EightCap Review

‘Eightcap’ is a brand of Eightcap Pty Ltd, which was founded in 2009 and is regulated by the Australian Securities and Investment Commission (ASIC) under license number 391441. In addition, Eightcap Global Ltd (Vanuatu) is regulated by the Vanuatu Financial Services Commission company under register number 40377.

The company portfolio consists of over 40 currency pairs (major FX and minor FX), commodities (Gold, Silver and Oil), global indices, Australian shares and 4 cryptocurrencies. The spread for the EUR/USD pair starts at 1 pip for the Standard account and is close to zero for the Raw account. The company announces that quoted prices are aggregated from multiple liquidity providers that allows spreads to be nearly 0 pips.

There are two types of trading accounts that differ mainly in spreads and commissions. The Standard account provides commission free trade with spreads starting from 1 pip. The Raw account offers close to zero spreads at the expense of a trading fee of USD3.5 per lot traded. The minimum deposit amount is AUD100 for both accounts. Customers can fund their accounts by bank transfer, credit/debit card, Skrill, Neteller, UnionPay and Poli.

The company offers its services through two of the most widespread terminals – MetaTrader 4 (MT4) and MetaTrader 5 (MT5). MT4 has an intuitive and fully customizable trading interface and provides a smooth and efficient trading experience for all kinds of traders. Customers can automate their analysis and trading execution by using trading robots (expert advisors – EAs) and identify trends and entry and exit points using advanced charting tools. MT5 allows multi-asset trading including shares and cryptocurrencies. Here you can use the MQL5 Wizard to create your own EAs from blocks or develop ones in the MQL5 environment. MT5 also provides access to real-time financial news and an economic calendar. In addition to the desktop and mobile versions, you can trade through the MT5 web-based version without the need of any installation.

The Product Disclosure Statement document reveals that the close out process does not guarantee to prevent an account from running into negative equity. Trading leveraged products carries a risk of incurring losses more than the deposited funds. This means you are not covered by negative balance protection and you can lose more than you have deposited. The same document informs that the company is a market-maker, not a broker, and accordingly will always act as the principal for its own benefit in respect of all Forex or CFD transactions with clients. The company may conduct transactions to hedge the liability to you in respect of your Forex or CFD positions by undertaking transactions in the underlying products. Such trading activities may impact (positively or negatively) the prices at which you may trade Forex or CFD products. When you trade with a market maker, you are always involved in a conflict of interest. The document also shows that limit orders and stop orders are not guaranteed and the execution of such orders will depend on market volatility and liquidity. A stop order will be executed at or near the exchange rate requested by the client but is not guaranteed at the exact level. Accordingly, stop orders may not limit your losses to the exact amounts specified. In other words, stop loss orders are not guaranteed. In addition, market orders are subject to slippage. It is written that in fast-moving or illiquid markets ‘gapping’ may occur and you may not be able to open a new position at the price at which you have placed your order.

We can say that Eightcap is an Australian company that is regulated by the ASIC and provides competitive trading conditions (narrow spreads and low minimum deposit, MT4 and MT5 terminals). However, you are not covered by negative balance protection and will deal with a market maker. The conflict of interest is that when you lose, the company wins.