatu Financial Services Commission (VFSC), an offshore financial regulatory authority in the Republic of Vanuatu, CIMA—the Cayman Islands Monetary Authority, ASIC—the Australian Securities and Investments Commission, and FCA—the Financial Conduct Authority.

Keys Platforms

MetaTrader (MT4 and MT5) are Vantage FX’s main third-party trading platforms. It also offers auto trading platforms and two mobile apps.

Minimum Deposit

$200

Leverage

Leverage ratios range from 100:1 to 500:1.

Fees

Trading fees: low (for forex) to average (for CFDs). Non-trading account-related fees: low. Financing rates/overnight fees: high.

Base Currencies Supported

Choose from 9 base currencies: USD, EUR, AUD, SGD, CAD, GBP, NZD, HKD, and JPY.

Demo Account Availability

Yes

Awards

Vantage FX has won numerous awards over the past decade granted by entities such as Fintech, M&A Today, Global 100, CV Magazine, Forex Awards, IB Times, and Blue Ribbon.

Main Account Types

  1. Standard STP for novices
  2. RAW ECN for experienced traders
  3. PRO ECN for pro traders

Swap-free Accounts

Vantage FX offers swap-free trading accounts, designed for those who cannot, due to religious beliefs, receive or pay swaps. Until recently, this account type was listed as “Islamic” in the Trading Accounts drop-down menu. It was retitled, “Swap Free.” Vantage FX distinguishes itself as one of the few forex brokers to offer swap-free accounts.

As of this writing, clients from these countries cannot open a Vantage FX account: Afghanistan, American Samoa, Albania, Belarus, Bermuda, Bosnia And Herzegovina, Burundi, Canada, Central African Republic, China, Crimea, Cuba, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Eritrea, Former Federal Republic of Yugoslavia, Guam, Iran, Iraq, ISIL (Da’esh), Al-Qaida, The Taliban, Japan, Lebanon, Libya, Mali, Montenegro, Myanmar, North Korea, Puerto Rico, Republic of Guinea, Republic of Guinea-Bissau, Sierra Leone, Sevastopol, Singapore, Somalia, South Sudan, Spain, Sudan, Syria, United States of America, United States Virgin Islands, Venezuela, Yemen, and Zimbabwe.

A Closer Look

Vantage FX’s Markets/Investment Offerings

Vantage FX offers forex trading (currency pairs), commodities trading (precious metals, oil, and soft commodities), stock market indexes (i.e. SP500, DAX, FTSE, and DJ30), and share CFDs (US and Hong Kong share CFDs that capitalize on major company movement).

Account Types

Vantage FX offers three main account types designed for the beginner, experienced, and professional trader.

Standard STP Account

This account is for novice traders; minimum deposit $200; leverage up to 500:1; spreads from 1.0 pip.

Raw ECN Account

This account is for experienced traders; minimum deposit $500; leverage up to 500:1; spreads from 0.0 pips.

PRO ECN Account

This account is for pro traders and money managers; minimum deposit $20K; leverage up to 500:1; spreads from 0.0 pips.

Platforms and Mobile Apps

Con: Vantage FX does not offer popular asset classes like real stocks or ETFs.

Commissions and Fees

Trading Fees

Trading fees refer to the fees charged in a trading transaction and can occur as commissions, conversion fees, spreads, and financing rates. Asset classes, such as forex, stock index CFDs and stock CFDs, have different fees, and account types have different cost structures which result in different fees. In this review, we will not get granular on fees, but on average, trading fees on Vantage FX are low to average.

Non-trading Fees

This broker does not charge account set-up, inactivity, or deposit fees. It also does not charge for credit or debit card withdrawals or electronic wallet withdrawals. Bank withdrawals, after a gratis first one, are charged 20 units of a client’s account currency.

About Depositing and Withdrawing

Depositing

Deposits can be made via bank transfer, credit/debit card, and several electronic wallets. Payments from third parties are not accepted and can result in the payment reversed, open positions closed, profits nullified, and trading accounts terminated.

Withdrawing

Withdrawals can be made via credit/debit card, bank transfer, or electronic wallet. A recent common client complaint on the Trustpilot review site is difficulty making withdrawals and the necessity of an outside agent to retrieve funds. Nevertheless, 84% of Trustpilot reviewers rate Vantage FX as great or excellent, so the few negatives may be outliers.

Education, Tools, and Resources

On VantageFX.com

Many resources are available on the site to non-account holders. Some resources are only available after a client has set up an account.  

Additional videos are available for those with Pro Trader accounts.

YouTube Vantage FX Channel

Vantage FX’s YouTube channel offers regular “Daily Finance News” videos.

Con: Advanced research tools are only available to higher-level clients with at least $1000 in their accounts.

Customer Service

Vantage FX offers live chat, email, and phone support. All channels seem to be responsive, with the live chat considered the best channel for speed and comprehensive answers by some users. Others found the email support ok, but some complained of incomplete answers.

Ratings & Reviews

Vantage FX has been reviewed by almost 1400 users on Trustpilot. 84% of users say the brokerage is excellent (68%) or great (16%).

Nine percent of users gave Vantage FX a “bad” rating. Comments left by unhappy clients were generally around trouble withdrawing funds.

The Vantage FX app has a 4.3-star rating on both Google Play and the App store.

Summary

We believe Vantage FX is a major contender on the roster of online forex and CFD brokerages, worthy of serious consideration by both new and experienced traders. While the leverage ratios may be constraining to some clients and the absence of some asset classes (i.e., real stocks and ETFs) may discourage others, Vantage FX still offers plenty of classes and instruments to satisfy even professional traders.

Fees are competitive and tools and resources are excellent and abundant. Newcomers to trading can dip their toes in at their own pace using the demo account. Experienced and pro traders used to MT4 and MT5 will be able to immediately set up a robust presence with minimal downtime.  

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