FxPro Review 2022

FXPro Video Review

Trust

In our trust category, we place most importance on how a broker is regulated. In this section we’ll cover how the different entities of FxPro across the globe are regulated and how this impacts you as a trader. We rate regulators on a scale of 1 to 3, with 1 reflecting the highest level of trust.

• FxPro UK Limited is authorised and regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA), registration no. 509956. We rate FCA as a Tier 1 regulator.
• FxPro Financial Services Limited is authorised and regulated by the Cyprus Securities and Exchange Commission (CySEC), licence no. 078/07. We rate CySEC as a Tier 1 regulator.
• FxPro Financial Services Limited is authorised by the Financial Sector Conduct Authority (FSCA), authorisation no. 45052. We rate FSCA as a Tier 2 regulator.
• FxPro Global Markets Limited is authorised and regulated by the Securities Commission of The Bahamas (SCB), licence no. SIA-F184. We rate SCB as a Tier 3 regulator.

Why is it important to know where your broker subsidiary (entity) is regulated?

Different regulators provide different levels of protection. Regulators do not always guarantee negative balance protection, segregated funds and a compensation scheme. Available leverage also varies according to the regulator.

In the table below we break down the client protections, regulator and available leverage for each entity of FxPro.

Regulatory requirements are subject to change. The data listed above was gathered in March 2022.

FxPro provides Negative Balance Protection (NBP) for all clients, regardless of their categorisation (retail or professional) and jurisdiction. Client funds are deposited in segregated accounts at global banks such as Barclays and Royal Bank of Scotland.

Stability and Transparency

In our tests for the Trust category we also cover factors relating to stability and transparency. Here, we focus on how long the broker has been in business, the size of the company and how transparent they are in terms of information being readily available.

FxPro has a lengthy operating history of 16 years. The company is headquartered in London, United Kingdom and has over 200 employees.

In our research, FxPro showed a good level of transparency in their regulatory status, with a detailed listing of all their entities and regulators on their Licences page.

The pricing model at FxPro is explained on the Pricing page. On the About page, FxPro shares the history of the company. The Client Agreement can be found on the Legal Docs page.

We rated FxPro as having a high level of transparency, better than average for the industry.

Fees

Trading Fees

We tested the spreads at FxPro across different asset classes using the FxPro Edge platform. The test was done at 8AM GMT and at 4PM GMT on March 30th 2022. We made our tests at two different times to allow greater perspective. 8AM GMT is the London open, when there is a great deal of liquidity in the forex market and therefore tighter spreads in currency pairs. 4PM GMT is during the New York trading session.

Swap Fees

Swap fees (the cost of holding a position overnight) were average at FxPro.

In the table below you can see the Swap Long (the cost/credit of holding a buy position overnight) and the Swap Short (the cost/credit of holding a sell position overnight) for one full sized contract. A full sized contract is 100,000 units of the base currency (the first currency quoted in the pair). The data was recorded on March 29th 2022.

Non-Trading Fees

FxPro charges an inactivity fee after 6 months. This consists of a one time fee of $15, followed by a monthly fee of $5 for each month that the account remains inactive.

Are Fees at FxPro Competitive?

We rated the fees at FxPro as fairly good but not the most competitive in the forex and CFD industry.

Platforms and Tools

FxPro Edge

FxPro’s proprietary platform is called Edge. It has an attractive interface and provides a smooth and intuitive trading experience. This platform is web based and allows you to access the market directly from your browser. FxPro Edge is highly customisable and has popular features such as one click trading and trading from the chart. One drawback is that English is the only available language for the platform.

Order Types

Market orders, limit orders and stop loss orders are available via the Edge platform. Time in force conditions such as Good ‘Til Canceled (GTC) are available for pending orders. Trailing stop loss orders are not available on the Edge platform, but they are available on MetaTrader and cTrader.

Charts

Charting on the Edge platform is robust with a wide range of chart types, time frames, indicators and drawing tools.

• Chart types: Bar Chart, Japanese Candlesticks, Heikin Ashi, HLC Chart, Line Chart and Dots Chart.
• Time frames: 15 different time frames available, ranging from 1 minute to 1 month.
• Technical indicators: 53 technical indicators including momentum, reversal, volatility and volume indicators.
• Drawing tools: 13 drawing tools, including Fibonacci, Pitchfork and ABCD pattern.

The platform is highly customizable, with preset layouts and the ability to save your preferred layouts so they can be pulled up at any time.

Alerts can be set up to notify you via email of price levels reached and orders that have been executed.

Overall, we rated Edge as a great platform that is suitable for beginners and can cater to the needs of most traders.

FxPro Direct Mobile

The FxPro Direct app is available for iOS and Android and allows users to manage their accounts, deposit/withdraw funds, contact live support and trade. The app has a minimalistic, user-friendly interface.

Popular features such as one click trading and trading from the chart are available. The app has an economic calendar, allowing users to stay on top of key fundamental data. Charting capabilities are limited as there are no technical indicators or drawing tools. 2-factor authentication is available to keep your account secure. The app is available in 19 languages.

Overall we rated this as a good albeit basic app, which is well suited to beginners and casual traders.

MetaTrader 4 Desktop

FxPro offers MetaTrader 4 and MetaTrader 5 for desktop, which includes advanced functions such as copy trading and automated trading. In this section we’ll cover the features of the popular MetaTrader 4 platform.

MetaTrader 4 is available in 39 languages, from Arabic to Vietnamese. The platform provides popular features such as:

• Alerts. This feature allows traders to be updated when an instrument reaches a specific price level. Alerts can be delivered via audio, an email, or a push notification to a mobile device.
• Watchlists. Traders can set up a list of their favourite instruments and follow live quotes in a panel called Market Watch.
• One-click trading. This feature allows traders to execute orders with a single click and no secondary confirmation. Being able to place a trade with a single click saves time and is especially useful for short term traders.
• Trading from the chart. MT4 also allows users the convenience of trading directly from the chart.

MetaTrader also delivers when it comes to the range of available order types and its charting functionality. The following order types are available:

• Market Order. This is an order to buy or sell an instrument at the current best available price.
• Limit Order. This is an order to buy or sell an instrument at a specified price or better.
• Stop Loss Order. This is an order to buy or sell an instrument that is triggered when price reaches a specified level.
• Trailing Stop Order. This is a stop loss order that can be set at a defined percentage or dollar amount away from an instrument’s current market price. It is used to secure profits when you are in a winning trade, while not having to exit the position.

Charting features are robust. MetaTrader 4 offers:

• 30 technical indicators. These include classic trend indicators, volume indicators and oscillators.
• 23 analytical objects. These include lines, channels, Gann and Fibonacci tools.
• 9 time frames Each instrument can be displayed in nine time frames, from one minute to one month.
• 3 chart types. Traders can choose between Bar Charts, Japanese Candlestick Charts and Line Charts.

MetaTrader is also popular due to its copy trading and automated trading features.

• Trading Signals. Signals in MetaTrader 4 allow users to automatically copy the activity of other traders in real time.
• Automated trading. MetaTrader 4 allows users to develop, test and apply Expert Advisors (EAs). EAs are programs that monitor and trade markets using algorithms. They find opportunities according to set parameters and then either create a notification or automatically open a trade.

The MetaTrader 4 desktop platform is one of the most feature rich and popular trading platforms in the world. It does not have the most beautiful interface and it does require some time and effort to learn, but that is typical of advanced platforms.

MetaTrader 4 Web

The MetaTrader Web Platform (Web Trader) is a slightly stripped down version of the desktop platform. It allows you to trade without any additional software, only an internet connection is required. The Web Platform allows users to trade directly from any browser and operating system.

Popular features include:

• One-click trading.
• Trading from the chart.
• Watchlists with real time quotes.
• Trade History.
• Advanced charting with 30 indicators for technical analysis.

Copy trading and automated trading are also only available on the MT4 desktop platform.

MetaTrader 4 Mobile App

For mobile trading, FxPro offers the MetaTrader 4 and MetaTrader 5 mobile app, which is available for Android and iOS. The app offers popular features such as alerts, 1-click trading and trading from the chart.

The MetaTrader 4 mobile app also provides a broad range of order types including pending and stop-orders. However, trailing stop loss orders are only available from desktop. Charting via the MT4 app has 9 timeframes, 30 technical indicators, 24 drawing tools and 3 chart types.

In order to change the language of the MT4 app, you must change the language for your entire phone. As with desktop and web, the interface is not the most intuitive but the MT4 app offers an above average range of features.

cTrader

cTrader is a platform that has an intuitive interface and can cater to both beginners and advanced/algorithmic traders. It is designed to replicate an institutional trading environment, with features such as Level 2 DoM (Depth of Market). Depth of market shows incoming liquidity from liquidity providers.

One click trading and trading from the chart are available via cTrader. Another popular feature is alerts. The platform can alert you when the market reaches a set price. Market sentiment data is available and displayed below the QuickTrade buttons. Market sentiment indicates the percentage of client accounts that are long (buyers) or short (sellers). The information is collected from all available cTrader servers across multiple brokers.

A wide variety of order types are available including market, limit, stop loss, stop limit and trailing stop. Time in force conditions such as Good ‘Til Canceled (GTC) are available for pending orders.

Charting via the desktop platform is robust with 26 available time frames, 4 available chart types, 76 indicators and more than 10 drawing tools. A news feed and integrated economic calendar are built into the platform.

cTrader can be used for automated trading and strategy backtesting. cBots are automated trading robots, which can automate your trading strategies in cTrader. To use a cBot you can simply drag and drop it on the symbol you want to trade and set your preferred parameters (initial volume, stop loss and take profit). Any cBot built in cAlgo will automatically be available in cTrader and custom robots can also be downloaded from the cTrader website. cAlgo is a programming language that enables you build cBots and custom technical indicators using C#.

To conclude, cTrader has many of the advanced features of MetaTrader within what we judged to be a better designed and more user-friendly interface.

Order Execution

All client trades at FxPro are executed with no dealing desk intervention. Due to the high volumes of client trades, FxPro is able to internally match much of their order flow. Not all client positions are hedged and a residual exposure up to a set market risk limit remains in house. Excess risk exposure may be hedged externally.

Tradable Instruments

CFDs (Contract for Differences) are financial derivative products that allow traders to speculate in various markets without owning the underlying assets. Tradable instruments at FxPro include the following assets:

• 70+ Currency Pairs. A currency pair combines two different currencies, with the value of one currency quoted against the other. For example EUR/USD, which reflects the value of the euro measured in dollars.
• 18 Index CFDs. An index is a basket of trading instruments that is used to gauge a market sector, stocks within an exchange or the economy of a country.
• 30 Cryptocurrency CFDs. Cryptocurrencies, such as Bitcoin, are digital currencies that are secured by cryptography.*
• 1000+ Stock CFDs. A stock is a security that represents partial ownership of a corporation. Keep in mind that when trading stock CFDs you are speculating on the price of a stock without actually taking ownership of the underlying company.
• 7 Commodity CFDs. Commodities are raw products, such as gold, oil and metals.

* Cryptocurrency CFDs are not available for retail clients in the UK. In 2021, the FCA banned trading cryptocurrencies through spread bets and CFDs.

In the tables below, you can see a selection highlighting the variety of instruments available at FxPro:

Overall, we rated FxPro as being strongest in the areas of forex, indices and share CFDs. We found room for improvement in the variety of commodity CFDs available.

Customer Support

Support responses were fast via chat and email at FxPro, with chat operators being available almost instantly and email inquiries responded to the same day. Phone support was unavailable, due to ‘system problems’ during the time of our tests.

We tested support with a variety of questions, covering subjects such as whether the Edge platform has trailing stop loss orders, whether it is possible to set up alerts via the FxPro Direct mobile app and whether FxPro charges an inactivity fee.

Support agents were knowledgeable and courteous. It was nice to not have to navigate through a chatbot before reaching a human agent. Disregarding the problem with phone support, we rated the customer support experience at FxPro as good.

Deposits & Withdrawals

In the tables below we break down the fees and processing times for each deposit and withdrawal method.

Deposits

Withdrawals

For withdrawals via bank wire, clients need to allow up to 2-5 working days for the funds to reach their account from the time the withdrawal has been approved. For credit/debit card withdrawals, it takes 3-7 working days to receive the funds back to your card.

Additional funding and withdrawal methods are available for the FxPro Financial Services Limited and FxPro Global Markets Limited entities.

• FxPro Financial Services Limited allows deposit/withdrawal via bank transfer, broker to broker, Visa, Maestro, Mastercard, PayPal, Skrill, Neteller and UnionPay.
• FxPro Global Markets Limited allows deposit/withdrawal via bank transfer, broker to broker, Visa, Maestro, Mastercard, Skrill, Neteller and UnionPay.

FxPro Wallet

The FxPro Wallet was developed to make funding and withdrawal from client accounts easier. Moving funds between an FxPro wallet and a trading account is instant and free of charge. The wallet keeps funds safe from unexpected market movements while at the same time easily transferable to a trading account.

Account Types and Terms

Account Application

To open an individual account at the FxPro UK Limited entity, prospective clients must provide the following information:

• Name.
• Address.
• Date of Birth.
• Employment Status.
• Level of education.
• Annual Income.
• Estimated net worth.
• Source of wealth.
• The amount your account will be funded with.
• Your reason for opening an account with FxPro.
• Whether you are a US citizen or a US resident for tax purposes.
• How much trading experience you have.
• The amount of experience you have with trading FX, CFDs, Spread Bets or other leveraged financial products.
• How many times you have traded forex and CFDs in the past 12 months.
• Answer questions on margin, order types, leverage and risk tolerance
• Choose your account type: FxPro Edge Spread Betting, FxPro Edge CFD, MT4 Instant (variable spreads), MT4 Fixed Spreads, MT4, MT5 and cTrader.
• Choose your level of leverage (1:1, 1:2, 1:3, 1:5, 1:10, 1:15, 1:20, 1:25, 1:30)
• Choose your base currency (AUD, CHF, EUR, GBP, JPY, PLN, USD).

After providing the above information, prospective clients must upload a copy of a valid international passport, national ID card or driver’s licence in order to verify their identity.

FxPro also offers demo, professional, VIP and Islamic accounts.

Demo Accounts

FxPro offers free demo accounts for FxPro Edge, MetaTrader 4, MetaTrader 5 and cTrader. Demo accounts are especially important for beginners as they allow them to practice their strategies and get comfortable with the trading platform without risking any real money.

The demo account features live quotes and simulates live market conditions in assets such as forex and CFDs on commodities, indices and stocks. Once users have got up to speed on a demo account, they can easily switch over to a live account.

Professional Accounts

If you are an experienced trader, you can apply to be treated as a professional client. Clients that are categorised as professional have access to greater leverage (up to 1:500) and can trade cryptocurrency CFDs even if they are in the UK.

FxPro continues to provide negative balance protection but clients categorised as professionals may not be entitled to regulatory investor compensation.

In order to be eligible to be categorised as a professional, individuals must meet two of the three criteria below.

• You have carried out transactions, in significant size, on the relevant market at an average frequency of 10 per quarter over the previous 4 quarters (with FxPro or other brokers).
• The size of your financial instrument portfolio, defined as including cash deposits and financial instruments, exceeds €500,000.
• You work or have worked in the financial sector for at least one year in a professional position, which requires knowledge of the transactions or services envisaged.

VIP Trading Account

The FxPro VIP account offers benefits for high volume traders with a substantial account balance. A prerequisite of the VIP account is a deposit of $50,000+ (or currency equivalent). VIP account holders receive up to 30% discount on market spreads, access to a free Virtual Private Server (VPS) and up to 30% lower commissions on cTrader accounts.

Islamic Accounts

FxPro offers a swap free Islamic account that adheres to the principles of Sharia law.

Leverage

One of the reasons that traders are attracted to the forex and CFD markets is the high degree of available leverage. Leverage is the use of borrowed funds to increase the size of your trading positions beyond what would be possible using only the cash in your account.

The maximum leverage for a standard account with the FxPro UK Limited entity is 1:30. This means that with an account of $1,000 you can control up to $30,000 worth of positions in the market. If you are categorised as a professional, you can access leverage of up to 1:500. This means that with $1,000, you can control up to $500,000 worth of positions.

Leverage is often described as a ‘double-edged sword’ as it can hurt you as much as it helps you. Traders must remember that it can amplify both their profits and their losses.

Supported Countries

FxPro takes clients from the majority of countries globally. However, clients are not accepted from the USA, Iran and Canada.

Research

FxPro has a separate domain for their news and market analysis offering, which is fxpro.news. Stories are broken down into 3 categories: Market Overview, Crypto and Technical Analysis.

The Market Overview report covers fundamental themes such as major economic releases and major geopolitical news stories. Market Overview updates are made several times per day and help traders understand the forces behind movements in the market.

Crypto updates are largely focused on Bitcoin and cover major stories in the space. Updates are less frequent, at most once per day.

Technical analysis updates span forex, commodities and equities and are focused on Elliott Wave analysis. Major support and resistance levels are included in the reports, which are published several times daily.

Within the client portal, traders also have access to a Trader’s Dashboard which covers the top movers in the market and shows client sentiment data with the percentage of traders who are long and short for various currency pairs. Sentiment data is a powerful tool and most often used as a contrarian indicator. The underlying idea is that if the vast majority of traders are long or short an instrument, it may not be the best time to have the same position and it may even be a good time to take a contrarian position.

A live squawk and newsfeed are also available within the client portal. The FxPro Squawk alerts traders to important stories with potential market impact, as well as to breaking news, economic and data releases as they occur. The scrolling news feed covers significant news stories, rumours, reports and articles.

Standard tools such as an economic calendar and FX calculator are available from the website and within the client portal.

FxPro also offers award winning content from third party provider Trading Central, which combines automated investment analytics and analyst research.

Education

FxPro courses for beginners are broken down into four categories: Basics, Fundamental Analysis, Technical Analysis and Psychology. There is only one category for advanced traders, Fundamental Analysis 2.0, so the course offering is slanted more to beginners.

Courses are in text format, consisting of easily digestible cards that lead you through the section. The content provides a good educational foundation for traders. There is room for improvement in that there is no quiz or interactive element, which would aid the learning process.

More in depth and advanced content is available on the FxPro YouTube channel. For example this recorded seminar of over an hour by industry expert Phillip Konchar, titled Plan Your Trade and Trade Your Plan. Platform tutorials and recorded webinars in multiple languages are also available.

The Bottom Line

FxPro is an impressive broker with a well rounded offering, particularly strong in the category of trading platforms and research. Key categories such as fees and tradable instruments are competitive but fall shy of the standard set by industry leaders IG and CMC Markets. Third party tools such as Trading Central and innovations such as the FxPro Wallet go beyond what is commonly offered at other brokers.

FxPro is a solid choice for beginners with their intuitive Edge platform and good educational resources. Experienced and algorithmic traders are also a good fit for this broker, with the advanced platforms, tools and range of account types available.

FAQ