NAGA Review 2022

Trust

This section will cover how the different entities of NAGA 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.

• NAGA Markets Europe LTD is authorized and regulated by the Cyprus Securities and Exchange Commission (CySEC) under license No. 204/13. We rate CySEC as a Tier 1 regulator.
• NAGA Global (SV) LLC is registered with the Saint Vincent & the Grenadines Financial Services Authority (FSA). We rate brokers registered with the FSA as unregulated.

‏Please note: this review focuses on NAGA Markets Europe LTD.

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

Different regulators provide different levels of protection. For example, NAGA clients in the European Union benefit from the oversight of the CySEC. Negative Balance Protection has been implemented by the European Securities Market Authority (ESMA), which means that clients cannot lose more than their deposit.

In addition, when trading with a broker authorized by the CySEC, client funds are also protected by the Investor Compensation Fund (ICF). The ICF protects investments of up to €20,000 if a firm becomes insolvent. By contrast, a trader working with a broker entity regulated offshore would not necessarily have these benefits.

The table below breaks down the protections and benefits by the entity, regulator, and region.

* Leverage of 1:1000 is available on request.

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.

NAGA Markets has a lengthy operating history of 13 years. The Hamburg based NAGA Group AG has 51-200 employees according to its LinkedIn page, reflecting a medium-sized company.

In our research, NAGA showed a good level of transparency in their regulatory status, with a clear explanation on their Regulation and Licensing page.

Spreads, fees, and market hours are covered on the Market Hours and Trading Fees page. The Terms of Business can be found on the Regulation and Licensing page.

The history of the company and its management are covered in-depth on the company page. Overall, we rated NAGA as having a high level of transparency, better than average for the industry.

Is it Safe to Trade With NAGA?

Overall, we judge that it is safe to trade with the European entity of NAGA. The offshore entity is less safe, in that it lacks protection for clients in the event of insolvency.

Fees

Trading Fees

We tested the spreads at NAGA across different asset classes using the NAGA Web platform at 8 AM GMT and at 3 PM GMT on June 7th and 8th, 2022. We made our tests at two different times to allow greater perspective. 8 AM GMT is the London open when there is a great deal of liquidity in the forex market and tighter spreads in currency pairs. 4 PM GMT is during the New York trading session.

Swap Fees

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

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 maintaining 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). We recorded the data on May 23rd.

Non-Trading Fees

NAGA does not charge an inactivity fee, but fees are charged for withdrawals.

Are Fees at NAGA Competitive?

NAGA has largely average spreads and swap fees, with more competitive spreads available for clients with higher account balances. Non-trading fees are kept to a minimum, but there is a withdrawal fee. Overall, we judged NAGA’s fees to be average for the industry.

Platforms and Tools

NAGA Web App

The NAGA Web App facilitates trading in over 950 trading instruments ranging from real stocks to CFDs on cryptocurrencies. Watchlists allow users to stay on top of their favorite assets and lists of the most traded instruments. The news feed built into the platform includes stories from in-house analysts and third-party sources, including Reuters and Trading Central.

Charts

The platform uses cutting-edge TradingView charts, which feature over 100 indicators, 50 drawing tools, 9 time frames, and 11 chart types. In our view, these feature-rich charts are better than average for the industry.

The NAGA Web platform offers all the standard order types, including market orders, limit orders, and stop-loss orders. Trailing stop orders and one-click trading are not available, although these features are available in MetaTrader.

The NAGA Web App enables users to easily set price and volatility alerts to appear in the web trader and mobile app or be sent to your email address. Traders can set alerts based on price, market volatility, or pips.

The NAGA Autocopy feature allows clients to copy leading traders on the NAGA platform automatically and learn from their experience. Users simply need to select traders they would like to copy from the leaderboard and press Autocopy.

MetaTrader 5 for Desktop

NAGA also provides clients with MetaTrader 4 and MetaTrader 5 for desktop, which include advanced functions such as copy trading and automated trading. MetaTrader 5 is available in 31 languages.

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, email, or push notification to a mobile device.
• Watchlists. Traders can set up a list of their favorite instruments and follow live quotes in a Market Watch panel.
• One-click trading. This feature allows traders to execute orders with a single click and no secondary confirmation. Placing a trade with a single click saves time and is especially useful for short-term traders.
• Trading from the chart. MT5 also allows users the convenience of trading directly from the chart.

Order Types

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

• Market Order. This is an order to buy or sell an instrument at the best available price.
• Limit Orders. 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 the 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.

Time in force conditions such as Good ‘Til Canceled (GTC) can be applied to pending orders.

Charting

Charting features are robust. MetaTrader 5 desktop offers:

• 38 technical indicators. These include classic trend indicators, volume indicators, and oscillators.
• 44 analytical objects. These include lines, channels, Gann, and Fibonacci tools.
• 21 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.

Advanced Features

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

• Trading Signals. Signals in MetaTrader 5 allow users to automatically copy the activity of other traders in real-time.
• Automated trading. MetaTrader 5 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.

To conclude, the MetaTrader 5 desktop platform is one of the most feature-rich and popular trading platforms globally. 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.

NAGA Mobile App

The NAGA mobile app includes all the key features from the web app, including the news feed, price alerts, copy trading, and access to over 950 trading instruments. Chat support is available within the app, and users can set up two-factor authentication for increased security.

Order Execution

For the execution of CFD trades, NAGA Markets is a market maker. Market Makers are brokers that act as counterparties to the trades of their clients. NAGA Markets is the main principal of every transaction and based on its risk appetite, it is up to the company to decide how to internalize the clients’ order flow. For real stocks trading NAGA Markets uses the STP (Straight Through Processing) model of order execution. STP involves sending client orders directly to the market.

Tradable Instruments

What are CFDs?

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

• 43 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.
• 7 Index CFDs. An index is a basket of trading instruments used to gauge a market sector, stocks within an exchange, or a country’s economy.
• 480 Stock CFDs. A stock is a security that represents partial ownership of a corporation. Keep in mind that when trading stock CFDs, you speculate on the price of a stock without actually taking ownership of the underlying company.
• 5 Commodity CFDs. Commodities are raw products, such as gold, oil, and metals.
• 25 Cryptocurrencies. Cryptocurrencies, such as Bitcoin, are digital currencies that are secured by cryptography.

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

Customer Support

We had a positive experience with customer support at NAGA. We tested customer support with a wide variety of queries, ranging from whether the web app has one-click trading to the order execution model.

Via chat support, users must answer some automated questions, which slows the process down, but after that, the support agents were available relatively fast. Emails were typically responded to within one business day. Via phone, we also received good support. Agents were generally well informed and helpful.

Deposits & Withdrawals

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

Deposits

Withdrawals

After being processed by NAGA, it can take 3-5 business days to receive your funds. Clients must make withdrawals to the same card or bank account used to make the initial deposit.

Account Types and Terms

Account Application

When opening an account at NAGA, clients start by entering their country and mobile phone number. Clients must then enter their basic personal information. To verify their account, clients must provide:

• Valid ID.
• Phone number.
• Proof of Residential Address.

Accounts can be denominated in three base currencies: GBP, EUR, USD and PLN.

NAGA has a system of VIP levels that grants clients various benefits based on their account balance. The VIP levels and benefits are broken down as follows:

Demo Accounts

NAGA offers demo accounts for the NAGA web and mobile apps. Demo accounts for MetaTrader 5 are also available. These 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 gotten up to speed on a demo account, they can easily switch over to a live account.

Islamic Accounts

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

Leverage

One of the reasons 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.

NAGA Markets Europe offers clients leverage of up to 1:30. This means that with an account of $1,000, you can control up to $30,000 worth of positions in the market. 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

NAGA takes clients from the majority of countries globally. However, NAGA does not offer its services to residents of certain jurisdictions such as the USA, UK, Belgium, Iran, Canada (including Quebec), and North Korea.

Research

Research provided by NAGA is available both on their blog and on the web and mobile trading apps. Stories include daily market news, top economic events for the week, and in-depth commentary.

In the web and mobile apps, stories from third-party sources such as Reuters and Trading Central are available. Trading Central signals provide trading ideas, and their award-winning Market Buzz tool is also available via the web app. NAGA has an economic calendar and an earnings calendar available for reference on the website. Overall, we rate the research materials at NAGA as above average in their quality and scope.

Education

The NAGA Academy includes articles, videos, platform tutorials, webinars, and ebooks. Articles cover technical analysis, for example, how to use moving averages and fundamental analysis with material explaining major economic releases such as non-farm payrolls.

Video materials address the basics of forex, copy trading, how to use the platform, market analysis, and more. Educational webinars take place roughly once a week and cover technical topics such as harmonic trading and general trading themes, such as risk management.

A range of ebooks is available, explaining trading strategies and topics such as Japanese Candlesticks. NAGA assigns each client an account manager, and one-on-one tutoring is also available. We rate NAGA as above average for the industry with its solid and broad range of educational resources.

The Bottom Line

NAGA has created an innovative and exciting product for traders. A wide range of instruments is available to trade via their intuitive proprietary platforms. Advanced copy trading functionality adds another dimension to the typical CFD broker offering. They have gone the extra mile to provide sound research and educational resources for clients. The fees are not highly competitive but become more so with higher account balances. This is a broker that can cater to both beginners and experienced traders, with the choice of platforms available and some advanced research materials. As a CySEC regulated broker with segregated funds, negative balance protection and a compensation fund, we rate the European entity of NAGA as safe and trustworthy. The offshore entity could improve by offering account insurance from a third party such as Lloyds of London.

FAQ