IMS Markets Review

IMS Markets is a registered brand name of Initial Merit Secure Ltd (previously Nextrade Worldwide Ltd). It is licensed by the Cyprus Securities and Exchange Commission (CySEC) under license number 229/14.

Trading assets include 37 currency pairs, 5 commodities and 8 global indices. The average spread for the EUR/USD pair is 1.3 pips in the Classic account.

There are three types of account that differ mainly in the minimum deposit sum. The Classic account requires EUR250 to open and provides average spreads of 2 pips for major currency pairs. The commission is USD4 per lot traded. You must invest at least EUR2,000 to open a Gold account. The average spread for major currencies is 0.5 pips and the commission is USD8 per lot traded. The Premium account requires EUR10,000 to open. The average spread is 0.5 pips and you will be charged a commission of EUR5 per lot. All three accounts provide negative balance protection for retail clients. Customers can fund their accounts by bank transfer, credit/debit card, Skrill, and Neteller.

Clients can trade through one of the trendiest trading terminals of the world – MetaTrader 5 (MT5). Its easy-to-use functionality gives traders the greatest trading experience to reach the goals. There are several pre-installed technical indicators and strategies. MT5 is available for desktop computers with Windows, Mac, or Linux OS or as a mobile application for iOS and Android devices. MT5 WebTrader runs on every modern browser without the need to download anything.

The Terms and Conditions document shows that orders are filled at prices that, due to market volatility, may differ from the prices at which order has been activated. Execution may occur at a less favorable rate than that specified in the order. Customers bear the risk of execution of order at less favorable price than indicated in the order, in particular a stop loss order may not provide assumed limitation of loss on the open position. That means stop loss orders are not guaranteed and all orders are subject to slippage and may be filled at a different price. The Order Execution Policy document informs that for the purpose of transmitting orders for execution, the company acts as an agent on behalf of the client. The company will transmit an order it receives from the client to an associated entity, such as a third-party broker, for execution. However, the execution summary statement shows that the company acts as principal and not as an agent on the customer’s behalf; therefore, the company is the sole Execution Venue for the execution of the customer’s orders. That means the company uses the Straight Through Processing (STP) model but also acts as a market maker. Thus, the conflict of interest exists.

In general, the company is regulated by CySEC and must comply with strict ESMA requirements, which include reduced leverage and protection against negative balance. You can use the popular MT5 to trade manually and automatically. However, there are only a few trading instruments available and we cannot say what type of broker the company is. In addition, the spreads are not so narrow and there is no free commission account.