GigaFX review

GigaFX is a Forex broker claiming to have offices in the UK, Germany, and Estonia. We looked into the broker’s services in order to determine whether or not their features match the industry standards in the region. Currently, the maximum leverage available is 1:200, minimum deposits are 250 EUR. The spread according to the company is a fixed rate of 0.7. Unfortunately, however, there was nothing we could find about regulation. GigaFX is also owned by a company based in the Dominican Republic. In this GigaFX review, we will try to determine whether or not that lack of regulation is a crippling disadvantage of the company or if it just a simple misunderstanding.

GigaFX Review

The first impressions of the website were quite nice, to be honest. The layout of the design was thought through and the information we needed to gather was quite easy. However, we started suspecting the GigaFX fraud after we scrolled down to the footer of the website. In the footer, you can easily see that the company is providing contact information for Estonian, UK and German offices. However, you may also find out that the company is currently owned by Four Square International Ventures Ltd. A company that is registered in the Dominican Republic. This is where we thought that they may be regulated locally, but nothing would come up. The company has no license to operate within the EU whatsoever.

The Leverage

The leverage is quite easy to find out about. Just a quick glance at the Account Options displays that the maximum amount is 1:200. This is where we find the biggest contradiction, however. The company says they have offices located in the UK, Estonia, and Germany as well. Which would make you think that they are compliant to ESMA regulations. They actually state that they are compliant to all MiFID frameworks, however, they still offer this high leverage. As you may know, ESMA put forward restrictions on leverage. Restricting brokers to offer no more than 1:30 on currency pairs. Can GigaFX be trusted when it is offering more? This all boils down to them completely ignoring the MiFID regulations. A serious case for the GigaFX scam.

Deposits & Withdrawals

As already mentioned the minimum deposit on the platform is EUR 250, which is nothing too weird as it is an industry standard in Europe. What we need to discuss is GigaFX withdrawals, meaning we need to find out how long it takes to take your assets out o the platform and what are the ways to do it.

Depending on the way you want to withdraw your funds it may take different amounts of time. For example, if you request a withdrawal on your credit card it will take 15 business days. GigaFX withdrawals team will have to process it for 5 business days and the bank may take 10 business days. This is a terrible disadvantage. The majority of the best Forex brokers take no more than 5-7 business days to transfer your funds to your credit card. having to wait 3 weeks is a massive disadvantage with GigaFX.

The brokerage justifies it with security. But if you research thoroughly you’ll see that the amount of personal data they collect from you, should not have any additional restrictions when trying to withdraw. By providing your ID number, passport or driver’s license, you should already have all the clearance to your account. Unfortunately, this is another huge minus in this GigaFX review.

GigaFX trading tools

In terms of trading tools, we believe that GigaFX has more than enough resources. They provide their customers with assets like Indices, Commodities, currency pairs and even stocks. All of which can be traded on MT4, WebTrader or MobileTrader. We have to give credit where credit is due, the trading tools on GigaFX are quite good. But the fact that they could be lying about their base of operations is a very hard disadvantage to counter. Just having software that can just be bought, isn’t going to cut it.

Can GigaFX be trusted?

We delved on the question for quite long. The first impressions you get from the company aren’t too bad. The moment you see the website they look sophisticated and well-structured. But as soon as you start digging at least a little bit, you find a lot of contradictions. Like the fact that they claim to abide by MiFID regulations, while clearly violating them. As well as their lack of regulation and potential off-shore base of operations. So, is GigaFX legit?

At this point, it is too early to confirm a GigaFX scam. But whether they are a scam or not, the fact that they could be off-shore based is already a red alert. Our advice is to stay away from this company and find a European one that complies with the local regulations.