South Africa has seen a significant boost in the Forex trading industry recently. The local community in the country is eager to learn and understand more of the Forex market. However, it is quite a burden to come across a decent and trustworthy Forex broker based in South Africa. While almost every Forex trader is seeking security and reliability in the brokerage companies, CMTrading seems to be one of the most transparent and trustworthy brokerage firms available in the country.
CMTrading developed at an incredibly fast pace over the last few years and already has a considerably large customer base. The broker provides a diverse trading assets portfolio on its platform which includes everything from currency pairs and CFDs to metals, indices, and commodities. Surprisingly, the broker also operates without any commission charges or other hidden fees, and spreads are not damaged due to it. The overall spread cost with CMTrading broker is relatively tight. The traders have an option to choose among the several live trading account types of CMTrading, whereas the minimum deposit to start trading with the broker remains also low at 250 US dollars. The maximum leverage for CMTrading users can go up to 1:200.
Furthermore, the Forex broker offers numerous payment solutions and withdrawal options for its clients, which further increases the flexibility score of the broker. The main payment methods with CMTrading include bank wire transfer, credit o debit cards, Neteller, CashU, and FasaPay. Most of these payment solutions offer an instant deposit on the trading account balance. For the withdrawals on the other hand traders have to wait for up to 24 hours on the standard account. However, premium accounts offer to execute the withdrawals on the same day.
The review on CMTrading broker will examine the details of all the features and trading conditions that the broker provides. We will also cover all the information that could be important for the investors. So, follow our review to get an idea of what trading at CMTrading looks like.
CMTrading Brief Summary
CMtrading operates since its establishment in South Africa in 2012. After 8 years, the broker serves as the largest brokerage firm in the whole country. The broker, however, operates multi-nationally and accepts international customers, as well. The broker has two parent companies – Global Capital Markets Trading and Blackstone Marketing SA (Pty) Ltd. CMTrading is registered with the official regulatory authority of South Africa – the South African Financial Authority (FSCA). The recognition from the regulatory bodies is always an indicator that the broker is reliable, trustworthy, and transparent.
It is not surprising to learn that CMTrading broker has won several awards and recognitions including the one for the best performing broker in South Africa in 2017. However, the broker never really stopped growing and expanding and managed to not only maintain the honorable status but also succeeded in catching up and sometimes even exceeding the expectations of the traders and market standards.
Significance of the Regulation
Undoubtedly, many people have heard that regulations are important. Most of the traders would actually prefer trading with the regulated Forex brokers rather than unregulated ones. However, not all of them know the reasons behind the preference. Almost in all cases, regulated brokers undergo strict quality and financial checks set as a law from the regulatory bodies. The regulations require few things from the brokers in order to comply with the market standards and traders’ security protocols. For example, all regulated brokers will be required to allow regular financial audits from leading accounting firms (ideally Big Four members) in order to guarantee the financial safety of the traders’ funds. Apart from it, brokers have to hold segregated accounts for the clients. So that in case the broker loses all of its money and goes broke, traders can gain back their capital.
CMTrading Trading Conditions
During our review on CMTrading broker, we encountered that the broker provides quite a competitive trading environment, especially when comparing to the market average. The broker has a diverse portfolio of financial instruments including all of the below-listed assets:
- more than 45 Forex assets with both popular and exotic currency pairs
- more than 200 CFD assets for Forex, metals, indices, and commodities
- precious metals, energies, and soft commodities
- the US, European and Asian indices
Leverages
Leverage is a controversial issue. Some traders, especially with a specific trading strategy, will prefer sky-high leverages in order to gain more profits. However, usually, leverages can also result in significant losses. Therefore, it depends on the market, the trading strategy, and the risk tolerance of the trader when seeking suitable leverage levels. CMtrading provides flexible leverage of 1:200, which is not that high to be dreadful, but not risk-free, as well. It could turn out to be a problem for the beginner traders, however. Fortunately, the CMTrading broker also provides the Negative Balance Protection, which is indeed for the benefit of the traders. What negative balance protection does is that it safeguards traders’ funds to enter the negative value on their trading accounts. The positions are automatically closed when they get close to zero.
Spreads
The broker is operating without commissions, which means that the primary source of the revenue for the broker is from the spreads. However, the spreads with CMTrading are not that high as we expected. They are quite tight compared to the market average. For instance, on some of the most popular currency pairs of EUR/USD, the spread for standard account holders can be around 1.5 pips. However, for more premium account types it gets tighter and tighter. For example, on the Silver account, the spread lowers down to 1.1 pips, whereas for Gold and Premium account types it is as low as 0.9 pips.
Withdrawals
Some of the Forex brokers overcomplicate the procedure of withdrawal for their clients which is a huge drawback for every type of trader. CMTrading Forex broker, however, simplifies it on the contrary. The withdrawal requests are filled directly within the trading account. After the request, traders have to wait for up to 24 hours for the withdrawal to get approved by the financial department of the company. Once approved it will be credited to your credit card, or designated wallet, or bank account taking either a day or up to a week depending on the payment method and the country of residence.
CMTrading Account Types
The traders have an option to choose among the four account types of the broker. All of the accounts come with the same maximum leverage allowance of 1:200 and the option to set up a demo account. Each of these accounts provides certain benefits and advantages with various minimum deposit requirements to their holders.
Bronze Account:
Bronze Account is a Mini account designed for beginner traders. It could also be used for the traders who are looking for budget-friendly conditions. The account comes with standard spreads and daily or weekly market reviews.
- Minimum deposit requirement – from 250 USD up to 999 USD
- Market reviews included
- CMTrading eBook
- Webinars
- Spreads: regular
- VOD: Introduction
Silver Account
Silver account works best for traders with the low risk tolerance. It is also the most popular option among the clients of CMTrading Forex broker. It can be used by both the beginner traders of Forex and the more experienced or professional traders.
- Minimum deposit requirement – from 1000 USD to 9999 USD
- Market reviews included
- CMTrading eBook
- Webinars
- Spreads from 1.2 pips for EUR/USD pair
- VOD: intro – advanced
- 1 Risk-free trade
- Personal Assistant
Gold Account
Gold account is a perfect choice who are looking for ultra-tight spreads, more risk-free traders, and technical / fundamental analysis. However, the account is not recommended for beginner traders and is developed for intermediate or professional clients.
- Minimum deposit requirement – from 10,000 USD up to 99,999 USD
- Market reviews included
- CMTrading eBook
- Webinars
- Spreads from 0.9 pips for EUR/USD pair
- VOD: intro – professional
- 3 Risk-free trades
- Account Manager
- Cash back rebates
- ECN Account
Premium Account
Definitely the most expensive account, the Premium account is dedicated to highly advanced traders. It offers the most competitive spreads, options for the same day withdrawals, extra trading strategies, and much more.
- Minimum deposit requirement – from 100,000 USD and up
- Market reviews included
- CMTrading eBook
- Webinars
- Spreads from 0.9 pips for EUR/USD pair
- VOD: intro – professional
- 3 Risk-free trades
- Account Manager
- Cashback rebates
- Customized account
- Trading Specialist
- Access to the trading room
- Top news & analysis
- Special offers
- ECN account
CMTrading Platforms
The variety of trading account types undoubtedly boosts the CMTrading rating. However, that is not all. The diversity also comes in the trading platforms of the broker. The traders with CMTrading have an opportunity to decide which platform suits them best according to their needs and capabilities. The options include CMTrading Copykat, MetaTrader 4, Sirix WebTrade, and other trading apps.
MetaTrader 4 requires no further introduction or explanation for why it is included on the broker’s platforms list. It is the single most trusted and frequently used software for Forex trading especially. However, WebTrader Sirix and Copykat are newer concepts for traders. WebTrader Sirix is popular for its simplicity of use and allowance to use the platform without downloading any software on the PC. It can directly be accessed through the browser of the user. Copykat on the other hand is a type of automated trading tool which greatly assists beginners in trading to observe how the expert traders operate on the market and learn or copy their strategies.
CMTrading Educational Material
During the CMTrading broker review, our team found out that the broker is paying much attention to the education of its customers. The broker actually provides numerous resources that are dedicated to enhancing the knowledge regarding the trading assets, platforms, strategies and etc. The website of the CMTrading brokerage has a designated separate page for education where the whole content is displayed in various categories. The traders can access the immense library of tutorial videos ranked according to the topics. You could learn more about what are CFDs, stocks, trading tools and how to use them.
Furthermore, there are numerous eBooks on Forex and currency trading, as well as the books on technical analysis. The traders can also attend the exclusive webinars or have a look at the previous ones that were filmed and stored by the brokers. All of these high-quality education resources are provided completely free of charge for the customers of the CMTrading Forex broker. You could also sign up for the special trading courses that the broker offers. This is a unique opportunity as not many top Forex brokers are eager to dedicate that much attention to their clients’ education.