GBE brokers Review

GBE brokers Ltd. is regulated by the Cyprus Securities and Exchange Commission (CySEC) under CIF licence number 240/14. In addition to the registered head office in Limassol (Cyprus), the company has a branch in Hamburg, which is also authorized to provide investment services for trading in financial instruments.

The company portfolio consists of over 250 trading assets distributed in currency pairs, indices, commodities, metals, energies, cryptocurrencies, bonds, and shares. Live spreads for the most popular instruments are available on the homepage and the average spread for the EUR/USD pair is below 0.5 pips.

Customers can trade through the world’s leading trading platforms – MetaTrader 4 (MT4) and MetaTrader 5 (MT5). The platforms have a user-friendly interface, high stability, and a wide range of possibilities for market analysis. In addition, there are more than 50 technical indicators and many opportunities to use automated trading through expert advisors (EAs). MT4 offers the option of a simple programming language (MQL4 – MetaQuotes Language) to develop and apply custom built EAs. The MT5 terminal provides over 80 built-in technical indicators and analytical objects for detailed price analysis. Customers can trade with just one click with the option to execute orders directly from the price chart. There are more chart timeframes and more types of pending orders. The platform also has built-in Economic Calendar and Financial News modules. In addition, MT5 is equipped with a programming language (MQL5).

There are four types of accounts that differ in minimum deposit size and the spreads offered. The company announces that all trading styles are allowed (including scalping and news trading). The GBE Traditional account requires a minimum deposit amount of EUR1,000 and offers spreads for the major currency pairs starting at 0.7 pips. The GBE Raw account requires the same initial deposit – EUR1,000 but the spreads are close to zero (raw) at the expense of the commission of EUR3 per lot traded per side. You must invest at least EUR500 to open a GBE Traditional Plus account, and you will receive spreads from 2 pips. If you prefer raw spreads over a commission, you can open a GBE Raw Plus account. Here the commission is EUR8 per lot traded per side. Customers can fund their account by bank transfer, credit/debit cards, Skrill, and Neteller.

The Client Agreement document shows that the company will either receive the client orders and transmit them for execution to a third party available on the website; or may execute such order itself on a principal to principal (own account) basis, in which case it will be a counterparty. This means GBE brokers may decide to act either as an STP broker, or as a market maker. Acting as a market maker creates a conflict of interest because the company wins when customers lose. The same document reveals that all retail clients are covered by negative balance protection. All orders are subject to slippage and can be executed at the first available price. Stop orders are not guaranteed and it is written that the client agrees that placing a stop loss order will not necessarily limit losses to the intended amounts, because market conditions may make it impossible to execute such an order at the stipulated price and the company bears no responsibility whatsoever.

Overall, this is a strictly regulated European company that offers two of the most popular trading platforms – MT4 and MT5. The initial deposit amount is not so small (EUR500) but you will receive decent spreads for that. Retail clients are covered by negative balance protection. However, GBE brokers may act as a market maker whenever it decides. Usually this is not a big problem when the company is well regulated, but it leads to a conflict of interest.