Alpari Review
Alpari offers a wide variety of trading tools and accounts to meet the demand of traders worldwide. They have accumulated millions of clients over the several years they’ve been in the industry. Alpari is an investing platform that is accessible for any type of trader, anywhere in the world where they provide brokering services.
Alpari is an offshore broker with headquarters in St. Vincent and the Grenadines. The broker has been operating since 1998 and is therefore one of the longest serving forex brokers in the industry. The company started completely from scratch in an era where forex wasn’t popular, let alone even heard of. Despite knowing that the industry isn’t at its full potential, Alpari managed to create a highly respectable and secure platform over the years with clients from all over the globe. Through the Alpari platform, you can get access to a decent selection of over 200 different financial assets, including, forex, commodities, stocks, and indices. These assets are available to trade on both the popular and user-friendly MT4 and MT5 platforms.
Alpari has a variety of different features and innovations from being in the industry for as long as they have. Upon first glance, they seem to offer everything under one roof. However, despite being quite credible and secure, they do have some areas where they lack in as well. We’ve thoroughly analysed this broker to provide you with some of the top pros and cons that we’ve witnessed during our time researching and using this broker.
One of the biggest benefits of being an offshore broker is that Alpari is able to offer certain financial products and services that some other brokers may not be able to. They’re able to do so as offshore countries tend to be more lenient as they want to attract foreigners to invest in the economy of their country. Alpari being an offshore broker is able to offer over 200 different financial assets up for trading. These include forex pairs, cryptocurrency, stocks, indices, and commodities. Whilst this is a reasonable selection, they do not quite compare to brokers such as RoboForex who have a much more impressive selection of over 12,000 financial instruments for you to choose from. The table below will give you a better understanding of what Alpari has to offer:
Alpari Instruments Summary
| Instruments | Alpari |
|---|---|
| Forex | ✓ |
| Stocks | ✓ |
| Indices | ✓ |
| Commodities | ✓ |
| Cryptos | ✓ |
| Options | ✓ |
| Bonds | x |
| ETFs | x |
| CFDs | ✓ |
Commission and Spread Fees
Alpari offers a number of different trading accounts. Some of these accounts charge you with a commission while the others have spreads placed on different assets. Now the amount of commission or spread that you get charged depends on a number of different factors such as the type of trading account you’re using, the type of financial asset that’s being traded, and the time of day that this trade is taking place. Keeping all this in mind, most of the assets come with market competitive spreads however some of them have spreads much higher than the market average. That being said, spreads begin at 0.4 pips and can go all the way up to 1.7 pips depending on the conditions we’ve discussed above. Similarly, commissions are about $1.5/lot per side which is pretty decent and lower than the industry average. Howeverm this
The variety of account types is meant to attract all sorts of clients who each have their own unique requirements for their trading journey. The standard and micro MT4 accounts are one of the most affordable you will find with minimum deposits beginning at just $5. Alpari does not charge a commission on those accounts but they do have high spreads to compensate for this lack of commission. Alpari also offers two raw spread or ECN accounts. The ECN account has some of the tightest spreads but does charge a commission of $1.5/lot per side, which is very low to be fair. However, to open this account, you’ll need to make a minimum deposit of $500 and the spreads start at 0.4 pips which sort of cancels out the low commission fee. The ECN Pro account also has tight spreads and even comes commission free. However, these benefits come at a cost as to open this account, you’ll need to make a minimum deposit of at least $25,000 which will price many traders out of this account type. I think you can get better conditions including spreads from 0.0 pips and lower commissions fees of just $2 per side via FXPIG.
| Fee | Standard MT4 | Micro MT4 | ECN MT4/MT5 | ECN Pro MT4 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Commission (per standard lot per side) | $0 | $0 | $1.5/lot per side | $0 |
| Spreads from | 1.2 | 1.7 | 0.4 | 0.4 |
Deposit and Withdrawal Fees
Alpari does not charge any fees on deposits. This is done in order to attract clients to invest without the demotivation that they’re already losing money. They do however charge fees on withdrawals. The amount of fees charged on withdrawal varies by country and type of withdrawal method chosen. For a bank wire transfer, they charge £30 per withdrawal. For other withdrawal methods like credit cards and e-wallets, the withdrawal fees can be anywhere from 0% to 2% of the withdrawal amount. It is therefore important to chose your withdrawal method wisely in order to not lose out more than what’s needed.
Inactivity Fees
Unlike most brokers, Alpari does not charge an inactivity fee. This is a fee charged by brokers when a client has not been trading on an account for a certain period of time, usually after the 6 months mark. Alpari does not charge an inactivity so as to attract seasonal traders who only trade in the industry during certain periods of the year when the market meets their trading requirements.
Alpari offers their services on both of the popular trading platforms, MetaTrader 4 and MetaTrader 5. Unlike some other top brokers, they don’t offer their own platform for trading as of yet. This is not really a deal breaker as many traders choose to use the common MetaTrader platforms in any case.
MetaTrader 4
MetaTrader 4 is one of the most popular trading platforms in the forex industry. It is used by a large majority of CFD traders around the globe. This platform is known for its sleek and easy to navigate design. The MT4 platform is packed with robust trading tools for you to conduct chart analysis and build your own trading strategies. I think it is the ideal solution for new traders who are looking to trade manually or run automates systems. You can also find plenty of free and paid tools to further enhance the already powerful MT4 platform via the MQL marketplace which is accessible from directly within the platform itself. You can use this platform on both your desktop and mobile device which is great for those of you who want to manage your account whilst on the go.
MetaTrader 5
MetaTrader 5 is the follow up platform to MT4 that is commonly used by the utmost professionals in the industry who require extensive and additional tools and features to aid them in their trading journey. This platform comes with a more advanced charting possibilities along and an enhanced strategy tester for back testing automated strategies. Both MetaTrader platforms are very similar in the way that they look and feel, it is just that MT5 is capable of performing more complex trading activities.
Alpari Mobile App
With the Alpari mobile trading app you can trade, read analytics, and fund your account in one app on any mobile device. Key features of the Alpari app include the following:
- Track your trading activity and manage all your trades in one section
- Open accounts, top them up in a way that’s convenient for you, and withdraw funds from the mobile app
- Make trades on the app and track them on the MT4 platform. And vice versa
- Get current quotes, official exchange rates, analytics from experts, and a calendar of events
- Virtually instant placement of pending orders as well as Stop Loss and Take Profit levels
- The ability to switch to trading from an analytical overview
Alpari Platforms Summary
| Platform | Alpari |
|---|---|
| MetaTrader 4 (MT4) | ✓ |
| MetaTrader 5 (MT5) | ✓ |
| cTrader | x |
| Proprietary | x |
| Desktop | ✓ |
| Web | ✓ |
| Mobile | ✓ |
| Social Trading | x |
| Other | x |
Alpari has a wide range of educational materials as well as trading tools that can meet the demands of all types of trader. You will find some handy guides and premium tools for effective market analysis. However, they don’t quite compare to the vast amount of resources that you can get through Markets.com.
Education
Alpari has an entire section dedicated just for beginner traders. In this section, you’ll learn just about everything you need to know about this industry. This section contains several beginner’s guides as well as different articles that could answer most of your initial questions. Alpari even hosts webinars regularly in order to live demonstrate some trading features and to answer other questions that their clients may have.
Autochartist
Alpari provides the brilliant Autochartist tool free of cost to all its clients. This tool automatically analysis price charts in order to determine the best course of action moving forward. They help determine possible trends in the market and can help to identify possible trade setups. I think this is a fantastic tool for market analysis as it can find signals you may have overlooked and save you from hours of studying the charts. However, it is worth mentioning that there are no guarantees on the quality of these signals. You can also get free access to Autochartist via some other brokers including Forex.com, who also happen to have the Trading Central tool which is also superb for automatically finding trading signals according to your preferences.
Economic Calendar
Alpari also provides an economic calendar free of cost to all its clients. This calendar posts details of any major events occurring anywhere around the globe that could possibly impact the forex market. This calendar is extremely useful in determining when a market could become volatile in advance. It can therefore help you become aware of any significant news releases that could impact your trades so that you can act accordingly.
Alpari Research and Education Summary
| Resources | Alpari |
|---|---|
| Market Analysis | ✓ |
| Guides | ✓ |
| Videos | ✓ |
| Webinars | ✓ |
| Autochartist | ✓ |
| Trading Central | x |
| Economic Calendar | ✓ |
| Other | x |
Alpari offers pretty much every available method for both deposits and withdrawals. These include wire transfers, credit cards, e-wallets, and cryptocurrencies. Deposits are instant in any form of payment method so long as the transaction is approved by your bank. Wire transfers and credit cards withdrawals usually take about 2-5 business days depending on your country and bank rules. E-wallets and crypto transfers are usually instant.
Alpari Funding Summary
| Payment Method | Deposit | Withdrawal |
|---|---|---|
| Wire Transfer | ✓ | ✓ |
| Credit/debit Card | ✓ | ✓ |
| Electronic Wallets | ✓ | ✓ |
| Cryptos | ✓ | ✓ |
One of the biggest cons of Alpari is that they are not regulated by any top-tier regulatory body. Alpari is regulated by the International Financial Services Commission of Belize (IFSC), and registered by the Financial Services Authority of St. Vincent and the Grenadines (SVG FSA). If you would prefer to trade with a regulated broker, AvaTrade are on of the most well-regulated brokers that you will find.
Alpari Regulation Summary
| Regulator | Alpari |
|---|---|
| ASIC (Australia) | x |
| IIROC (Canada) | x |
| CySEC (Cyprus) | x |
| SFC (Hong Kong) | x |
| JFSA (Japan) | x |
| MAS (Singapore) | x |
| FINMA (Switzerland) | x |
| FCA (UK) | x |
| CFTC (USA) | x |
| Other | ✓ |
Alpari Safety
Alpari has been in the industry since 1998 and has since built a brand name for itself. It has over millions of clients that trade with it on a daily basis. Hence this helps to show that Alpari is a trusted and secure broker. Although Alpari isn’t licensed or regulated by some top regulators, which could be a big red flag for some traders, it is still pretty trustworthy considering how long it has been in the industry. However, there can be no guarantees and you should always do your own due diligence.
Alpari has a very dedicated customer support team who are ready to answer any queries you may have. They offer support in multiple languages including, but not limited to, English, Russian, Chinese, Arabic, Indonesian, Hindi, and Spanish. Their live chat support is available 24 hours a day, 5 days a week. They even answer queries through email and phone within the same day. I have actually found the support to be slow to respond in the past. Maybe things have improved now but still, I would like to see them extend support hours to weekends in order to keep up with competitors who do.
Overall, Alpari offers a somewhat limited number of financial instruments for trading online via the user-friendly MetaTrader platforms for all of your devices. I like how they have different trading accounts to meet the demands of each trader along with additional trading tools to help you find opportunities and make informed decisions. Even though they aren’t regulated by a top-tier regulator, they’ve been in the industry for over 20 years with competitive trading conditions although there are better options out there. The spreads are not the lowest whilst they could improve their product range. If you just want to trade forex, they might be worth trying out with a free demo account. Otherwise, please feel free to browse our broker ratings for some alternative options.
