ThinkMarkets Review by professional Forex trading experts the “ForexSQ” FX trading team, Finding out everything you need to know about the broker is in this ThinkMarkets Review.
ThinkMarkets Review
ThinkMarkets offers three account types – Standard, Pro & Premium, all of them accessible through the popular MetaTrader 4 platform and offering leverage up to 1:500. The Standard account is commission-free, while the other to offer tighter spreads and involve a commission. The Premium account is targeted at institutional clients.
This broker allows all types of trading styles (hedging, aggressive scalping, high speed trading) on a low latency platform.
Clients who are UK residents, may also opt for a spreadbetting account. The minimum initial deposit is £50, minimum contract size £1/point, leverage up to 200:1, spread from 0.8 points and no commission fees apply.
The Company. Security of Funds
ThinkMarkets is a FX and CFD brokerage serving both retail and institutional clients. It offers trading in wide range of financial instruments, including currency pairs, CFDs on indices, precious metals, commodities and cryptocurrencies. Since being founded in 2010 in New Zealand, the broker now has international presence with Clients in over 75 countries.
ThinkMarkets is a registered business name of TF Global Markets (Aust) Pty Ltd., authorised and regulated by the Australian Securities & Investments Commission (ASIC).
In order to serve EU-based clients, the broker has also set up a subsidiary in the United Kingdom – TF Global Markets (UK) Ltd. It is duly authorised and regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA).
London and Sydney are famous forex hubs, providing favorable conditions to both brokers and traders: the FIFO rule is not applicable, and there is no leverage cap.
The Australian and UK watchdog apply certain rules and requirements to license holders, the most important being the minimum capital requirements and clients’ money rule. Both ASIC and FCA-regulated brokers must keep client funds in segregated accounts, separated from the companies operating funds. In order to prove their good financial standing, UK-based brokerages must hold net tangible assets amounting to at least €730 000 and Australian ones – at least $ 1 million.
What is more, clients of UK brokers are covered the Financial Services Compensation Scheme (FSCS) coverage. In the event of a company insolvency, FSCS is able pay compensation up to a maximum of £50,000 per person per regulated entity. Besides, ThinkMarkets has launched an extra £1m insurance protection per client, underwritten by QBE Underwriting Limited and other participating syndicates at Lloyd’s of London.
Australian FX broker regulation, however, does not include any compensation scheme in case a licensed company becomes insolvent.
Trading Conditions
Minimum Initial Deposit
The minimum deposit for opening a trading account with ThinkMarkets is $250, which is average. In comparison, AxiTrader, which also holds FCA and ASIC licenses, requires $200.
Average spreads & Commissions
ThinkMarkets offers floating spreads, which vary by account category. The ones on the Standard account start at 0.8 pips on EUR/USD, which is on the upper end of average, while the ones on the Pro & Prime account are dramatically lower – from 0.0 pips on EUR/USD. The Pro account, however, involves a commission of $6 round turn, so trading costs amount to at least 0.6 pips for this pair, commission included, which is quite competitive pricing, as average costs per lot are below 1 pip.
In comparison, leading global AxiTrader provides variable spreads from 1.0 pips on its commission-free accounts, and ECN account holders use spreads starting from 0.0 pip on EUR/USD, plus a commission of $7 round turn. You may look up and compare real-time spreads of 15 leading brokers here.
Leverage
The maximum leverage rates at ThinkMarkets are up to 1:500. Such leverage is considered comparatively high, although many other FCA-and ASIC-regulated brokers offer similar or higher leverage rates. For instance, AxiTrader provides leverage up to 1:400, and XM – up to 1:888. You may check out a list of forex brokers offering leverage equal to or exceeding 1:500 can be viewed here.
Please, be advised that investing in over-the-counter derivatives with high leverage involves significant risks. Higher leverage levels may multiply your earnings on a small deposit, but they may also lead to losses, exceeding initial investments.
Trading Platforms
Like most forex brokers, ThinkMarkets supports the popular MetaTrader4 (MT4) platform. It is preferred by most traders, because it is equipped with user-friendly interface, advanced charting package, a number of technical indicators, extensive back-testing environment and a variety of Expert Advisors (EAs). Besides, traders can host their trading strategies on a VPS, available for free to anyone who deposits $2000 or more.
ThinkMarkets has partnered with MyFXBook to offer its clients refined social trading with their exclusive AutoTrade platform. Traders can copy trades directly into their ThinkMarkets MetaTrader 4 account with no hassle.
What is more, ThinkMarkets utilizes some advanced trading tools, such as Autochartist, Economic calendar and Reuters news feed.
Autochartist is an advanced tool for the automatic identification of trade opportunities in the form of Chart patterns, Fibonacci patterns, and Key Levels. Autochartist’s proprietary technology allows their search engines to monitor thousands of financial instruments 24 hours per day uncovering trade opportunities as they occur.
Yet another advantage of this broker is that it has placed the Equinox trading servers at the same location as its top tier 1 liquidity providers, which allows its clients to achieve extremely fast execution.
Promotions & Training
Lucrative promotions and bonuses are something else that you can expect to see regularly from ThinkMarkets.
At the time of writing this review, the broker offers Refer-a-Friend bonus of $50, and the referred person who opens a live account with ThinkMarkets, is also entitled to $50.
What’s more, ThinkMarkets offers access to FX University: a sophisticated online forex school suitable for absolute beginners, as well as for advanced traders. The best part is that you don’t need to worry about tuition fees, as FX University is completely free of charge. Free webinars on different topics are available on a weekly basis.
Methods of Payment
Clients of ThinkMarkets can make deposits to and withdrawals from their accounts via credit/debit cards, (Visa, MasterCard, Maestro), bank wire, Skrill, PayPal and Neteller. There are additional payment methods available in different countries.
ThinkMarkets enables clients to open accounts and deposit funds in USD, EUR, GBP, CHF and AUD.
ThinkMarkets is a well-regulated award-winning broker, offering trading in various currency pairs and CFDs on the renown MT4 platform, pretty attractive conditions, advanced trading options and fast execution speed.
Instead of the forex broker you can use Plus500, XM, eToro, Fxpro or AvaTrade forex brokers.
ThinkMarkets Review Conclusion
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