Fortrade Review
Fortrade is a regulated and reliable broker that is determined to help new and experienced traders to succeed. The broker provides sophisticated platforms and comprehensive market analysis at no costs to its clients.
Fortrade is a multi-regulated CFD broker that offers the popular MT4 platform and exclusive Fortrader platform to its clients for convenient trading and investing online. The broker has a vast range of financial products and services including comprehensive analysis, training resources and trading tools for both new and experienced traders. In addition to excellent automated market analysis from Trading Central, traders are presented with daily and weekly analysis powered by the internal research team.
Founded in 2013, Fortrade has been expanding its services around the globe. Its headquarters is located in London but it has offices in other locations around the world. The broker is regulated in several countries and accepts multiple payment options including e-wallets and Bitcoin. Fortrade describes itself as a premier provider of products, services and platforms for CFD and forex trading online. The broker’s goal is to make online trading more accessible, enjoyable and profitable for everyone.
Fortrade is a broker that has invested in technology, hardware, software and human resources. This is to ensure they remain at the forefront of the brokerage industry when it comes to trading online. They are regulated in several jurisdictions and maintain adequate security which helps to give traders peace of mind so that they can focus on their day trading activities. That being said, lets take a look at some of the key advantaged and disadvantages of the broker to see if they can meet your needs.
On the Fortrade platforms, you can trade multiple assets including: 6 cryptocurrencies, 51 currency pairs, 17 indices, 10 precious metals, 5 energy products, 5 agricultural products, 3 US bonds, 3 ETFs and about 180 stocks CFDs traded in stock exchanges in Europe, US, Australia and Hong Kong. This is a good selection overall although not quite as much as Exclusive Markets who provide over 30,000 in comparison. However, Fortrade has a lot more to offer other than a generous range of financial instruments which we will look at throughout this review.
Fortrade Instruments Summary
| Instruments | Fortrade |
|---|---|
| Forex | ✓ |
| Stocks | ✓ |
| Indices | ✓ |
| Commodities | ✓ |
| Cryptos | ✓ |
| Options | x |
| Bonds | ✓ |
| ETFs | ✓ |
| CFDs | ✓ |
Commission and Spread Fees
Fortrade incorporates its trading fees into the spread and so, does not charge commissions. The spreads vary according to market conditions. The EURUSD has become an unofficial standard used to measure how high or low a broker’s spreads are. With Fortrade, the EURUSD has an average spread of 2.0 pips which is not that low when compared to its competitors. However, as there is no commission fee charged, which means that the overall difference in costs is probably going to be minimal unless trading large volumes.
If you are not day trading, then you might not really notice a big difference with the spreads and can save by not paying a commission fee. However, if you are scalping and frequently getting in and out of the market, you will probably want a lower spread, even if that means paying a small commission fee on top. In that instance, IC Markets and Pepperstone would be two of my top choices for brokers with spreads that start from zero pips and low fees.
Fortrade has no account types and special conditions attached; it is just a retail live account and a free demo account. Trading accounts can be maintained in USD, EUR, GBP, TRY, AUD and CAD. Swap fees are charged or paid to accounts that have open positions by 5pm New York time.
If you are Muslim client, you can request a swap free Islamic account by contacting the client support desk after completing registration and verifying your account.
Demo accounts are free, limitless and risk free. They come preloaded with $10,000 worth of virtual funds for trading practice or strategy perfection. I think this is a great way for you to get a feel for what the broker has to offer before making a commitment.
| Fee | Standard Account |
|---|---|
| Commission (per standard lot per side) | $0 |
| Spreads from | 2.0 |
Deposit and Withdrawal Fees
Fortrade does not charge deposit fees but fees incurred while processing withdrawals are charged to the client’s account. For example the International transfer fee is usually $40, so it is passed to the client that requests an international bank transfer.
Inactivity Fees
$10 or its equivalent in other currencies is charged from a dormant account every month. A Fortrade trading account becomes inactive if no trade position was opened from it for a period of 180 consecutive days. To avoid inactivity fees, you could consider another broker such as Hugo’s Way.
Fotrade offers two trading platform options as follows:
Web Fortrader
This platform works on all browsers and needs no downloads or installations. It is proprietary to Fortrade and is designed for all traders irrespective of their prior experience. I found it very easy to use with lots of tools for analysing the charts. You can customise the layout according to your own strategy and manage your positions without any complications. Below are some of its features:
- You can search and find assets easily and arrange your preferred instruments in the favourites list.
- Charts are detachable and multiple charts can be opened simultaneously.
- Up to 6 chart styles; candle, bar, coloured bar, line, mountain and baseline.
- Charts can be displayed on 9 timeframes; from one minute to one month.
- Full order management tools like pending orders, stop loss, trailing stop, etc.
- It has over 110 technical indicators for analysis.
- It comes with inbuilt tools like economic calendar, traders’ sentiments, etc.
MT4 trading platform
The MT4 platform is one of the most widely used forex and CFD trading platforms and trading apps in the industry today. It has been chosen by traders due to its speed, versatility, complexity and powerful tools. You will find that this platform is available through most brokers including Oanda. This can make life a lot easier should you decide to change brokers at some point. Below are some of its features:
- The interface is simple, user friendly and can easily be customized.
- Its features and tools can be expanded through plugin apps built with the MQL4 coding language.
- It supports trade automation through expert advisors (EAs) built with MQL4 and installed on the MT4.
- It comes with access to the MetaTrader market where you can rent or purchase trading tools like signals, trading robots (EAs), technical indicators, etc. Some are free.
- Each trading instrument can be viewed on 3 chart styles and on 9 time frames.
- There are 24 analytical tools used in analyzing the charts.
- Though it comes with 30 technical indicators; you can add more through plugin apps.
- You can use market orders, pending orders, stop order, trailing stops, etc to place your orders.
The MT4 comes as WebTrader which is built with html5 and runs on web browsers. The premium version is the downloadable windows desktop version. Also, it has mobile versions for Android and iOS devices.
Mobile trading
Fortrade fully support mobile trading with 4 mobile apps:
- Mobile Fortrader for Android
- Mobile Fortrader for iPad and iPhone
- MT4 for Android
- MT4 for iOS devices
All apps can be downloaded from their respective stores. From the apps, traders can monitor the markets quotes, open and close trade positions as well as analyze the markets.
Fortrade Platforms Summary
| Platform | Fortrade |
|---|---|
| MetaTrader 4 (MT4) | ✓ |
| MetaTrader 5 (MT5) | x |
| cTrader | x |
| Proprietary | ✓ |
| Desktop | ✓ |
| Web | ✓ |
| Mobile | ✓ |
| Social Trading | x |
| Other | x |
Trading eBooks
Fortrade has about 4 eBooks available for its clients at no costs. They are:
- CFDs and stocks eBook: A short introductory into stocks CFDs.
- Commodities and futures eBook: A 10-page book introducing some futures and commodities and how to trade them.
- Forex eBook: This book teaches beginners how forex trading works.
- Advanced eBook: It has 94 pages and it covers topics like trading psychology, capital management, market analysis, trading strategies and a glossary of terms. Each chapter ends with a revision exercise.
Seminars
Almost every week, Fortrade schedules webinars to help its clients with recent happenings, trading insights, analysis and training.
Forex and CFD trading courses
This course is designed for beginner traders. It comprises of five video lessons that explains forex trading, trading terms, analysis, strategies and order types. The videos are animated, very clear and easy to understand.
Advanced trading course
This section has video lessons discussing about stocks, CFDs, commodities and futures contracts.
Trading videos
There are about six videos in this section training clients on technical analysis, trading psychology, capital management and global trading.
Top day trading strategies
Some of the strategies discussed in the videos are: Tunnel strategy, trend signal strategy, fractal strategy, wave tracker, zigzag strategy, fishing strip, fibo trap, T-chaser, zoom in and semi-automatic strategies.
Glossary
Over 240 forex and CFD trading terminologies are defined in this glossary.
Trading Central
Fortrade has partnered with a leading financial research and technical analysis firm; Trading Central. This means that traders are furnished with trading tools and updated technical analysis on a wide range of trading instruments. I think this is a brilliant tool for analysing the markets and identifying potential trading opportunities. It can save you hours of time needing to scan through charts for your setups. You will not find it available through many brokers, although easyMarkets and HYCM both offer it free of charge.
Market news and analysis
Fortrade provides its clients a daily market news and analysis on a range of trading instruments like currency pairs, commodities (gold, crude oil, etc), indices and more. There is also a weekly review and micro analysis presented by the Research department of the brokerage. This is a great way for you to keep on top of what is happening in the global markets.
Economic calendar
This calendar is vital in fundamental analysis because it shows exactly the time and date when important economic events will take place. It also shows the importance level, analysts’ forecast and previous impacts on a currency or financial instrument. I always like to use an economic calendar when making a decision to make sure I do not get caught on the wrong side of a pending news release. The MT5 platform actually has a handy economic calendar built-in, but the broker only provides MT4. For the newer platform in MT5, you could consider another broker such as FXDD.
Other tools
Fortrade also has the following basic tools to assist its traders:
- Currency converter
- Swap rates calculator
- Pip value calculator
- Margin percentage calculator
Fortrade Research and Education Summary
| Resources | Fortrade |
|---|---|
| Market Analysis | ✓ |
| Guides | x |
| Videos | ✓ |
| Webinars | ✓ |
| Autochartist | x |
| Trading Central | ✓ |
| Economic Calendar | ✓ |
| Other (Currency converter and Trading Calculators) | ✓ |
You can fund your Fortrade account through bank transfer, debit and credit cards, Skrill, Neteller and Bitcoin. The minimum deposit is $100/£100/€100 or its equivalent but for bank transfer, the least amount is $250. Bank transfers may take up to 7 days before it reflects in your trading account. Depending on the acquiring banks, you may be charged some amount of money but internally, Fortrade will not charge for deposits.
Withdrawal requests are processed promptly. Bank transfers are usually completed in 5 working days while debit cards may take as much as 15 business days. I think they have a great selection and are one of a few brokers who currently accept crypto funding, Hankotrade being another option.
Fortrade Funding Summary
| Payment Method | Deposit | Withdrawal |
|---|---|---|
| Wire Transfer | ✓ | ✓ |
| Credit/debit Card | ✓ | ✓ |
| Electronic Wallets | ✓ | ✓ |
| Cryptos | ✓ | ✓ |
Fortrade operates in various jurisdictions where it is authorized and regulated as follows:
- Fortrade Ltd: is authorised and regulated in UK by the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA). Its registration number is FRN: 609970.
- Fortrade Canada Limited is authorized and regulated by the Investment Industry Regulatory Organization of Canada (IIROC).
- Fort Securities Australia Pty Ltd is licensed and regulated by the Australian Securities and Investments Commission (ASIC). Its license number is AFSL: 493520.
- Fortrade Cyprus Ltd is authorized and regulated by the Cyprus Securities and Exchange Commission (CySEC) with CIF license number 385/20.
- LLC Fort Securities Belarus is authorised and regulated by the National Bank of the Republic of Belarus (NBRB), FRN: 193075810.
Fortrade Canada Ltd is a member of the Canadian Investor Protection Fund (CIPF) which insures that investors are compensated when a member firm becomes insolvent. So, if Fortrade closes down its operations, clients will be able to get refunds or compensations.
Similarly, Fortrade UK is a member of the Financial Services Compensation Scheme (FSCS) which will compensate UK clients if Fortrade brokerage collapses. Clients from the CySEC regulated jurisdictions are not left out; they could get some compensation in the event of insolvency of the brokerage.
Furthermore, clients’ funds are held in segregated accounts and periodically audited to ensure strict compliancy with the regulatory standards.
Fortrade Regulation Summary
| Regulator | Fortrade |
|---|---|
| ASIC (Australia) | ✓ |
| IIROC (Canada) | ✓ |
| CySEC (Cyprus) | ✓ |
| SFC (Hong Kong) | x |
| JFSA (Japan) | x |
| MAS (Singapore) | x |
| FINMA (Switzerland) | x |
| FCA (UK) | ✓ |
| CFTC (USA) | x |
| Other (NBRB Belarus) | ✓ |
Fortrade Safety
Fortrade meets all the necessary requirements to qualify as a safe broker. It is regulated in multiple jurisdictions by both tier1 and lesser regarded regulators. It meets the digital security standards of software implementations as well as strict client funds segregation. Overall, I would say that Fortrade is very well regulated and I would not have any issue trusting them.
Fortrade has prepared a Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs) page where several questions about its brokerage operations were answered. The broker has dedicated customer support team that is available 24/7. You can reach them by filling the web form on its website or sending an email. There are phone support lines available for more than 15 countries, if your country of residence is in the list, just call the support phone number. You can also get help by initiating a web chat on the website. On social media; Fortrade is active on facebook, Twitter and YouTube.
Fortrade is a focused broker that is steadily growing from strength to strength. Regulated in up to 5 countries, the broker has continued to offer conducive trading environment to its global clients. Multiple assets including ETFs, US bonds and cryptos are available for trading on its proprietary and MT4 platforms. Trading on the go is fully supported via the Fortrader and MT4 mobile apps. Comprehensive analysis is provided by ‘Trading Central’ as well as the Fortrader Research team. Several training videos are provided especially for tyro traders.
However, its spreads are not very low in comparison with other top competing brokers such as XM Group. Also, there is no provision for investors; in form of social trading or managed portfolio. Summarily, Fortrade is good for new and experienced traders but they can still improve on its spreads and some other aspects of its services.
