IFX Brokers Review

Ifxbrokers.com briefly

IFX Brokers is a trading name of IFX Brokers Holdings (Pty) Ltd which was founded in 2016 and currently is regulated by the Financial Sector Conduct Authority (FSCA) in South Africa. The company is headquartered in Sandton and provides access to global markets for retail and institutional customers, offering a wide range of asset classes. The company uses Electronic Communication Network (ECN) to connect clients directly to the liquidity providers and all orders are sent to them via the Straight Through Processing (STP) model, the company claims. Customers can trade CFDs on currency pairs, indices, and commodities via the well-known trading terminal – MetaTrader 4 (MT4). The minimum initial deposit is EUR100.

Regulation

The regulation of the brokerage company is one of the most important things that determine whether a client will open an account there. IFX Brokers is a trading name of IFX Brokers Holdings (Pty) Ltd, which has a registration number 2017/027249/07. The company is regulated by the Financial Sector Conduct Authority (FSCA) to provide financial services under number 48021. Client funds are kept separate in a segregated account and are monitored daily.

Account Types

There are three types of live accounts that differ mainly in the spread offered and the required minimum deposit amount.

IFX STANDARD – You must invest at least USD100 to open it and the spread for the EUR/USD pair will start at 0.8 pips. This account can have ZAR, USD, GBP, and EUR as a base account currency. All offered instruments can be traded here commission free.

IFX ISLAMIC – This account has the same properties as the IFX STANDARD but is swap free.

IFX RAW – The minimum required deposit amount is USD250. The spread for the EUR/USD pair starts at 0.3 pips at the expense of a USD3 commission per lot traded for opening and closing a position. This account can only be opened in USD as the base currency. All currency pairs, Gold and Silver are available for trading.

What Type of Broker the Company is?

The Client Agreement file shows that IFX Brokers shall act as agent of the client (principal) when receiving and transmitting orders. The company will be transmitting customer orders for execution to other financial institutions or brokers, and such brokers may be transmitting the orders received by us to other liquidity providers. It derives its revenue as a fixed share of the spread regardless of the customer’s winning or losing deals. For any orders placed with the company, it shall act as an agent and not as a principal on the client’s behalf. This means that IFX Brokers uses the Straight Through Processing (STP) model to execute customer orders, hedging all risk with its liquidity providers. Therefore, there is no conflict of interest, and the company earns money only from the spread and commissions.

The same file warns about the occurrence of slippage. It is written that under certain trading conditions it may be impossible for the company to transmit orders (including stop loss orders) at the declared price. In this case the Company has the right to transmit the order for execution or change the opening (closing) price of the transaction at a first market price. This may occur, for example, at times of rapid price movement. In the case of such an event, the order will be executed at the next best price. As a result, placing such an order will not necessarily limit your losses to the fully intended amounts because market conditions may make it impossible to execute such an order at the stipulated price. The executed price may vary significantly from original requested price. ‘Slippage’ is a normal market practice under certain conditions such as illiquidity and volatility due to news announcements. In other words, stop loss orders are not guaranteed.

The Client Agreement also shows that CFDs trading service carriers a high level of risk and can result in losses that exceed your initial deposit. This means that there is no Negative Balance Protection, and, in the end, you may owe money to this company.

Fees

In addition to usual fees there also is an inactivity fee. The company reserves the right to charge a fixed payment of USD50 every three months for account maintenance if the account has these available funds. If the client account is funded with less than USD50 and has been inactive for this period, the company reserves the right to charge a lower amount to cover administrative expenses. It is in the company’s discretion to close any open deals after an inactivity period of 90 days of such deals. In addition, hedging positions may incur an administration fee of 0.1% of the complete volume (deal plus hedge position) in US Dollars per day and the company retains the right to close any hedged positions after 21 days without any further notice.

Deposits and Withdrawals

Customers can use several deposit methods such as wire transfer, credit/debit cards, and alternative payment methods such as PayFast, iPAY and PayU. The minimum first deposit depends on the account type and the payment method and is in the range of USD100 and USD250. The company covers each deposit fee.

Withdrawals must be made by the same payment method with which the customer’s trading account is credited. All withdrawals are processed immediately but these for international clients can take up to 5 working days. Credit card withdrawals are limited to the original deposit amount. Withdrawals exceeding this amount require a different withdrawal method. Should an account, funded by credit card, be subject to a withdrawal within the first 60 days it will be refunded to that credit card only.

Trading Platforms

Customers can trade through one of the most comprehensive trading terminals in the world – MetaTrader 4 (MT4). MT4 is reliable and secure, with a customizable and user-friendly interface. IFX Meta Trader 4 provides enhanced charting functionality, comprehensive analysis, and advanced order management tools. The platform is ready for automated trading mode using available and custom expert advisors (EAs). MT4 can be downloaded for Windows OS or can be launched in any major browser. It is also available as a mobile application for iOS and Android devices.

Assets

Stratton Markets offers near 300 instruments for online trading.

Forex – popular major, minor, and exotic currency pairs can be traded. The typical spread for the EUR/USD pair is 0.8 pips in the Standard account and 0.3 pips in the Raw account.

Indices – Clients can trade 15 of the major and minor indices globally, such as DAX, ASX200, IBEX35, DJIA.

Commodities – 5 grain products, 3 energy products and 3 precious metals are available such as Gold, Oil and Coffee.

Data Servers

The company claims it uses multi-tiered, best bid/ask aggregation technology to execute trades, associating with Equinix concern, whose data centers are in New York and London. The Equinix high performance data center consists of a high-tech network of execution venues, bank trading servers and buy/sell side firms. IFX Brokers is linked to Equinix via the Equinix Financial eXchange, providing access to the most extensive selection of low-latency networks; therefore, the company can directly exchange data with its customers.

Summary

IFX Brokers has a South African regulation, which allows the company to provide financial services globally. It uses the STP model for client orders, transmitting each of them to its liquidity providers for execution. The company provides a wide range of trading instruments (mostly currency pairs) via the most popular trading terminal. There are 3 different types of accounts and if you want to trade with narrower spreads, you need to open a Raw account, where a commission is applied. The minimum initial deposit is USD100.