Cryptocurrencies have become an integral part of the financial world. From 2008 up until this point, they have penetrated almost every industry and every aspect of our lives.
One of the main areas in this sense is online trading. Since a massive surge in Bitcoin’s price in 2017, people have suddenly realized that the digital coins are volatile enough to be lucrative in an exchange. It wasn’t long before various crypto trading brokerages emerged.
But while some of them credible and trustworthy, there were even more scam brokerages that wanted to steal their funds. Unfortunately, it’s quite easy to set up a brokerage and attract many clients with seemingly exciting trading conditions.
To help you make a correct decision, we have prepared yet another broker review where we’re going to check all the offerings and trading conditions of KontoFX brokerage and answer the question: can KontoFX be trusted?
Initial overview
KontoFX is an Estonia-based company that offers traders to trade with different CFDs and a big variety of cryptocurrencies. The brokerage was established by NTMT Transformatic Market OU, the company is registered in Estonia but operates from the headquarters in the capital city of Hungary – Budapest. The company first appeared on the Forex trading market only in 2018. Many KontoFX reviews suggest that the company is a scam since they are not regulated. And the customer reviews we found online seem to be suggesting the same thing.
The biggest implication of having no license is the freedom to do all the nasty things to the customers. Since there’s no financial obligation, KontoFX can involve its clients into various scams and Ponzi schemes and be more or less sure that no government will hold it responsible. But being unlicensed isn’t sufficient motive to consider KontoFX a scam. Let’s dive deeper to either enforce or undermine this hypothesis.
KontoFX.com review
The best place to find out what the company offers is surely the website. Let’s start from the technical side. We cannot help but notice that the KontoFX broker website looks a bit overcomplicated with heavy images and transition effects. It’s as if the broker’s trying to show off with flashy decorations in order to divert visitors’ attention from shady aspects. But we cannot be sure.
As for the informative side of the website, we have to admit that the three-language support – English, Spanish, and German – is definitely an advantage for the broker. Not only that, thematic sections are pretty intuitively separated from one another and cover everything important about trading, account types, or financial platforms.
On top of that, there’s also an educational content that describes how to trade CFDs and cryptocurrencies, how various tools and indicators work, etc. All in all, we can definitely acknowledge the amount of work the broker has put into creating the website, yet we also need to mention the parts where this effort is a bit over-the-top.
KontoFX WebTrader
In this review, we should also mention the web trading platform that is accessible on the website. KontoFX WebTrader is specially designed for the broker’s customers. An individual can trade directly on the site, there is no need to download and install any additional software. The web-based platform is also accessible from most of the devices as it does not require Flash to run.
The WebTrader has some of the most needed features to help the customers trade more successfully. Features include the competitive spreads, 3 types of order execution, advanced analytical tools and more importantly 50 indicators and tools that are built-in in the digital trading platform. That’s all the good stuff about the software. Now, let’s talk about why we think it’s a little bit suspicious as well.
You see, the common trading programs such as MT4, MT5, and cTrader have a substantial consumer base that actively monitors all the processes going on the platform. This way, there are fewer chances for the brokers to plant their schemes into the platform; although, this doesn’t mean that scams are completely absent from these platforms.
In terms of the proprietary software, the broker is the main moderator of the program and there’s not a large consumer base overlooking the processes. This way, there’s enough headroom to plant all the Ponzi schemes into the platform. Again, this is just a speculation but when combined with other above-mentioned details, our KontoFX scam suspicions start to take a dangerous shape.
KontoFX accounts
The customers of KontoFX can have one or several accounts with them. There are three account types available. For all of them, the currency is either EUR or GBP depending on the wish of the customer. KontoFX accounts are designed in a way that it can be suitable for traders with different level of experience. The self-trading account the broker offers is a standard account where the users are trading on their own. It is suitable for experienced traders as well as beginners. The self-trading account is where the users let the robot with advanced artificial intelligence trade instead of them. As for the Social trading account, it allows users to copy the top traders and take the same positions as them.
One small detail to mention here is that these accounts are more similar to one another in trading offerings than different. All of them have the same leverage ratios, same spreads, and bonuses. Therefore, we don’t think it’s actually worth paying extra cash to get more advanced accounts.
Deposit and withdrawal
Moving on, let’s talk about the financial platforms and how you can deposit and withdraw your funds. When making a minimum 250 euro/pound deposit to your account balance, you can either use credit cards – Visa, Mastercard, Maestro – or bank wire. Unlike withdrawals, deposits take no time and happen instantaneously.
However, KontoFX withdrawals are more complicated. Traders need to apply for a withdrawal first and wait for the team to green-light that application. This can sometimes take up to seven days to complete.
Now, if the broker were to use cryptocurrencies as a payment option, or even PayPal, things would have been much better. The transaction speeds on the blockchain are much faster and much more secure. And the reason why we’re saying this is that KontoFX is, as you already know, a crypto trading brokerage. Therefore, not having its own assets to make deposits/withdrawals is a bit strange.
KontoFX bonus and other promotions
Not to bee to critical about the broker, let’s take a look at some benefits one can expect with KontoFX. First things first, the broker has a 15% bonus that open positions for exotic cryptocurrencies such as Neo, Stellar, Tether, Monero, and many more.
As for trading assets, KontoFX offers a wide selection of the cryptocurrencies. Currently, customers have access to over 50 cryptocurrencies that include common digital currencies and exotic ones as well.
The 2-star rating in the sub-title suggests that we’re not content with the current promotions offered on KontoFX. Here’s why: We have mentioned above that KontoFX has the ability to provide high leverage to its customers which is 1:200. That’s because the broker is unregulated and has no obligatory leverage caps. However, we have to note that large leverages aren’t always the best: this feature can increase both profits and losses. In terms of cryptocurrencies, where the market is very volatile, large leverage ratios are even riskier than in Forex or any other market. That’s why we think that it’s not the best idea to offer 1:200 leverage.
KontoFX support
A professional customer support team is an essential part of every good Forex broker, but we can’t necessarily say that KontoFX left a good impression. Customer service is available for anyone in three languages and is reachable during working days – from Monday to Friday. The support team is available on hours when the market is open – from 05:00 – 22:00 GMT. An individual can get needed information and support for any kind of issue via an Email address, phone number or live chat.
Unfortunately, though, the email and chat options take way too long to respond, and calling the broker directly is never the first choice of any trader. Besides, it would be a much better idea to offer 24/7, or even 24/5 service time to the clients.
KontoFX rating
In a nutshell, what do we think about the broker and is the KontoFX fraud real? To give a short answer, we think that it’s a realistic possibility.
First, we explored the licensing part which, in reality, is non-existent. KontoFX is an unregulated brokerage and can do whatever it wants with impunity. Then we reviewed the website which, even though the informative side is pretty decent, lacks the professional look and is stuffed with unnecessary visual effects.
After that, we stopped at the WebTrader software and deduced that the proprietary system has many disadvantages and is much easier to put various machinations in it.
Then we took a look at financial platforms, various promotions, and trading assets, and also deduced that there are too many suspicious details about this platform.
So, compiling all of the information we’ve gathered about the company, it’s relevant to believe that it doesn’t a good impression from its leverage, spread options and the diversity in account types.
Plus, the combination of the clear lack of regulation and a laggy customer support team is a large hit to the KontoFX rating in the end.
Therefore, we cannot recommend KontoFX to anyone who wants to trade cryptocurrencies or crypto CFDs. You know what they say: It’s better to be safe than sorry!