Basel Capital Markets (BCM) Review

baselcapitalmarkets.de briefly

Basel Capital Markets is a brand owned and operated by Leverate Financial Services Ltd, which is a registered Cyprus company and is licensed by the Cyprus Securities and Exchange Commission (CySEC). Customers can trade CFDs on currency pairs, indices, commodities, and shares via the world’s most popular trading terminals – MetaTrader 4 (MT4) and Sirix Webtrader. The minimum initial deposit is EUR5,000.

Regulation

It is essential to know if the company is regulated and by which authority. Basel Capital Markets is operated by Leverate Financial Services Ltd, a Cyprus Investment Firm (CIF) with company registration number HE 290182, authorized and regulated by the Cyprus Securities and Exchange Commission (CySEC) under license number 167/11. The company ensures the safety of client funds and consumer protection under the Markets in Financial Instruments Directive (MiFID). Clients’ funds are transferred to the company’s segregated client bank account. BCM maintains client and operational bank accounts with major EU banking institutions. The company is a member of the Investor Compensation Fund (ICF), which ensures that all clients will be compensated in the unlikely event of the company becoming insolvent or having to suspend its services.

Account Types

There are four types of live trading accounts you can open with Basel Capital Markets that differ in the required deposit amount and the size of the commissions.

Silver Account – The minimum deposit amount is EUR5,000. You have access to the MetaTrader 4 platform and receive up to 10% discount on trading commissions.

Gold Account – The minimum required deposit amount is EUR10,000. You have access to all available platforms and receive up to 25% discount on trading commissions.

Platinum Account – You must invest at least EUR50,000 to open this type of account and will receive up to 40% discount on trading commissions. You get all the features of the Gold account plus the ability to be credited in the event of margin call.

Diamond Account – The required deposit is not revealed and is negotiable. You receive up to 60% discount on trading commissions and some VIP services.

What Type of Broker the Company is?

The Order Execution Policy file informs that the company provides the service of reception and transmission of client orders but also executes the orders received. BCM may execute an order under the following capacities:

– Dealing on own account: a transaction where the company may be acting purely to action its own proprietary trades or may be acting on own account with a view to filling orders received from a client; dealing on own account with clients is considered as the execution of client orders;

– Matched Principal: a transaction where the company puts itself between the buyer and the seller to the transaction in such a way that is never exposed to market risk throughout the execution of the transaction; in this instance, the company is acting as the main execution venue, as principal and the sole counterparty to its clients’ orders; mainly for risk mitigation purposes, the company may hedge some or all of its exposure in certain assets with its liquidity provider(s) in accordance with its hedging strategy, thereby transferring the market risk to another counterparty;

In those cases, where the company acts as principal and not as agent on the client’s behalf, the company will be the sole execution venue for the execution of its clients’ orders. All this means that the company acts as a market maker. When customer orders are transmitted for execution using the Straight Through Processing (STP) model, there is no major conflict of interest. In any other case it keeps the risk to itself and the conflict of interest exists. Any loss to customers is a gain for the company.

The same file warns about the slippage. This is the situation when at the time that an order is presented for execution, the specific price shown on the client’s terminal may not be available and the order will be executed close to or a number of pips away from the requested price. Slippage is a normal phenomenon during the period of low liquidity or high volatility, the company says. About the stop loss orders – once the market reaches the stop loss price, the order is triggered and treated as a market order. This means that stop loss orders are also subject to slippage and will be filled at the next available market price; Therefore, stop loss orders are not guaranteed.

The Terms and Conditions document shows that the company applies a Negative Balance Protection Policy pursuant to which, you may not lose more than the amount deposited in your account. If a position is closed at such a price causing your equality to fall below zero, the company shall waive its right to receive the balance from you.

Fees

In addition to usual fees such as spread(s), mark-up(s), commission(s) and swap(s), there also is an inactivity fee. If the client did not trade or conducted any trade during three calendar months, then the account status will be “inactive”. The company has the right to charge a fixed payment of GBP/USD/EUR50 per month, depending on the trading account’s currency as “Inactivity Fee”. The payment usually commences at the end of each calendar month and it will continue for as long as the client’s trading account remains inactive. For inactive accounts with available balance less than GBP/USD/EUR50, the company reserves the right to charge a lower amount for inactivity fee.

The state of inactivity leads to administrative fees and their size will be within GBP/USD/EUR50-300 depending on the inactivity period. An account is considered as ‘dormant’ in the absence of any account activity for a period of 60 consecutive days.

Another fee that may be charged to you is related to a refund request. The company may impose a charge of GBP/USD/EUR200 if the chargeback case is in favor of the company. In addition, if the company receives several chargebacks from the same client, the company has the right to impose a fee of GBP/USD/EUR200 per chargeback.

Please, be aware that the company will charge a fixed amount of GBP/USD/EUR50 for any amounts left in the account before its termination.

Deposits and Withdrawals

Customers can use several deposit methods such as bank transfer, credit/debit cards, and alternative payment methods such as Neteller, Skrill and Safecharge. The minimum deposit/withdrawal amount is USD5, the company says. However, the company will charge a deposit fee at an amount up to GBP/USD/EUR50 on bank wire transfers.

All deposits are instant, except for the bank transfers. Standard bank wire within the EU takes 3 working days. Bank wires to some countries may take up to 5 working days. The company accepts bank transfers in EUR, GBP, USD, and CHF. If the deposit currency is other than the base currency in the trading account, it will be converted by multiplying by the ECB rate minus 0.0050.

Withdrawals must be made by the same payment method with which the customer’s trading account is credited. All withdrawal requests will be completed within 24 working hours; however, all withdrawal requests submitted will be instantly reflected in the clients’ trading account as pending withdrawals. All client withdrawal requests shall be processed in the currency in which the deposit was originally made. The company will charge a withdrawal fee of 2.5% on debit/credit cards and e-wallets regardless of the withdrawal amount. It also will charge a withdrawal fee at an amount up to GBP/USD/EUR50 on bank transfers. Lastly, the company will charge a withdrawal fee at an amount of GBP/USD/EUR50 if there is no trading activity in the client’s account prior to the withdrawal request.

Trading Platforms

Customers can trade through one of the most widespread trading terminals in the industry – MetaTrader 4 (MT4). You can trade financial instruments, analyzing financial markets, using automated trading plug-ins utilize trading strategies. There are many order types available and you can place them directly from the charts. In addition, MT4 can automatically copy deals of other traders. You just should select an investor to follow and the platform will mirror all the investor’s deals. The platform is ready for automated trading mode using available and custom expert advisors (EAs).

In addition, the company offers another popular platform – Sirix. It has a friendly interface and offers one-click order execution, intuitive workspace and easy access to technical indicators and chart analysis. Sirix is available on Web, Desktop & Mobile devices.

Assets

Forex – More than 40 major, minor, and exotic currency pairs can be traded. The typical spread for the EUR/USD pair is 2.3 pips.

Indices – Clients can trade 7 of the major indices globally. They include DAX, NASDAQ100, S&P500, FTSE100 etc. The average value of the spread for the DAX index is about 5.5 points and for the DJIA index it is 20 points.

Commodities – 3 commodities are available – Gold, Silver, and Crude Oil. The average spread for the Gold is USD0.44 and for the Crude Oil it is USD0.021.

Shares – You can trade 190 European and 100 US shares.

Summary

Base Capital Markets is a brand of Leverate Financial Services Ltd, which has a CySEC regulation. It allows the company to provide financial services across European Union. It may use the STP model for client orders, but it may also act as a market maker, being a counterparty. The company provides a wide range of trading instruments via the popular trading terminals MT4 and Sirix. There are 4 different types of accounts that differ in the required deposit amount and the size of the commissions. The minimum initial deposit is EUR5,000. Keep in mind the applicable fees.