Forex Club Review 2021

Forex Club is one of the first brokers in Russia. The company has been operating since 1997, and over 23 years of its operation, it has gained popularity in the former Soviet Union and Central European countries.

The company offers model portfolios and trading signals for passive investors. However, to a greater extent, Forex Club provides ample opportunities for the traders, which include, among other things, a choice of a trading terminal, no restrictions on the strategies, and a possibility to use automated trading. The level of commissions and fees on the majority of accounts is either lower than the market average, or at the same level as the market.

Over the period of its operation, Forex Club has won 30 awards including Broker of the Year in 2008, 2010, and 2012. The list of achievements also includes Financial Olympus Award, Best Forex Broker Award by RadioForex, Forex Awards 2017 and 2018, Forex EXPO 2013 and others.

The company’s weak spot is absence of a license of one of the top world’s regulators. This greatly weakens the broker’s positions in terms of security and reliabilityс.

Pros and cons

Pros
23-year experience of operating in the financial markets. A good selection of trading terminals Good choice of currency pairs and CFDs Quick responses of the support team, many methods of means of communication Simple registration Bonuses for customers Low minimum deposit

Cons
No brokerage license Low number of base currencies of the account No access to real stocks, commodities, indices Many options for analytics and learning are linked to the account types

Key features of the broker

Forex Club is a Russian broker, so it is no surprise that the company targets East European and Middle Asian countries. The lion’s share of the customers reside in Russia – over 55%. The other former Soviet Union countries are also among top customers – Ukraine ranks second, Belarus – fourth, and Kazakhstan – fifth. Montenegro ranks third, between Ukraine and Belarus.

Forex Club offers attractive conditions for direct trading on the forex market, and for CFDs on indices, commodities and cryptocurrencies. Trading conditions on Libertex, the broker’s proprietary online platform, seem particularly interesting for active trading, as we found the level of commissions and fees on it to be low.

Pros
Low commissions on Libertex account on the majority of available markets No commissions on passive strategies Beneficial Forex and CFD trading No inactivity fee charged Compensation of payment system fees on deposits

Cons
Commissions on CFDs on stocks are not universal, ranging from zero to high. Different approaches, sometimes rather confusing, are applied to charging commissions on different types of accounts

Summary of commissions and fees on Forex Club

Commissions on Forex market

Overall, we established that Forex Club commissions on the Forex market as low or average. At the same time, the system of charging commissions is quite confusing, as different approaches are used on different types of accounts. It could be the spread, commission per trade or on traded volume, or their combination. To help you figure out which account is more beneficial for trading, let’s compare the conditions on all accounts of the broker and with the competitors – Alpari and Exness.

First off, let’s compare the types of accounts of the broker. For comparison, we used only the accounts with Market Execution, as we consider Instant Execution less reliable. We recalculated all spreads and commissions and established how much a trader will have to pay for a lot of 100,000 units of base currency. You will thus be able to compare real trading conditions on each account of Forex Club on the Forex market.

Comparison of Forex Clubs accounts

In the liquid major pairs, the Libertex trading plan on the corresponding platform seems the most attractive. However, for trading cross rates and exotic pairs, there can be different options. MT-5 Market trading plan has the highest commissions and should be considered only for using all possibilities of the namesake platform for creating trade advisors.

Let’s compare conditions for a trade on the Libertex trading account on Forex Club and those of Alpari and Exness.

Base trading plan from Forex Club on average has lower commissions compared to the broker’s key competitors. For comparison, we used accounts of Alpari and Exness with Market Execution like ECN.

Swaps on Forex

Payment for the rollover of the position for the following day (swap) on Forex Club Libertex account is quite loyal and suitable both for active traders and those who like to hold positions for over a week. As a reminder, the size of the swap depends on the difference of the interest rates of the banks that issue the currencies in the pair and the broker’s service fee.

In case the swap is negative, a specified number of points will be written off the account if the position is transferred. In case the swap is positive, the funds will be accrued on the account. Long-term investors try to trade towards the positive swap.

Forex Club, just like its competitors, offers an swap-free option Islamic account.

Commissions on CFD market

CFDs account for a large part of trading instruments on Forex Club. We estimated the general level of commissions on the available markets as low, although there can be certain nuances on some classes of assets. We will review CFDs on stocks separately.

Different approaches are used to charging commissions on different accounts. To make it simpler, we calculated the commission in USD for a USD 5,000 lot.

Forex Club commissions on different classes of CFDs

Forex Club commissions on the aforementioned classes of CFD are at the same level as competitors.

CFD on stocks

We find the approach of Forex Club on charging commissions on CFDs on stocks confusing. As an example, we used the Libertex account, where the commission on CFDs on Apple is higher than on CFDs on IBM, while usually, the broker sets either one rate, or offers the best rates for the most liquid securities. At that, the commissions on CFDs on BNP Paribas and several other assets are not charged at all.

Due to this, Forex Club commissions on CFDs on some stocks can be considered high, while on others – some of the best in the market.

Let’s see how much a trader will have to pay as a commission on Forex Club for a USD 5,000 lot of CFDs on stocks on Libertex and MT-4 Market accounts, taking into account all expenses.

It is not hard to see that the Libertex account offers the most beneficial conditions for trading CFDs on stocks.

Commissions on investment products

Forex Club is interesting to many customers thanks to its offers of passive income. The investors are offered such options as Trading Systems, Model Portfolios and Investment Ideas. There is no fixed commission on these products, although in each case, there is a minimum deposit.

The broker’s interest is in receiving commissions from performing trading transactions on the customer’s account.

Commissions on cryptocurrency market

Forex Club’s commissions on CFDs on cryptocurrencies are low compared to other Forex brokers, but higher than the top cryptocurrency exchanges. In particular, on the Libertex account, a trader will have to pay 0.2% of the traded volume for the majority of currency pairs, while Binance charges 0.1%. For comparison, we will use the purchase of a USD 2,000 lot in cryptocurrency on Forex Club (Libertex), Exness (Standard), and Binance. Alpari does not provide access to cryptocurrency trading.

As we can see, Libertex compares favorably with Exness on the majority of positions, but it is still difficult to compete with Binance. Noteworthy, the customers of the exchange trade real cryptocurrencies, while with CFD brokers, the customers trade derivatives on the cost of cryptocurrencies.

Non-trading commissions

Non-trading commissions on Forex Club are average. In particular, the broker does not charge a deposit fee, and compensates payment system fees with bonuses. At the same time, there is a withdrawal fee in all available methods, except for QIWI and Yandex.Money payment systems. Specifically, the withdrawal fee for withdrawal via a wire transfer in Russian rubles is USD 10, in EUR or USD – USD 29.

Unfortunately, there are some serious questions about the reliability of Forex Club. The broker is managed by Forex Club International Limited, a legal entity. The company is registered in Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, one of the world’s largest offshore jurisdictions for financial companies. Hundreds of brokers from all around the world, many of which are rather dubious projects, are registered here.

Forex Club does not provide a scanned copy of the state registration certificate; the number of the license is also unknown. There is only information about the legal address – The Financial Services Centre, P.O. Box 1823, Stoney Ground, Kingstown, VC0100, St. Vincent & the Grenadines.

Forex Club offers negative balance protection. Stop Out is enabled, if the balance of your account is zero. The broker is not a member of a deposit guarantee fund.

Forex Club License

We failed to find information about Forex Club’s license. Up until 2018, the broker provided services based on the license for financial activity, issued by the Central Bank of Russia. However, in 2018, the Central Bank of Russia revoked the licenses of all non-banking brokers, including the “market sharks”, such as Forex Club, Alpari, and Teletrade. There was also information about the license of the Cyprus regulator (CySEC) in open sources, but a check by the number showed that the document is now held by a different company.

To specify information about the license, we contacted Forex Club customer support. We were told that the license for financial activity is not required in Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, where the managing company is registered. Summing up the information that we gathered, we can conclude that Forex Club does not hold a license. This is a big drawback for the broker, as the organization cannot provide any guarantees of the legality of its operation, reliability and protection of customers.

Forex Club is a CFD and Forex broker. Stocks and commodities are available as CFDs If you are interested in CFD trader, the broker offers a rather wide selection of them. In addition, the choice of currency pairs is quite good. Also, derivatives on ETFs are available for Forex Club customers, which is a rare thing among Russian brokers. There are CFDs on cryptocurrencies as well.

In reality, the biggest drawback of Forex Club is absence of possibility to work with real assets.

As a reminder, CFD is a marginal product with high risk of losses, which is why trading such contracts should be approached with caution. It is also advisable to observe the strict rules of risk management in this type of trading.

Pros
Wide selection of currency pairs CFDs are widely available CFDs on ETFs and cryptocurrencies

Cons
Futures and options are not available It is not possible to trade real stocks, indices, commodities

Market diversity on Forex Club is rather high compared to the competitors, primarily through availability of derivatives on ETFs and cryptocurrencies. The broker also offers a wide choice of trading instruments. By the number of available currency pairs, Forex Club compares favorably with its competitors, for example Exness and Alpari.

* – only as CFDs

Forex Market

Forex market is well represented on Forex Club. Here, you will find the most popular trading pairs, such as EURUSD, GBPUSD, USDJPY, USDCAD, etc. Also, a large number of cross rates are available. In particular, the broker offers the following trading pairs:

• AUDCAD;
• CADCHF;
• NZDCAC;
• GBPNZD;
• EURCAD, etc

The total number of cross pairs is 23, which is considered a good indicator. You will also find exotic pairs on Forex Club. The broker offers trading pairs with the following exotic currencies:

• SGD;
• MXN;
• SEK;
• DKK;
• CNH;
• TRY;
• CLP;
• NOK;
• ZAR.

The total number of currency pairs is 50, which is much more than many Russian competitors offer.

CFD Market

The choice of CFDs on Forex Club can be considered rather extensive compared to the competitors. The broker offers many trading instruments and they are diverse, providing the traders with freedom of choice. Cryptocurrencies and ETFs are an additional bonus for Forex Club customers, as the competitors do not offer these options.

CFD on stocks

The choice of CFDs on Forex Club differs depending on the group of trading instruments. For example, the choice of CFDs on stocks definitely cannot be considered big – 152 positions. The list mainly includes the giants of the American, Russian markets and also EU countries.

CFD on cryptocurrencies

One of the features of Forex Club is the big choice of CFDs on cryptocurrencies. There are not only base cryptocurrencies on the broker’s platform. The total number of derivatives and cryptocurrency pairs is 47. You will find the following currency and cryptocurrency pairs with the following types of coins on the broker’s platform:

• BTC;
• BCH;
• BTG;
• ETH;
• XRP;
• LTC;
• IOTA;
• CARDANO;
• LINK;
• COSMOS;
• XEM;
• NEO;
• OMG;
• TZS;
• XLM;
• ZEC;
• XMR.

CFD on ETF

CFDs on ETFs deserve a special mention. Their choice is not as wide as, for example, of cryptocurrencies, but the very fact of their availability is a definite advantage for the Russian broker. Overall, there are CFDs on 11 types of ETFs on Forex Club. In particular, you can work with the derivatives on such ETFs as:

• iShares Latin America 40 ETF;
• iShares Core U.S. Aggregate Bond ETF;
• SPDR S&P 500 ETF Trust;
• Vanguard FTSE Europe ETF;
• iShares MSCI United Kingdom ETF, etc.

CFD on indices

In addition, CFDs on stock indices are available on Forex Club. The broker provides access to basic types of stock indices, such as S&P 500, FESX50, NASDAQ100, NIKKEI500 and others. The total number of trading instruments of this type is 24.

Commodities

Commodities on Forex Club are available only as CFDs. The choice of this type of instrument can be considered average by the industry in general, but good compared to the other Russian brokers. Forex Club provides access to six types of commodity assets. In particular, the following are available:

• maize;
• soy;
• coffee;
• wheat;
• sugar;
• cocoa.

The list of energies also includes 6 types of trading instruments. The list includes:

• Crude oil;
• Heating oil;
• Brent crude oil;
• WTI crude oil;
• BrentCash;
• Natural gas.

The list of metals on Forex Club includes 5 types of CFDs. In particular, you can trade the following types of instruments here:

• copper;
• gold;
• silver;
• platinum;
• palladium.

The number of Commodities on Forex Club exceeds many competitors. For example, Exness provides access to only 12 types of instruments. Alpari’s list is even smaller, as the precious metals prevail in its Commodities list, while Alpari does not have such assets as agricultural assets at all.

The procedure for opening an account on Forex Club is simple. It is fully automated and takes no more than 5 minutes. The broker provides its customers a free demo account, using which a trader can test new strategies and learn to trade. Verification is not mandatory on Forex Club, but the broker may request documents, if there are doubts regarding your identity. The company also provides a large number of trading accounts.

However, Forex Club also has certain drawbacks. In particular, only three account base currencies are available here. There is no ECN account.

Pros
Low minimum deposit No mandatory verification Demo account Many trading accounts

Cons
Only three available account currencies

What is the minimum deposit on Forex Club?

There are no requirements for minimum deposit on Forex Club. You can start trading from USD 1. Therefore, the broker is suitable for the beginners, as they don’t need to have a big amount of money in order to start.

Many brokers do not have requirements for minimum deposit, including popular ones. In particular, Alpari and Exness also allow their customers to start trading from USD 1.

Citizens of which countries cannot trade on Forex Club

Forex Club includes two companies – Russian and international one. The Russian branch provides access to trading only for the customers from Russia. As for the international company, customers from Russia cannot work with it. In addition, the broker’s regional restrictions list includes:

• Brazil;
• USA;
• Japan.

Forex Club also does not provide services in the countries marked by FATF as jurisdictions with high level of risk and the states under sanctions. To see the full list of restrictions, we advise you to contact the broker’s customer support.

Documents required for opening an account

Verification is not mandatory on Forex Club. You can trade and perform financial transactions without confirming your identity. However, in some cases, the broker may request documents confirming your identity. In particular, you may be requested to provide the following types of documents:

• Identification document – national passport, foreign passport, driver’s license;
• Proof of residence – utility bills, bank statement, etc.

Forex Club does not offer the option of uploading documents directly. The broker may request them by contacting you via email. In this case, you will need to send photos or scanned copies directly via email. The company specifies that the verification requests can only be sent from email accounts with @fxclub address.

Account types

Forex Club offers its customers five types of accounts. They vary depending on the amount of your deposit and traded volume. The peculiarity of the broker is that the trading conditions change depending on the type of the trading platform you are using. The account types allow only to gain access to specific analytical services, learning and support.

For example, traders can use the services of a personal analyst on Forex Club, and also obtain access to direct communication with the chief dealer and chief analyst. These functions, however, are only available to the traders, who opened Diamond or Exclusive accounts. Holders of Gold account receive access to Trading Central instruments, and users of Platinum trading account and higher can use market player mood indicator.

Only the traders with the status Gold or higher can receive the full version of the basic learning course. The customers with Diamond or Exclusive accounts are offered VIP support of the academy – “closed VIP analytics”, assistance in building trading robots, etc.

Demo account

Forex Club offers access to a demo account for its customers. This feature is free. The users are not required to set up an account on the platform in order to work with the demo account. You will find the “practice on a demo account” button on the home page of Forex Club official website. The customers are provided a demo account on Libertex platform, while other platforms are available to the customers only on real accounts.

Trading conditions

As we’ve already mentioned, the types of the trading accounts do not envisage differences in trading conditions. However, they may differ, depending on the chosen trading platform. You can learn about the conditions of different terminals in the Contract Specification section. Below is a short review of the conditions.

1. Libertex

• Trading platform: Libertex.
• Base currency options: USD, EUR, RUB
• Instruments: currency pairs, CFDs (stocks, indices, metals, cryptocurrencies, commodities).
• Minimum deposit — 1 USD.
• Commission on trade volume: 0.005%.
• Average spread on EURUSD: from 0
• Minimum lot – 20 USD.
• Stop Out — 0% of the deposit amount.

2. MT4-Instant

• Trading platform: MT4.
• Base currency options: USD, EUR, RUB
• Instruments: currency pairs, CFDs (stocks, indices, metals, cryptocurrencies, commodities).
• Minimum deposit — 1 USD.
• Commission on trade volume: no
• Commission per lot: no
• Average spread on EURUSD: 0.8 pips
• Minimum lot – 0.01
• Leverage — up to 1:1000.
• Stop Out — 0% of the deposit amount.

3. MT4-Market

• Trading platform: МТ4.
• Base currency options: USD, EUR, RUB
• Instruments: currency pairs, CFDs (stocks, indices, metals, cryptocurrencies, commodities).
• Minimum deposit — 1 USD.
• Commission on trade volume: no.
• Commission per lot: 7 USD
• Average spread on EURUSD: 0 pips
• Minimum lot — 0.01.
• Leverage — up to 1:1000.

4. Rumus

• Trading platform: Rumus
• Base currency options: USD, EUR, RUB
• Instruments: currency pairs, CFDs (stocks, indices, metals, cryptocurrencies, commodities).
• Minimum deposit — 1 USD.
• Commission on trade volume: no
• Commission per lot: no
• Average spread on EURUSD: 3 pips.
• Minimum lot — 1000
• Leverage — unavailable.
• Stop Out — 0%

5. MT5-Instant

• Trading platform: МТ5
• Base currency options: USD, EUR, RUB
• Instruments: currency pairs, CFDs (stocks, indices, metals, cryptocurrencies, commodities).
• Minimum deposit — 1 USD.
• Commission on trade volume: no.
• Commission per lot: no
• Average spread on EURUSD: 1.1 pips.
• Minimum lot — 0.01
• Leverage — up to 1:1000.
• Stop Out — 0%

6. MT5-Market

• Trading platform: МТ5.
• Base currency options: USD, EUR, RUB
• Instruments: currency pairs, CFDs (stocks, indices, metals, cryptocurrencies, commodities).
• Minimum deposit — 1 USD.
• Commission on trade volume: no.
• Commission per lot: no
• Average spread on EURUSD: 0.39 pips.
• Minimum lot — 0.01.
• Leverage — up to 1:1000.
• Stop Out — 0%

How to open an account on Forex Club: step-by-step guide

The procedure of opening an account on Forex Club is elementary. It won’t take you longer than five minutes. Let’s review the broker’s registration procedure in more detail.

Step 1 – registration information

The first stage is providing registration information. Noteworthy, the registration forms differ in the Russian and English versions. When filling out the Russian-language form, you need to specify the following information:

• email;
• password;
• given name;
• last name;
• country of residence;
• phone number.

In the English-language version, everything is even simpler. You need to only fill out two boxes:

• email;
• password.

You will also need to tick the boxes “I confirm that I am an adult and I have read the Privacy policy, and “I agree with the terms and conditions”.

Step 2 – depositing funds

After you’ve specified your registration information, the broker’s trading platform will open. To begin trading, you need to deposit funds on your account. The user is given the status of Silver account by default, but as soon as you deposit a certain amount, the status will change.

Right after the registration, you will see a Welcome screen, where Forex Club will offer you to deposit funds on the account. After you press Fund It, you will be redirected to the Deposit form. You need to:

• choose the suitable payment service;
• specify details of your debit/credit card or electronic wallet;
• specify the amount you want to deposit.

This ends the procedure of registration. The user can begin trading on Forex Club.

Base currencies of the account

The list of base currencies on Forex Club is quite limited. In particular, the following currencies are available for trading:

• USD;
• EUR;
• RUB.

Taking into account that the broker is popular among East European countries and the former Soviet Union, the broker is lacking support of such currencies, as UAH, BYN and KZT. There is also no support for such popular currencies, as CHN, JPY, CHF, GBP.

Overall, the list of base currencies on Forex Club can be called standard for the Russian brokers. For example, Alpari offers its customers three base currencies. However, compared to Exness, Forex Club is lagging behind. Firstly, Exness supports 7 base currencies, including the world's popular currencies. Secondly, the broker has the support of cryptocurrencies, while FXClub does not.

Forex Club offers a wide selection of deposit and withdrawal methods. The broker supports Russian and international payment systems, which enables traders from foreign countries to work with the broker. The company allows to deposit and withdraw funds via a wire transfer. The broker support debit/credit cards of the following payment systems: