Libra Markets Review

The forex market is a very profitable one and it offers people all over the world the opportunity of getting a high return on their investment. Yes, it is important for you to have knowledge of the market in order to trade profitably, but sometimes people still suffer losses. Why is that? This is due to the fact that they partner up with the wrong broker, which can lead to problems and losses in the long run. Thus, you have to be thorough in your search of finding a good broker because you are after a long-term relationship. Some people even sign up with two brokers because they don’t want to put all their eggs in one basket.

However, the key is to select one legitimate and reputable broker who can provide you with all possible services and features you need. Indeed, there are some online brokers that offer an all-encompassing solution and your focus should be on finding one. The issue occurs when you get attracted by the offerings of some unreliable and shady brokers. An excellent example is that of Libra Markets. This forex brokerage claims to be registered in Estonia and has drawn a number of traders due to some of its offerings.

It claims to offer its clients access to more than 250 financial instruments for trading, which is tempting for traders because it opens up the possibility of better risk management and portfolio diversification. As far as the specifics are concerned, you will find a wide range of currency pairs being offered by the broker and it has also CFDs available for precious metals, indices, numerous stocks and the newest cryptocurrencies as well. The fact that you need to remember here is that when something seems too good to be true, it should be considered a warning.

Offering a high leverage of 1:500 is another way that Libra Markets aims to appeal to traders out there. After all, such high leverages would be suitable for even the most aggressive of the traders out there. The problem is that such leverages can bring about a greater risk of losses. Brokers are aware of this fact and most of them do not offer their clients access to such high leverage option. In fact, regulated brokers are usually restricted to offer such leverages for different financial instruments. This is an indicator that LibraMarkets may not be regulated and is not working in the best interests of its clients.

The broker offers a regular account type and also some specialized account options for specific types of trading, such as Social trading and Robo Trading accounts. However, not much information is provided for these account types. Furthermore, the minimum deposit requirement of the broker is $250, which is quite high considering no other information is provided about its trading policies and withdrawals. The best brokers nowadays do not have such restrictions applicable, which automatically makes this a red alert for traders when they are considering signing up with LibraMarkets.

Nonetheless, these are not the only reasons why LibraMarkets may not be a good trader. Let’s take a look at some other factors that make the broker unsafe for trading:

The broker doesn’t seem to be regulated

If you check out the website of the broker, it will show that LibraMarkets is owned by a company called Yield Enterprise currency software, which is registered in Estonia and has an address in Harju Maakond, Kesklinna Linnaosa. But, it was further revealed that it was being operated by another company that’s working out of Riga, Latvia. The fact is that both Estonia and Latvia are member states of the European Union and online forex trading has been included as part of their regulatory framework.

This means that any financial services provider in these two areas need to be licensed by the Estonia Financial Services Authority (EFSA, which is also referred to as Finantsinspektsioon). If not, they need to be licensed by any other regulator in the EU. It turns out that this is not the case with LibraMarkets. This means that the broker is not regulated. A number of unregulated brokers opt to use Estonia as their location because it has developed a reputation of being somewhat liberal when it comes to trading activities and are hoping to take advantage of naïve or misinformed traders.

If that’s not enough, it should also be noted that Austrian Financial Markets Authority has also blacklisted Libra Markets. It is not allowed to carry out its operations in Austria, which further substantiates the fact that it is an unregulated broker.

The other brand of the broker’s parent company seems to be a scam

As mentioned above, LibraMarkets is owned by Yield Enterprise Currency Software and it turns out that it also owns another brokerage by the name of UproFX. This particular broker has also been banned by a number of regulators. Moreover, there have also been a lot of complaints by numerous clients about this broker and that it is running some sort of a fraudulent scheme. According to some traders, this broker is operated by the same people behind KontoFX, which is a proven scam.

The broker offers high fixed spreads

When it comes to spreads being offered by LibraMarkets, you will eventually discover that they are quite high. For instance, the benchmark spread for the EUR/USD pair is around 3 pips, which is extremely high when compared to other brokers in the market. The industry average for this pair is a pip and a half and they are charging double. Such a high leverage and lack of regulation of the broker indicates that any potential clients may be vulnerable to substantial risks.

The broker doesn’t offer MetaTrader trading platform

Libra Markets has introduced their own web-trading platform, which is extremely lightweight. But, the problem is that the platform seems more appropriate for binary options trading. It is excessively simple, which means that it lacks a variety of advanced features that can be found in other popular trading platforms used in the market, such as MetaTrader 4 and MetaTrader 5.

The best solution for all trading needs nowadays is the MetaTrader 4, but it is not available with LibraMarkets. The MT4 platform is equipped with excellent charting tools, 50 in-built marketing indicators and also offers support for automated trading sessions with the assistance of customizable trading bots called Expert Advisors.

The broker has limited deposit and withdrawal methods

When it comes to depositing and withdrawing funds, clients can only use traditional methods for doing so. This means your only option is to opt for wire transfer, Visa and MasterCard. LibraMarkets is not offering support for any popular e-wallets, such as Skrill, Neteller, WebMoney and more, which could be considered a disadvantage.

Furthermore, withdrawal processing usually takes about 10 days, minimum, which is a very long time. Also, the minimum amount that can be withdrawn is 500 USD/EUR. This is a problem because the minimum deposit requirement is $250 and you will not be able to make a withdrawal until you have earned $250 more. Hence your money may end up stuck with the broker.

Final Thoughts

When you decide to trade with an unregulated broker, it should be noted that the safety of your investment depends primarily on the integrity of the people who are operating these companies. Needless to add, most of these companies are just scammers as obvious in the case of LibraMarkets. The company behind the broker has other brokers as well and all of them have turned out to be scams. Therefore, it would be safe to say that LibraMarkets is also a fraud and cannot be deemed safe for trading.

The broker itself has not provided any information regarding its regulation, which means it is operating without licensing and regulation. This is a major risk because it means that your investment is at risk. If an unregulated broker goes bankrupt or is hacked, you will also suffer losses and will not be compensated by the broker. On the other hand, regulated brokers are required to provide protection to their customers and cannot impose any extra fee or charges. It is just another reason not to trust LibraMarkets.

Apart from that, the broker has not provided any contact details and other information about its history and background, which is also considered a warning. If the broker is not transparent about its whereabouts and operations, it cannot be trusted with your hard earned money. The lack of trading conditions and other information, unavailability of extensive withdrawal and deposit options, no details about trading fee or any other charges, absence of MetaTrader and high fixed spreads are solid reasons not to work with LibraMarkets for your trading.

You should always do your due diligence when it comes to a broker and ensure it is properly regulated before being drawn in by its offerings. The wide asset index offered by LibraMarkets is not a good reason to sign up with it when it puts you at risk in the long run.