Rakuten Securities Hong Kong Review by professional Forex trading experts the “ForexSQ” FX trading team, Finding out everything you need to know about the broker is in this Rakuten Securities Hong Kong Review.
Rakuten Securities Hong Kong Review
Rakuten Securities Hong Kong has two types of live trading accounts defined by the trading platform. There are also free demo accounts for either type of account.
Depending on the type of account and trading platform respectively, the asset portfolio varies somewhat. The Rakuten FX account has a smaller portfolio of just 24 “major and popular pairs”, while the Trading Station account has a more extensive offering of 40 “major and exotic pairs”.
Other major brokers like FxPro and IG, however, have much bigger forex portfolios of more than 70 pairs.
There is also a difference in the margin requirement for hedging in the two types of accounts. In the Rakuten FX account both sides as well as the entry order require margin, while the Trading Station requires margin only on one side and margin counts on the side requires larger amount.
The Company. Security of Funds
Rakuten Securities Hong Kong (Rakuten Securities HK) is a subsidiary of the Japanese brokerage Rakuten Securities, which is part of the Rakuten Group. The company is based in Japan, but operates globally through various subsidiaries offering business services like e-commerce, travel, banking, securities, credit card, e-money, portal and media, online marketing and professional sports.
Rakuten Securities acquired the Hong Kong brokerage from FXCM in the autumn of 2015 and subsequently rebranded and relaunched it in 2016.
Rakuten Securities HK is regulated by the local Securities and Futures Commission (SFC). This means that the client trading accounts are well protected and fully within Hong Kong’s legal jurisdiction.
The SFC licensing procedure is a long and complicated one, involving submission of various documents, a test for officials representing the firm, and maintaining adequate accounting and control systems. The commission also exercises supervision over licensed companies, performing on-site reviews and off-site monitoring. There are also stringent capital requirements for the brokers. Since 2015 there is also the requirement that the license holders allow investors to claim damages if the intermediary is selling or recommending a financial product that is not reasonably suitable for the client.
Minimum initial deposit
Rakuten Securities HK does not have a minimum deposit requirement. Naturally, in order to trade, one does need to put in some money in their account, so this no minimum deposit requirement is simply a marketing gimmick. There are other brokers who use it, while others, like IG have the token $1 requirement and FXTM and XM require $5.
Spreads and commissions
Rakuten Securities HK offers fairly tight spreads. The Trading Station account has tighter spreads, but there is also a commission. The calculation of this fee appears to be a somewhat complicated affair, measured in pips, and ultimately turns out to be less favorable. As per Rakuten’s own calculations, the commission is around 0.8 pips, which added to the spread, amounts to a total of 1.1 pips.
Leverage
The leverage of Rakuten Securities HK is barely 1:50, which is not much at all. IG, which is also present at the Hong Kong market, for example, offers 1:200, and so does Forex.com.
Trading platforms
Rakuten Securities HK offers two trading platform and neither of them is MetaTrader 4, which is relatively rare among brokers. Instead, it has Rakuten Securities Japan’s proprietary platform MarketSpeed FX (MSFX) and Trading Station, which was “inherited” from FXCM.
Both platforms have applications for mobile devices and web versions.
MarketSpeed FX is a user-friendly platform with robust functionality and an AS Streaming trading function that allows speedy user execution and one click order execution. The platform features 7 order types, notifications, real time reports, trading from charts, 9 types of charts, 44 basic and advanced indicators and customizable parameters.
Trading Station allows users to trade raw spread directly from top liquidity providers with No Dealing Desk (NDD) execution with a low fixed commission and using the essential functions of the proprietary Marketscope charting tool. The platform supports five order types, hedging, trading from charts and 60 basic and advanced indicators. It also offers one click or double click order execution and “simple” and “advanced” dealing rates, real time news and customization.
Methods of payment
Rakuten Securities HK accepts client payments through ATM, internet banking and bank counter, for Hong Kong residents. For international clients the funding options are bank wire and post office wire (for clients in China). The broker also accepts checks and e-checks.
The mere fact that Rakuten Securities HK is regulated by SFC and is a subsidiary of a Japanese broker suggests it is stable and reliable. Hong Kong is not such a large market in itself, but China is, which makes the regulation lucrative.
Compared to other majors like IG, Forex.com and Saxo Bank, Rakuten Securites HK’s trading conditions are a mixed bag. On one hand there is no deposit requirement, while Saxo Bank requires $10 000, but offers tighter spreads. IG, on the other hand, requires just $1 and has comparable spreads.
Instead of the forex broker you can use Plus500, XM, eToro, Fxpro or AvaTrade forex brokers.
Rakuten Securities Hong Kong Review Conclusion
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