TaoTrade Review

TaoTrade is a brand name of Vie Finance A.E.P.E.Y, S.A. It is a registered Greek Investment Firm, that is authorized and licensed by the Hellenic Capital Market Commission (HCMC), with license number 4/792/20.7.2017. Vie Finance A.E.P.E.Y, S.A. operates in accordance with the Markets in Financial Instruments Directive (MiFID) of the European Union.

Trading assets include over 40 currency pairs, 17 commodities (agricultural products, energy products, precious metals, industrial metals, and soft commodities), indices, and shares. You can find spreads of the instruments under the Financial products section where we see that the spread for the EUR/USD pair is 3 pips, which is at the higher range of values. 

TaoTrade has developed its own trading platform. The web version is called Web PROfit, while the smartphone version is Mobile PROfit.The company describes it as a terminal with a friendly interface, suitable for both beginners and experienced traders. It provides all the tools needed for trading including daily news and analysis. TaoTrade announces this is the easiest trading platform among global investors.

The company provides seven types of retail accounts that differ in the initial amount of the deposit and the offered spreads (here this is described as a price discount). The minimum deposit for a Basic account is USD200, while the VIP+ account requires at least USD50,000 and the spread discount will be 60%, the company claims. Customers can fund their account by bank transfer, credit/debit cards, PayPal and Klarna.

The Service Agreement document reveals that all retail clients are covered by negative balance protection. It is written: “The Company shall provide the Retail Client with Negative Balance protection so that the Client shall not lose more than the total sum invested for trading CFDs and there can be no residual loss or obligation to provide additional funds beyond those in the Client’s Trading Account.” The same document informs that the company acts as an agent and not as a principal on the client’s behalf, and the company’s sole Execution Venue for the execution of clients’ orders for financial Instruments is Depaho Ltd. This means TaoTrade uses the Straight Through Processing (STP) model to fulfill client’s orders and it is not a market maker. Transmitting each client’s order implies the absence of the main conflict of interest related to the customer’s losses.

We can also find out that under certain trading conditions it may be impossible for the company to execute pending orders (Stop Loss, Take Profit, Buy Limit, Buy Stop, Sell Limit, and Sell Stop) on any financial Instrument at the declared price. In this case, the company reserves the right at its sole discretion, to execute the order at the next best available price. This may occur, for example: during volatile markets where prices may be moving significantly up or down and away from the declared price, during news, etc. This means stop loss orders are not guaranteed and can be filled at the first available market price.

The same document also shows that slippage may occur when trading CFDs and this is a normal element when trading financial instruments. This happens when at the time that an order is presented for execution, the specific price displayed in the platform is not available and the order will be filled at the next best available price from the client’s requested price.

Overall, TaoTrade is a HCMC-regulated brokerage company that uses an STP model for order execution and provides negative balance protection for its retail clients. The company offers its own trading platform and there are many instruments available. However, trading conditions are less competitive, and you must invest a relatively high initial deposit amount to receive decent spreads.