Blog | Elite Copytrading Forex Trading

Introduction

For this review, we will be talking about ZuluTrade. ZuluTrade is one of those trading services that are popular and has many users monthly. That’s because it’s fairly easy to create an account and it has seen some positive reviews over the years.

So for this Zulutrade review, we will be talking about a lot of things about what ZuluTrade is, how it got started, its ranking compared to other trading services, pros and cons, etc.

So without further ado, let’s talk about ZuluTrade.

What is ZuluTrade?

ZuluTrade is a Greek fintech company that was founded in 2007 by Leon Yonhai, with its main headquarters located in Athens, Greece. It is a Social Trading Platform, which is a trading platform that allows a trader to see the other traders trading strategies and habits, then copies their trading habits using copy trading or mirror investing. ZuluTrade uses various Trading strategies, like copy trading and crypto trading. It’s also very accommodating and quite easy to use, which is one of its main features.

Licenses and Regulations

ZuluTrade is a trading platform, it needs to have a license to operate. And because it’s main headquarters is based in Greece, they have obtained a Triple-A Experts SA License From the Hellenic Capital Market Commissions.

Availability

ZuluTrade is operating globally, offering the largest open-trading ecosystem out there. It also now has been regulated in the EU, United States of America, and Japan. And as of 2014, it has over 1 million users worldwide and an executed trading volume of USD 800 billion.

How ZuluTrade Works

ZuluTrade is a Social Trading Platform, but it also extends its platform to other forms of trading, like stocks, Forex, binary trading, crypto trading, etc. The platform then allows you to copy the trading strategies of one of the traders of the trade you choose.

Basically, Copy trading can be broken down into two categories: The Signal Providers and The Followers.

Signal Providers are the traders that are willing to let their strategies be copied by other traders. In exchange, they get compensation fees depending on the success of their strategies.

Followers are the ones that copy the strategies of the Signal Providers. They of course have to pay a compensation fee for copying an SPs Strategy, the price of the fee can vary, depending on the success of the strategy.

One of the main features of ZuluTrade is its accounts. With ZuluTrade, the minimum deposit needed to create an account is fairly low, with the minimum of USD 1. Unfortunately, You need to have a separate broker account made and connect it to ZuluTrade, because ZuluTrade is not a broker.

ZuluTrade also operates on a MT4 or MetaTrader 4 Platform. They also have Mobile Trading, since they have a Mobile app available.

ZuluTrade Accounts

There are two types of ZuluTrade Accounts: The Live and The Demo.

Demo Account

The Demo account allows users to use ZuluTrade without the risk of losing profit. To create your demo account, you need to enter some basic information like Name, Phone Number, Location, Leverage, Base Currency, and Virtual Account Balance. Once you have your login credentials, you will be able to use ZuluTrade’s services. And if you feel you’re satisfied with what ZuluTrade has to offer, then you can upgrade to a Live Account

Live Account

Once you have upgraded your demo account into a live account, you need to decide on these two options: Classic or Profit Sharing.

Profit Sharing is recommended for beginners, because it lets you learn by copying others. Traders will be compensated when they profit and penalised when they lose. They also benefit from reduced commissions.

Classic is recommended to those who have experience in ZuluTrade. You will benefit from manual or a customised copy-trading portfolio. They also have standard volume-based commission. It is highly recommended first to get some experience before attempting to use a Classic account.

How Signal Providers work

Signal Providers make a lot of profit not because of the success rate of their strategy, but also the amount of followers using their strategy. This is because you get 0.5 pips per lot traded by someone following your strategies. So the more followers you have, the more profit there is to gain in compensation fees. Unfortunately, Not anyone in ZuluTrade can be a Signal Provider right away. You need to meet the criteria to become one.

Criteria

Maintain a maximum historic drawdown of less than 30%
Average pips per trade must be more than 3 pips
ZuluTrade activity for at least 12 weeks.

Apart from the criteria, you need to also maintain a positive balance, so that you can get more followers. You might also need to set up your account in a way that it attracts followers and establishes that you can be trusted to make a profit. Some ways to improve your account as a legitimate Signal Provider is to practice with a demo account, upload a professional profile picture, meet the criteria needed to become a SP, explain your strategy clearly, etc.

Payment

Payment can be done through your broker. Depending on your broker, there might be some extra charges when cashing out. If you are using AAAFx, then pay less on commissions. That’s because AAAfx is ZuluTrade’s broker. Once you have cashed out to your broker, you can withdraw your money through Paypal, Bank Wire Transfer, and ZuluTrade Mastercard.

Some reviews point out that ZuluTrade is quick to highlight payment commissions and withdrawal fees. But again, these can depend on the broker account you have.

Features

Another one of ZuluTrade’s main selling points are its features. There are a lot of useful features that can help traders.

Locktrade allows you to verify the execution of a trade once a signal has been received.

Automator was introduced in 2016. It allows you to set certain rules when an event occurs, like when you lose a certain amount of money to a certain trader due to bad profit, The Automator then automatically locks your profit so that you won’t lose any more money. You can add more rules to the automator as well. Automator also notifies you on any events that happen.

They also have some Social Network Features, like Forums or Comment Sections. So that you can keep in touch with other traders and signal providers.

ZuluScript is another feature that allows you to create your own scripts that form a trading bot. In turn, this gives you the ability to automatically trade, which allows you to execute more trades that wouldn’t be possible if you did it all manually. These trading bots are commonly called Expert Advisors.

Another one of their features, the Margin Call-o-Meter, allows you to estimate the chance of your account running out of money. Keep in mind, this feature is not accurate on its estimation. You have to keep track of your own money.

Finally, their most important feature, the ZuluGuard. This is considered their security feature. It protects copy traders if traders do something crazy or desperate. This greatly helps risk management. It also deems traders that do not follow the current strategies as unusuals and pulls out followers that are following that trader. So keep that in mind when you’re looking for Signal Providers

In addition to all of these, they have some cryptocurrency features, which allows traders to track the progress of cryptos, and a Calendar, so that they can see key events happening in certain dates.

They also have some additional features like calculators for pips, margins, currency, and profits Calendars for economic events, and access to the latest news in the FOREX (or other financial trade) Market.

Pros

Nice and user friendly interface
Quite easy to set up an account
If you have a AAAFx, then it is easy to set up a broker
You can choose any broker you want to connect to your account
A wide range of Traders to follow
A lot of currencies are available
You’re not being restricted on what you can trade and who you can follow
The more traders you follow, the less risk you carry as an individual trader

Cons

AAAFx is a much more profitable broker, because there are less commissions to be paid if you use AAAFx.
ZuluGuard has been more of a nuisance when trading.
There are a lot more inconsistent Signal Providers than successful ones
Signal Providers are not required to use their own capital. Putting you at risk if a trade is not profitable.
ZuluGuard tends to pull you out of trade when it deems it not favorable, resulting in a loss of profit.
Unorthodox methods of trading are not recognized by ZuluGuard.

Conclusion

With all that being said, I think ZuluTrade is an ok platform for trading. Although, there are a lot more profitable trading platforms out there. The biggest issue I have with ZuluTrade is with the ZuluGuard feature. It pulls you out of trades when the trader you are following if they feel that the trader is being unusual with his trades. The commissions for the brokers is also an issue with me, if you are not using AAAFx as a broker, then you will be paying a lot more in commissions. This may not look like a big deal, but it will affect your total profit a lot when you’re withdrawing. But then again, these are my opinions.

Closing Remarks

So that is it for my Review of ZuluTrade. If you are still interested in using ZuluTrade, you can go to their main website here. They are also available for Mobile, their apps can be found in Google Play and Apple App Store. I also have other reviews of other financial services and trading platforms on my Website and video reviews on my Youtube channel, Trade Wise.

This Trade Wise for the review, Thanks for reading. Bye for now.

Introduction

Hello reader and welcome to Elite Copy Trading. For today’s review, we will be talking about Hotforex. Many consider Hotforex to be one of the best commodities and forex brokers out there in the market. It has gained recognition by some magazines and has won multiple awards.

For this review we will be talking a lot about what Hotforex is, how many customers it has, how reliable it is, it’s pros and cons and much more.

So, without further ado, let’s talk about Hotforex.

What is Hotforex?

Before we go deeper into this review, we need to know one thing first: What is Hotforex?

Hotforex is a forex and Commodities broker that provides trading services to different clients. Those clients can range from both retail customers and institutions. Hotforex offers its services through CFDs trading services, through 7 different account types and platforms, that utilizes tight spreads that have been averaged at a certain amount, usually at EUR 0.1 or USD 0.1. Hotforex prides itself on its policy, which provides access to unrestricted liquidity. Through this, it can provide quality service to both its clients and traders.

Hotforex is also an award-winning forex and commodities broker.

History of Hotforex

Hotforex was established in 2010, with its headquarters located in Cyprus. Since then, they have expanded to several different locations like Dubai and South Africa, with offshore firms located in St. Vincent and the Grenadines, which is a country located in the Caribbeans.

Hotforex has also shown great interest and has managed to influence the markets in Asia and the MENA Regions, which are the Middle East and North African Regions.

Hotforex has also won over 35+ awards in the course of 10 years, including Best Client Funds and Security Global, Best Forex Customer Service Provider in Latin America, and Best Forex Broker in Asia in 2019. It is also recognized as one of the Top 100 Companies by World Finance Magazine.

As of Today, there are over 200+ employees working at Hotforex, with over 2 Million live accounts created.

Licenses

Because of the firm expanding to different locations, Hotforex has had different licenses and regulations put in place to operate in that area. Their Hotforex Markets (SV) ltd. is registered in St. Vincent and the Grenadines as an International Business Company, which follows the International Business Companies (Amendment and Consolidation) Act, Chapter 149 of the Revised Laws of Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, 2019.

Their License Registration Number can be found here.

Regulations

Other than License to operate in St. Vincent and the Grenadines, their markets group are also regulated by numerous Financial Service Authorities in different countries. Without these, it would be difficult to operate their firms in these countries. Here are all of Hotforex’s regulators:

Financial Conduct Authority (United Kingdoms)

The Financial Conduct Authority or FCA, is an independent public body based in the United Kingdoms and governed by the Financial Services and Markets Act of 2000. They work with the UK Treasury to provide support to financial firms, so that they can have equal consumer benefits from honest and fair markets that are both trustworthy and transparent. HF Markets (UK) Ltd. are regulated by the FCA in the United Kingdom.

Dubai Financial Service Authority

The Dubai Financial Services or DFSA is an independent finance service regulator based in Dubai, with the goal of providing world-class regulations of financial services within the Middle East. HF Market Groups (DIFC) Ltd. is regulated by the DFSA.

Financial Conduct Service Authority

The Financial Conduct Service Authority or FCSA is an independent financial regulator overseen by the South African non-banking service industries. The FCSA also regulates the Johannesburg Stock Exchange or JSE, which is the largest exchange in South Africa. HF Markets SA Ltd. is registered as a Financial Service Provider by the FCSA.

Financial Services Authority

The Financial Service Authority or FSA is a non-bank financial service regulator based in Seychelles. They are responsible for providing licenses, supervision, and development to non-bank financial services in Seychelles. HF Markets (Seychelles) Ltd. is incorporated under the laws of the Republic of Seychelles and regulated by the FSA.

All of their Registration numbers can be found on their website.

Account Types

One of Hotforex’s main allure is its trading. As mentioned before, this is done through CFDs trading service and through 7 different types of accounts. So here, we will talk about what those 7 types of accounts are and what they are capable of.

Hotforex has 7 different accounts that anyone can choose from, each with their own unique way of trading. These are: Micro, Premium, Zero Spread, Auto, PAMM (Premium), HFCopy, and Islamic Account.

Micro

Micro is the most basic account there is in Hotforex. It’s designed for traders who are new to the forex market and to those who want to trade only in smaller values. Its key feature allows investors to trade small and open an account with a lower initial deposit. It uses the MetaTrader 4, MetaTrader 5 platforms. More information and account details can be found here.

Premium

Premium is for those experienced traders. One of the premium accounts key features is its flexibility in position sizing, with a limit of 60 lots. There is also a minimum trade size of 0.01 and it still remains flexible. Like the Micro, it also uses MetaTrader 4, MetaTrader 5 platforms. It also uses WebTrader and Mobile Trading Platforms. More information can be found here.

ZeroSpread

ZeroSpread is a low-cost trading solution that is available for all traders. It’s main key features are RAW spreads with 0 markup, low commissions that start at USD 0.03, and super tight spreads. The minimum deposit is USD 200. It uses MetaTrader 4, WebTrading, and Mobile Trading platforms. More Information can be found here.

Auto

Auto is more like an Autotrader. It copies signals from signal providers like MQL5. Its key feature is its auto trading capabilities. Auto accounts have a built in MT4 trading Terminal. Paid accounts need to be subjected to a one-month performance verification period. It also uses MetaTrader 4, WebTrader, and Mobile Trading platforms. Auto accounts users can subscribe to Signals via the MetaTrader 4 Platforms. More information can be found here.

PAMM

PAMM accounts have two options to choose from: PAMM Premium and PAMM PLUS. You can look at the comparisons of each account here, so that you can decide whether one of the PAMM account type fits your style of trading. A PAMM account basically allows the copying of another trader within your own account. Whatever trades are opened (and closed) by the master trader will therefore be copied in your own account automatically.

HFCopy

HFCopy is mainly used by Strategy Providers and Followers. SPs can open HFCopy accounts with the aim of building inventory of followers and trade in exchange for a performance fee. Performance fees can go as high as 50%. Followers who have an HFcopy account can start depositing some money and start following SPs and copy their trades. Its concept is similar to that of eToro. It uses the MetaTrader 4, Web Trader, and Mobile Trading platforms. More information can be found here.

Islamic Account

Islamic Accounts are available as Micro, Premium, Auto, and ZeroSpread. They replicate one of the trading account types, but they do not incur swap or rollover charges for holding positions overnight.

If you are unsure which account is better than the other, you can click here. This will lead you to the account comparison page so you can see the strengths and weaknesses of all the accounts.

Availability

Hotforex is available in over 180+ countries worldwide and with educational seminars located in Africa, Asia, Europe, and Latin America. Unfortunately, Hotforex does not provide its services in America, Canada, Sudan, Syria, and North Korea. For the full list of countries available, click here.

Reviews and Reception

Due to its immense popularity and acclaim, some review sites have given their take on Hotforex.

55Brokers, a financial service review site, said that “Overall, the HotForex review presents a global brokerage company with a well-established customer oriented operation that provides a secure, as well regulated trading environment suitable for almost every demand.” They also state in their review that their products have been tailored to accommodate consumers to their own strategy, whether it be a newcomer who wants to trade small, or an experienced trader who wants to trade big with low commissions on trade, or just someone who wants to copy trade, Hotforex is good for all.

Forex Peace Army, one of the best financial service review sites out there, has given Hotforex a 3.7 out of 5 rating, with some of its users satisfied with their experience with Hotforex. There are only a few comments (that I have seen) that claim that they feel cheated by Hotforex.

Another review site, TraderNova, has given their own take on the Hotforex. With their review mostly focused on the Trading service’s key features, pros and cons, accessibility, and the costs of each account type.

Here are the links of the reviews so that you can also get a better understanding on their take on Hotforex

55broker’s Review:https://55brokers.com/hotforex-review/#HotForex-Leverage

ForexPeaceArmy:https://www.forexpeacearmy.com/forex-reviews/6884/hotforex-forex-brokers#fpa-main-menu

TraderNova’sReview:https://tradernova.com/en/hotforex-review-opening-account/

Is Hotforex A Scam?

To put it simply, no, it is not a scam. There are too many factors in place to consider it a scam. There are regulators that keep the trading service in check, it has won multiple awards, it has a lot of active users. Although, there are claims from users saying that they are cheated by the service.

Conclusion

Overall, Hotforex is a solid trading service with a variety of accounts to choose from that fits your trading style. It is also more lenient to beginners to the forex trading market and more accommodating to those big time traders with very large accounts. It also has a copy trading account for those who want to sit back and let others do the trading for them.

So that’s it for my Hotforex review. I hope you found it worthwhile. Please post any questions you might have below.