Markets.com Review
A Solid System To Facilitate Your Deals
In this Markets.com Review, we are going to look deeper into the Company itself and its System. Our goal is to provide you a full picture of the Company, as we believe, that you must know the Broker well, before you decide to deposit your hard earned money.
Company Structure
Markets.com (Safecap Investments Ltd) was established in 2008 in Cyprus. It was promoted as a way for retail traders to gain access to the markets in a real time capacity.
It is regulated under CySEC and is registered with the FSCA and other EEA financial licensing bodies to offer investment services across Europe. It also offers its services to a number of other jurisdictions including in South Africa.
The service itself has been designed around provide "global" access to its trading platform, allowing buyers from a variety of countries to partake in the retail trade of commodities/stock etc. The system works very similarly to other "trading platforms", except with a core focus on accessibility.
Markets.com is a brand name and trademark exclusively owned by Safecap Investements Ltd.
More specifically, it was done after the merge of Safecap Investments Limited and TradeFX, a developer of software solutions for Forex and CFD operators. In 2015, Playtech (operator of Markets.com) fully acquired TradeFX.
PlayTech plc (the parent company) has been listed on the London stock exchange (FTSE) in 2006 and includes a huge number of highly valuable assets in the online gambling & gaming industries. This isn't that important - but indicative of how the company is positioned to support its clients. AKA it's not some small startup in a bedroom somewhere.
To date, Markets.com boasts 1m+ active users, with many more signing up each month.
With a number of important features, the most important thing to realize about Markets.com is the way in which it's backed by a large, regulated, business. Rather than being a small "technology" company, it has a substantive trading company behind it.
Who Created It?
As mentioned above, the way that Markets.com was created off the back of a number of other acquisitions (from the likes of GFC Markets) - ultimately ending up in the hands of PlayTech plc.
The point is that "Markets.com" (as it's seen today) was the combined work of several parties, meaning that if you're looking at a combination of several different teams.
Features
Although the majority of trading platforms are invariably the same (offer similar functionality), each has different underlying offerings due primarily to the way in which their backend businesses are set up.
For example, eToro uses CFD's (Contracts For Difference) to provide margin-based trading for "crypto" assets. Futures are almost identical to CFD's and is what this broker offers too.
To this end, the following features should provide a good indication of what the service is able to provide and how it's able to do it. Whilst the systems are able to give users the ability to perform a number of trades (especially with leverage), it doesn't mean they should actually do it.
Crypto
Like many other "brokers", Markets.com started offering "crypto" futures after the CFTC permitted it in December 2017.
If you don't know already, "crypto" futures are designed so that you're able to buy "contracts" on the price of the various coins. These contracts are with the broker, and are essentially a "bet" with them on where each party see the price ending up.
Whilst Futures/CFD's have their place, the most important thing to realize about them is that they are designed with two things in mind - 1) leverage and 2) non-ownership of assets.
Essentially, offering CFD's/Futures allows the broker to permit you to put "leveraged" positions. These positions involve you buying a small piece of the stock and having the broker provide the rest of the money to acquire it fully.
This practice is seen as very risky, because you're essentially taking on short term debt in order to buy an asset - and if the "contract" doesn't go your way, you may end up liable for the full amount (not just the marginal price you put down).
Account Types
Unlike other companies, Markets.com provides users with a choice of different accounts, providing them with the flexibility and ability to utilize the various features of the system without the need to change how they use it.
The types are as follows:
Real account – $100 minimum deposit for this account.
Demo account – A demo account is also available to traders who wish to test Markets.com’s trading platform and services before they commit by depositing real money into their trading account.
Swap-Free accounts (for Muslims) - operates in accordance with the Islamic Sharia Principle of interest-free trading.
Commissions
In keeping with the way in which Markets.com is aimed at the mid-tier investor, their commission rates are some of the most competitive in the market...
They pay for their backend service with intelligent spreads, which aim to make the broker money when a trader buys a particular contract.
So whilst they don't have any trading commissions, they make plenty of money from all the losses incurred by traders when trying to play the smart game.
Support
As mentioned, the system provides 24/5 support in a range of languages to suit its European client base.
Whilst they don't really provide much by way of education or extra functionality, they do provide users with the ability to feel safe with their trading endeavours.
Conclusion
Like most trading platforms offered online, its functionality is somewhat standard - a "real time" tracker for any of its supported commodities/assets, and the ability to compare real time prices etc sit at the core of the system...
As mentioned, the most important aspect to the system has been its focus on the way in which the system has been able to provide users with the capacity to run globally-accessible markets & prices index.
The service itself is solid with a comparable set of complementary functionality in the backend. Further to the various mentions, the current system is the result of a large number of previous acquisitions, leading the developers of the platform to become better-able to manage the ways in which it's able to function.
With decent 24/5 support, provided in multiple languages by default, the system provides many retail traders with the ability to engage with an organization that can fulfil their orders without having to wait around (potentially missing vital opportunities).
Further to this, offering a regulated service provides users with the ability to engage with a completely above-board service. Ultimately, Markets.com has a distinctly "opportunistic" feel about it - most brokers/platforms have a particular clientele they typically service, and Markets.com is almost entirely the group that are not exactly new traders, but aren't industry veterans either.
We've found that if you're looking for an effective partner, the options you have are to identify any of the platforms you may be interested in using (they all work in pretty much the same way), and then look at any of the potential ways you have to gain advantage from their various extra functions etc.
Markets.com is a good mid-tier platform which provides users with an effective system but not a lot else. With margins of 1:300 and a number of markets offered through the system, it's able to provide the budding trader with the ability to make decent money.
Overall, we give Markets.com our highest rating, 5 / 5 - it's relatively simple to use, has a strong organization behind it (so you won't get ripped off) and is generally well placed to provide users with up to the minute trading performance.