Read our IGI Markets review to see if this broker is a scam or legit. Just to clear doubts, this is a igimarkets.com review.
IGI Markets Review
Choosing an online broker is a major decision for any trader because they play a vital role in your trading experience. You get access to the financial markets via the broker you sign up with and they provide you the platform that you use for your trading activities. They also offer the trading conditions that impact your bottom line and provide the tools you use for decision-making purposes. Suffice it to say, they can make a big difference, so you should not choose one in a hurry. That’s how most people do it and it results in disaster because they end up with a broker highlighted in this IGI Markets review.
The fact is that not every broker in the financial markets can offer you the same quality of services. There are some truly upstanding and professional companies that can be found, but there are also mediocre ones that offer their services. In fact, some of them are quite incompetent and may not be able to provide decent services at all. But, there is another category of platforms that you have to be wary of and that is of fraudulent and scam brokerages that have become widespread in the market.
You will find tons of stories and incidents where people lost their hard-earned money, not because they made bad trading moves, but because they chose a bogus platform. The reason people fall for these companies is because they don’t appear to be very different from genuine companies. However, this similarity is only restricted to appearance because when you look beneath the surface, you will find that the fake ones cannot hold their story together. It starts coming off the seams, so you will be able to see their reality.
This also happens when you decide to give IGI Markets a closer look. On the surface, the broker appears to be a forex and CFD broker that claims to be the broker of choice for traders all over the globe. This is because it is offering beneficial trading conditions and very low spreads. Also, you will find that it claims to have its offices in Zurich, Switzerland that is aimed at giving the company more credibility. But, you will discover that it seems to have all the hallmarks of a scam. What are they? Check them out below:
No licensing and regulation
The best way to identify a genuine brokerage is to check its license and its regulatory status. Nine times out of time, authentic companies will have a license to offer their services in the jurisdiction where they are based. This license reassures traders because it means that the broker complies with laws and rules and maintains high standards when it comes to quality of services and transparency. You need to ensure that IGI Markets is also licensed and regulated before you sign up.
As mentioned above, it says it is based in Zurich, Switzerland and this is impressive because Switzerland is one of the most regulated jurisdictions in the world. The Swiss Financial Market Supervisory Authority (FINMA) is also renowned as one of the best regulatory authorities worldwide. Therefore, a license from them is considered quite valuable. Unfortunately, a check of their online register does not show IGI Markets listed anywhere.
This means that either IGI Markets is operating illegally from Switzerland because it clearly does not have a license, or there is a possibility that it is lying about where it is based. In addition, the fact that it seems to have chosen its name that resembles that of one of the leading brokers in the forex industry called IG is also a warning sign because it could be trying to pull off a cloning scam.
Malicious bonus policy
Another feature that can help you see that IGI Markets is nothing more than a scam is the fact that it has a malicious bonus policy. Firstly, the fact that the broker is offering trading bonuses is a major problem because this practice has been banned in most of the jurisdictions. This was primarily because these bonuses came with strings attached that you can see in the bonus policy of this broker as well.
You should note that Switzerland is part of the European Union, where offering trading bonuses is prohibited. Yet, IGI Markets is still offering bonuses, which is further confirmation that the broker is not based there at all. Furthermore, when you check out their bonus policy, you will find that they do not permit their clients to make a withdrawal from their account until they fulfill the terms of the bonus.
These terms usually come in the form of a minimum trading volume requirement that has to be fulfilled and is deliberately kept as such that it is impossible to achieve. It is interesting to note that IGI Markets has also stated that it can change their bonus policy at any time, which means that if you come close to achieving the requirement, they will change it.
Offer of managed accounts
If you want further proof of scam, all you have to see is that IGI Markets is offering managed accounts to their clients. This means they ask you to deposit funds in your account and they will do the trading on your behalf. Why is this a problem? It is an issue because by their nature, online brokers tend to be market makers. This means that they make profits when their clients lose trades.
Thus, a broker cannot offer managed accounts because they will only make trades in which you lose and they can profit. This is a conflict of interest for IGI Markets and shows that it is not being honest.
Ending Thoughts
Along with these issues, you will find that the trading platform that IGI Markets is offering is a basic, oversimplified one that has nothing special to offer. They are also not telling the truth about the payment methods available and the excessive leverage levels also show that they are a scam.
