VT Markets is a trade name of VT Markets Pty Ltd. The company is authorised representative of Vantage Global Prime Pty Ltd., which is authorised and regulated by the Australian Securities & Investments Commission (ASIC) under license number 428901.
Trading assets include 40 currency pairs, 10 global indices, 20 commodities (Gold, Silver, Oil, Cocoa, Coffee, Sugar, etc.) and almost 60 US and HK shares.
Customers can trade through the MetaTrader 4 (MT4) terminal – the most popular online trading platform in the world. The company announces MT4 becomes more powerful when it is connected to its deep liquidity pools via the custom made oneZero™ MT4 Bridge. The company announces that traders who use the VT MARKETS MT4 platform receive substantial improvements in execution speed and a transparent price feed across all asset classes. There are many forex robots (expert advisors) available that can be installed directly from the MT4 terminal and run from a dedicated server that is connected to VT Markets’ global servers via an optical network.
The minimum deposit amount is USD200, spreads for major currency pairs are close to zero and the leverage can be up to 1:400. Australian brokers are not required to comply with similar requirements as those imposed by ESMA and can still offer much higher leverage rates. However, higher leverage is usually much riskier and leads to faster and larger losses. Customers can fund their accounts by bank transfer, credit/debit card, Neteller, Skrill and Poli.
The Terms and Conditions document shows that pending orders are filled as soon as possible at the price obtainable in the market. Limit and stop Orders are therefore not guaranteed executable at the specific level or amount. Stop loss orders may not limit your losses to the exact amounts specified. Market orders are subject to slippage and also are filled at the first available price. The CFD PDS document reveals that you may incur losses to the extent of your total exposure to the company and any additional fees and charges that apply. These losses may be far greater than the money that you have deposited into your account. This means that retail customers are not covered by protection against a negative balance and they may lose more than the money in their account. It is also written: “In particular, Vantage Global Prime is a market maker, not a broker, and accordingly will always act as principal for its own benefit in respect of all Margin FX and CFD transactions with you. Vantage Global Prime may conduct transactions to hedge its liability to you in respect of your Positions by undertaking transactions in the underlying products. Such trading activities may impact (positively or negatively) the prices at which you may trade the Products. As a market maker, the company is in direct conflict of interest with customers because it benefits when they lose. So, although the company claims to be acting as an STP broker, the documents suggest otherwise.
Overall, as a regulated company it must comply with the ASIC requirements. However, they are not so strict as for the EU brokerage companies. Here you are not covered by protection against a negative balance and if you trade with the highest leverage of 1:400, you are at high risk of loss. In addition, not so many trading instruments are available.