IronFX Review 2023 – Is IronFX.com a Trusted Brokerage?
IronFX is a long-lasting brokerage, present on the financial market for over a decade. As such, it built its reputation, but our research showed that it’s not as stellar. There have been some concerns and fines in the past that we’ll present in our detailed IronFX review.
If you are considering investing, continue reading this report until the end. You might change your mind.
IronFX Platform – A View From 2023
Let’s take a look at IronFX from a 2023 perspective and see if the broker is still worth your time and money.
Firstly, the company has two entities – one regulated in Cyprus and the other one based offshore in Bermuda. It’s important to mention that the offshore company has no license whatsoever and has a branch in Gibraltar as well. Hence, you should be cautious when registering and check well under which entity you belong.
Further, the broker seems quite active, writing blogs and publishing weekly trading news. All this serves as a means to entice retail traders and show them that the company is up-to-date with the financial market.
Let’s not forget the bonuses. If you register with an offshore entity under ironfx.com, the company offers several promotions, including offering 3 luxury cars and cash prizes.
Namely, the broker runs a “Global Trading Race,” offering investors a chance to win a car if they apply for the competition and invest a minimum of $750-2,000, depending on the round.
Winners of each round have a chance to get the following:
Tesla Y Model 2022 or $4K cash for the following 4 places
Maserati Levante SUV + $20K cash prize or $6K cash prize for the next 10 places
Porsche Panamera Platinum Edition + $50K cash prize or $10K cash prize for the following 10 places
The promotion is taking place from the 17th of October 2022 until the 31st of January 2023. Seeing this, we believe new promotions will be active in the near future. If you are applying for any, make sure to read T&C carefully, even the fine print.
Let’s conclude this IronFX 2023 overview. While seemingly reputable, you shouldn’t forget warnings issued against IronFX.
Therefore, check the entity, check your coverage and only invest in what you can afford to lose.
Is IronFX a Legit Forex Broker?
IronFX is a trading brand of Notesco Financial Services Ltd, registered and regulated in Cyprus. The company entered the CySEC register in 2010 as IronFX Global Limited and has changed the owner’s name twice since then.
This could be due to the fact that the brokerage was already penalized by the regulator in the past for its misconduct.
In addition to IronFX’s regulation with CySEC, the firm has the approval of the UK FCA regulator. The company entered the FCA register in 2013 as Notesco UK Limited. Finally, they hold a license from the South African FSCA.
What’s concerning, however, is their offshore entity in Bermuda. This entity is entirely unregulated, and the same company, Notesco Limited, has another subsidiary in Gibraltar. Both of these offer leverage of 1:1000, disregarding ESMA rules according to which leverage for retail traders cannot exceed 1:30.
Let’s continue with our findings and elaborate more on IronFX’s wrongdoings.
IronFX is a worldwide trading brand with several licenses. While duly regulated, the company has over 70% of investors who lose their funds in the end.
IronFX Fines and License Revocations
In 2015, CySEC fined IronFX 335,000 EUR for refusing to approve clients’ withdrawal requests.
According to an announcement from Aug 6th, 2015, CySEC has started an investigation due to media reports and an increasing number of complaints.
Three years later, CySEC fined IronFX another 2,000 EUR over the financial submission failure. Simply put, the company didn’t audit financial statements for the year 2016, which resulted in this penalty.
As a CIF, IronFX was operative in other EU countries. However, in 2015, the firm voluntarily revoked licenses with German BaFin, Italian CONSOB, CBR in Russia, and FSP in New Zealand. They also closed offices in China, Nigeria, and Russia.
In addition, they gave up on their Australian license in 2021 after ASIC warned them due to misleading statements on the website.
With everything being said, it’s clear that IronFX is not the broker you’d first choose.
Official Warnings Against IronFX Broker
Besides everything mentioned above, we’ve got official authority warnings regarding the IronFX broker. The first one was issued in 2015 by the Brazilian Securities and Exchange Commission. According to CVM, IronFX is not authorized to onboard residents from the said country as it’s not approved as a financial intermediary.
In 2017, the Argentinian CNV started its own investigation after receiving criminal complaints regarding Iron FX Financial Services Limited, today known as IronFX.
Finally, in 2019, the Canadian BCSC, the official authority of the province of British Columbia, stated that IronFX is onboarding Canadian residents through their offshore entity in Bermuda.
Since the entity doesn’t comply with regulatory supervision, BCSC warned residents to avoid the firm.
Where Does IronFX Onboard Customers?
IronFX customers mainly come from the following countries:
US
UK
UAE
Spain
France
Germany
Italy
The firm has no license for the US or the UAE, while they voluntarily gave up on their authorization in Germany and Italy.
According to the GoDaddy WHOIS database, the website has been active since Feb 10th, 2008, two years before it received an official license.
We also want to invite you to read updated XBTFX, Swiss4Trade and FTM Trade broker reviews.
IronFX Reviews – Traders’ Experience
At the time of writing, we found 275 IronFX reviews on Trustpilot. However, what’s concerning is the warning regarding fake reviews that were detected and removed.
In addition, the company doesn’t have a great score, being rated as average, with 40% of 1-star reviews.
Here’s an example of what customers are facing:
“Worst broker! I deposited funds through crypto and trying withdrawing through crypto and they kept rejecting the withdrawal. I tried with card and other means and still they rejected my withdrawal. And I contacted them since Dec 23rd 2022 up till Jan 4th 2023, and there is no help. They kept telling me i would receive an email of which it never happened.”
Overview Of IronFX Trading Platform
IronFX trading platform choice is quite alright compared to everything else. The firm offers MT4 and WebTrader.
If you’re looking for a complex platform that can handle even the most advanced trading strategies, you should definitely consider MetaTrader 4 and its successor, MT5. MT4 is the best platform on the market, the favorite choice of over 50% of retail traders such as yourself. It has an amazing range of trading tools, access to EAs, and social trading.
As per WebTrader, it’s available only with the offshore entity. It’s a simple version of MT4, suitable for trading newbies. It doesn’t require installation, as it’s browser-based.
You can find charts and several indicators while it remains user-friendly.
IronFX Mobile App – Can I Download It?
IronFX login is enabled through MT4 mobile apps for Android and iOS. Besides MT4, the company has WebTrader mobile app, which is also compatible with all devices.
It can sync with MT4 and provide all the same features.
Range of Trading Instruments and Markets
The company offers the following trading instruments:
Currency pairs (Forex Market) – EUR/USD, USD/ILS, NOK/SEK
Commodities – gold, natural gas, corn
Shares – Intel, Nvidia, Samsung
Indices – AU200, DAX30, CAC40
Futures – Gold, S&P 500, crude oil
Cryptocurrencies are not on offer, which is quite odd for a company trying to compete for customers.
Fees and Spreads
According to the IronFX Account Types section, the spread varies from 0.0 to 1.8 pips, depending on whether you choose fixed or floating.
Additionally, only the raw spread account has a commission for CFD trading. While this may sound favorable, remember that leverage for customers belonging to an offshore entity goes to whooping 1:1000, exposing your funds to tremendous risk.
Trading Accounts Comparison – What’s the Difference?
Regardless of the entity, you can choose one of the four account types:
Standard
Premium
VIP
Zero Fixed
With each type, the spread is lowering, while on the offshore website, all accounts can be swap-free. However, the minimum deposit is not specified for any accounts, which is odd for a regulated brokerage house.
IronFX Demo Account – Can I Trade For Free?
IronFX Demo account is available on the MT4 platform. Customers can test the system and check if it’s suitable for them.
However, with everything we’ve learned about IronFX, testing doesn’t help. The brokerage proved that it’s not reliable and has issues with customer withdrawals.
IronFX Withdrawals – How Can I Submit a Request?
In case you opened an account with a regulated entity, you can use the following payment methods for IronFX withdrawal:
Debit / Credit Card
Bank wire
Skrill
Neteller
DotPay
The funds will be returned the same way you deposited them, while the excess sum will have to be withdrawn through a bank transfer.
For the offshore entity, payment methods are not specifically listed. However, according to reviews, we can conclude that the company mainly takes crypto payments, which is the least safe option.
With digital currencies, you have no option to request a chargeback.
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Reviews by me: Stephen Jemal
Contact with me via: [email protected]