4.13
Accepts Indian clients. Average spread EUR/USD 0.00 pips with 7 USD commission round turn on the trading account with lowest minimum deposit. Max leverage 500:1. Islamic account available. MT4 & MT5 platforms supported. Eightcap Markets is regulated by ASIC, the SCB, and the VFSC.
Pros
- Great platform choice
- Excellent education
Cons
- Limited demo account
- No swap-free account option
Is Eightcap Safe?
Yes, Eightcap is a safe broker for Indian traders to trade with. It maintains regulation from the Australian Securities and Investments Commission (ASIC), the Securities Commission of Bahamas (SCB), and is registered in Vanuatu.
Founded in Melbourne in 2009, Eightcap offers multi-asset trading from 5 offices across the globe. Eightcap is the brand name of Eightcap Pty Ltd and Eightcap Global Ltd (Vanuatu).
- Eightcap Pty Ltd (ABN 73 139 495 944) is regulated by the Australian Securities and Investment Commission (ASIC) with the AFSL reg no. 391441.
- Eightcap Global Limited, regulated by The Securities Commission of The Bahamas (SCB), (SIA-F220).
- Eightcap Global Ltd (Vanuatu) is regulated by the Vanuatu Financial Services Commission (VFSC) with the company registration no. 40377.
Indians will be trading under the subsidiary, Eightcap Global Limited, regulated by the Securities Commission of the Bahamas (SCB).
In February 2021, the SCB tightened its restrictions on CFD trading to better protect traders. As a result, brokers regulated by the SCB will need to ensure that all client money is segregated from its operating capital, that a retail client account’s net equity does not fall below 50 percent, and mandates that all traders are afforded automatic negative balance protection. Additionally, under SCB regulations, brokers are not allowed to offer traders bonuses or promotions.
The SCB also implemented leverage restrictions (with a default leverage of up to 100:1), but allows traders to manually change to higher leverage. Clients should be aware that although trading with leverage can increase profits, it can also dramatically increase one’s losses.
Eightcap complies with all the regulatory requirements set out by the SCB, and it segregates client funds in top-tier banks, does not offer bonuses or promotions, and sets Stop Out levels at 50%. Eightcap also provides all clients negative balance protection, so that traders cannot lose more than is in their trading account. Additionally, default leverage is set to 100:1, but clients can opt to change their leverage to a maximum of 500:1.
Overall, because of its strong international regulation, segregation of client money, and provision of negative balance protection, we consider Eightcap a safe broker to trade with.
Trading Fees
Eightcap’s trading fees are average compared to other brokers.
Unlike other brokers that offer a range of accounts with higher minimum deposits linked to tighter spreads, Eightcap offers two live accounts both with a minimum deposit of 100 AUD (or currency equivalent). The Standard account has trading costs included in its variable spreads, while the Raw Spread account offers raw spread pricing in exchange for a commission per lot.
Eightcap’s accounts were assessed to compare the costs to those of other forex brokers. The costs were evaluated based on the trading fees on one lot (100 000 USD) on the EUR/USD, including the spreads and commission.
When making this calculation, we used one lot of EUR/USD as a benchmark as it is the most commonly traded currency pair and it usually has the tightest spread.
Trading Cost Formula: Spread x Trade Size + Commission = Cost in Secondary Currency (USD):
As you can see from the table above, the costs on the Raw Spread Account are lower than those of the Standard Account and lower than those of other brokers. Other good brokers tend to have trading costs of around 9 USD per lot of EUR/USD traded.
Spreads are variable at Eightcap, meaning that they will get wider or tighter depending on trade volume and market volatility – the spreads in the table above are average spreads.
Swap Rates
The other main trading cost to consider is the overnight swap fee. It is determined by the overnight interest rate differential between the two currencies involved in the pair and whether the position is a buy ‘long’ or sell ‘short’. Unfortunately, Eightcap’s swap rates are not published on its website.
To view Eightcap’s most up-to-date swap rates, please refer to the Market Watch panel in our MetaTrader 4 or MetaTrader 5 trading terminal.
Simply right-click on any instrument in the ‘Market Watch’ panel and then select the ‘Specification’ option from the context menu. A new window will open that shows various instrument specifications including the long and short swap rates of the symbol you selected.
Overall, compared to other similar brokers, Eightcap’s trading fees are average.
Eightcap’s Non-trading Fees
Eightcap‘s non-trading fees are lower than other similar brokers.
Some of the most overlooked trading costs are the non-trading fees that are charged by brokers. These fees can significantly affect your profitability and so should be carefully scrutinised.
Unlike other brokers that charge fees for deposits, and on inactive accounts, Eightcap does not generally charge any non-trading fees. However, a 1% transaction fee is charged for withdrawals via Skrill.
Overall, this is a welcome development in an industry where additional fees are charged on almost every transaction.
How to Open an Account at Eightcap
The account-opening and verification process at Eightcap is seamless, fully digital and accounts are ready within 24 hours, which is about the industry average.
All Indian residents are eligible to open an account at Eightcap, as long as they meet the minimum deposit requirements of 100 AUD (or currency equivalent).
Eightcap offers corporate, joint, trust, and individual accounts. For the purposes of this review, we will outline the process for opening an individual account:
- From the Eightcap homepage, you will have to click on the ‘Create Account’ tab where you will be directed to register an account with a name, email address, telephone number, and password.
- Eightcap’s registration form requires traders to fill in their physical address, date of birth, and tax number.
- Next, traders are required to choose their trading platform (MT4 or MT5), account type, preferred base currency, and level of leverage.
- Traders will then have to agree to the Risk Disclosure Policy and Client Agreement
- Verification usually takes less than 24 hours and Eightcap will need:
- Proof of Identification – Eightcap accepts all government-issued identification documents such as Passport, national ID card, driving license, or other government-issued ID.
- Proof of Address – Proof of residence/address document must be issued in the name of the account holder within the last 6 months and must contain a trader’s full name, current residential address, issue date, and issuing authority.
Overall, Eightcap’s account-opening process is fully digital and hassle-free and accounts are ready for trading within 24 hours.
Eightcap’s Account Types
Eightcap offers two live accounts, which is average compared to other brokers, and its accounts are suitable for beginners and more experienced traders.
While Eightcap is a market maker, it runs a no-intervention execution model. Eightcap’s trading servers are hosted in Equinix data centres providing lightning-fast execution and pricing is derived from several top-tier liquidity providers.
Aside from a demo account, Eightcap offers two simple trading accounts with variable spreads on either the MT4 or MT5 platform (click here for more on Eightcap’s trading platforms).
Both of Eightcap’s accounts have a minimum deposit requirement of 100 AUD (or currency equivalent), making them accessible to beginner traders.
We define beginner traders as inexperienced traders who have never traded before or have been trading for less than a year. Beginners often do not want to risk trading large sums of money, and will generally not be able to trade full-time during the workweek.
Accounts with lower minimum deposits and which allow trading in micro-lots are generally more suited to beginner traders. Spreads on these accounts are often wider than those with higher minimum deposits, but that is not the case at Eightcap – which has low minimum deposit requirements and average spreads on both of its accounts.
In general, experienced traders tend to prefer accounts with higher minimum deposits and tighter spreads. Again, at Eightcap this trade-off does not occur as both accounts have low minimum deposits, but the Raw Spread Account offers tighter spreads in exchange for a reasonable commission.
Eightcap allows hedging, scalping, and copy trading, and both accounts are available as Demo Accounts and 45 currency pairs, 11 indices, 4 commodities, 258 share CFDs, and 250 cryptocurrency pairs are available to trade. Maximum leverage under the SCB regulation for Indian traders is up to 500:1 on major Forex pairs. See below for account details:
- Standard Account – The Standard Account is a commission-free trading account with variable spreads and a 100 AUD minimum deposit. The average spread on major pairs is 1.0 pips, which is slightly wider than other similar brokers but can fall to 0.5 pips at times.
- Raw Account – The Raw Account is a commission-based account with tight spreads but otherwise similar to the Standard Account. The minimum deposit is 100 AUD and spreads can be as low as 0.00 pips on major currency pairs. Traders are charged a commission of 7 USD per lot traded.
- Demo Account – Both the Raw Account and the Standard Account are available as demo accounts. Without intervention, the demo account will expire after 30 days but can be converted to an unlimited demo account by contacting Eightcap customer service.
Deposit and Withdrawal
Eightcap offers a decent range of payment methods, and withdrawals and deposits are free.
Eightcap operates a “return to source” policy, meaning that withdrawals must be made via the same method and the same account as the original deposit.
Eightcap offers a range of deposit and withdrawal methods, including bank wire transfer, local bank transfer, credit cards, and debit cards, Skrill, Neteller, BPay, Poli, and Unionpay transfers. However, these are not all available for Indian clients.
Eightcap offers charges no fees for any deposits or withdrawals, however, bank transfers from outside of Australia will attract fees from intermediary banks and Eightcap will pass these costs on to the customer. Additionally, a fee of 1% is charged for withdrawing by Skrill. See below for details:
Overall, Eightcap offers a decent range of funding and withdrawal methods, which are generally free, but processing times are slightly slower than other brokers.
Base currencies (Trading Account Currencies)
Eightcap offers a wider range of base currencies compared to other similar brokers.
Eightcap clients can choose between 7 base currencies, including AUD, CAD, EUR, GBP, NZD, SGD, and USD.
However, Eightcap does not offer INR trading accounts, which is a disadvantage for Indians who will likely have bank accounts denominated in INR, and who will have to pay currency conversion fees on deposits and withdrawals.
For traders that trade in large volumes (more than 10 lots a month), it is better to open an account denominated in USD at a digital currency bank, especially for trading on assets such as the EUR/USD. This is because when trading a USD quoted currency pair with another currency account, there will be a small conversion fee for every trade made.
Overall, Eightcap offers more trading account currencies than most other large international brokers but it doesn’t offer accounts denominated in INR.
Eightcap’s Trading Platforms
Eightcap’s platform support is average compared to other brokers.
Eightcap offers support for MT4 and MT5, the two most popular trading platforms in the Forex industry.
MetaTrader 4
Having established itself as the industry-leading platform, Metatrader 4 (MT4) is the most reliable and popular platform in existence. Its intuitive interface and user-friendly environment provide essential tools and resources for successful online trading. It is also widely recognised for its fast execution speeds, range of charting tools, algorithmic trading, and customisability. MT4 is available in over 31 languages.
Other features of MT4 include:
- Supports the creation, modification, and utilisation of automated trading strategies.
- Supports MQL4 programming language.
- Algorithmic trading, which allows any trading strategy to be formalised and implemented as an Expert Advisor.
- Allows traders to develop their own custom indicators
- Superior charting tools in nine timeframes
- 31 graphical objects
- 30 built-in indicators
- 9 timeframes
- Three order execution types
- Four types of pending orders
While MT4 has great customizability, the platform feels outdated, and some of the features may be hard to find. In addition, only the basic orders are available, including Market, Limit, Stop, and Trailing Stop.
MetaTrader 5
The MT5 trading platform is being adopted by more Forex brokers all the time, it has a more modern interface, allows for an unlimited number of charts to be used, shows Depth of Market, and has a built-in Economic Calendar. It also has a larger number of pending order types than MT4 and features an embedded chat system. In addition, the MQL5 scripting language is more efficient than its precursor and MT5 has more advanced charting tools than MT4.
Features include:
- 38+ preinstalled technical indicators
- 44 analytical charting tools
- 3 chart types
- 21 timeframes
- Additional pending order types
- Detachable charts
- Trailing stop
- Depth of Market
- An integrated Economic Calendar.
Overall, although Eightcap only offers the Metatrader suite of platforms, which are not as beginner-friendly as the proprietary platforms offered at other brokers, MT4 and MT5 are considered some of the best third-party platforms in the industry.
Eightcap Mobile Apps
Eightcap’s mobile trading platform support is average compared to other brokers.
Both MT4 and MT5 are available as mobile and tablet downloads on Android and iOS – allowing traders to keep track of their open positions while on the move.
The advantage of using the MetaTrader platform is the cross-device and multi-broker functionality, making it easier to change brokers or use multiple brokers.
Eightcap’s MT4 and MT5 apps allow traders to work from anywhere, with nine timeframes, 30 indicators, and interactive currency charts. Functionality to close and modify existing orders, calculate profit/loss in real-time, and tick chart trading further empowers traders while on the move.
Trading Tools
Eightcap’s trading tools are limited compared to other brokers, but the tools it provides are extremely useful for traders.
Eightcap offers two trading tools – Capitalise.ai and BlueFXLabs
Capitalise.ai
Capitalise.ai is essentially a means of creating automated trading strategies without having to understand coding. Capitalise.ai allows traders to choose the time frames and conditions to build and maintain a trading model, with automated enter and exit positions. It also provides an array of easy-to-understand tech indicators.
FX Blue Labs
FX Blue Labs has a set of premium trading tools that are integrated into MT4 and MT5.
Free to all Eighcap clients FX Blue Lab gives traders access to institutional quality technology, including advanced trading tools, user-configurable news and information, and trade analysis. It also includes an array of sophisticated alarms and messaging systems, and live sentiment and correlation tracking. The list of tools in the package includes:
- Trade Terminal: A feature-rich professional trade execution and analysis tool, providing several trading features and order controls that are not included in MT4 or MT5.
- Connect: A customisable news feed aggregator and interactive economic calendar
- Correlation Matrix and Correlation Trader: These tools work together to show correlations between pairs of trading symbols. It functions with any symbols available in the trading platform, allowing a calculation of the correlation between multiple asset classes against Forex. The Correlation Trader will then allow for detailed inspection of the correlation between any two instruments.
- Market Manager: Using the Market Manager, you get a bird’s eye view over the fundamental elements to be on top of markets. In addition to the watch list that facilitates price and position monitoring, you also get access to headline information on several fronts. Open tickets and full editing capabilities get unlocked as well, alongside a summary of recent price activity on a symbol.
- Mini Terminal: The mini-terminal facilitates trade management by making commonly-used trading features more accessible than in the native version of the software. A mini-chart feature also lets traders see multiple time frames and chart types in a single chart.
- Sentiment Trader: As straightforward as it sounds – with direct percentages on current and historic positions in a symbol placed by other traders. These are the long and short sentiments you get.
- SessionMap: The Session Map shows your current local time in relation to “sessions” during the trading day, i.e. the core trading hours when institutional dealers are most active in Sydney, Tokyo, London and New York.
- Tick Chart Trader: Tick Chart Trader allows clients to trade tick charts fast and accurately. An additional Indicator Package with the latest indicator technology delivers more chart information and trading signals within the trading tool.
- Stealth Orders: Stealth orders ensure that a trader’s entry and exit points are hidden from the market.
Financial Instruments
Eightcap offers an average range of financial instruments compared to other similar brokers.
Eightcap’s range of financial instruments for CFD trading includes Forex, share CFDs, commodities, indices, and cryptocurrencies:
- Forex: Eightcap has over 45 currency pairs available for trading, an average range compared to most other brokers. These include majors (EUR/USD, GBP/USD, and USD/JPY), minors (NZD/JPY, GBP/JPY, and USD/ZAR), and exotics.
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Share CFDs: Eightcap offers 258 share CFDs, which is average compared to other large international brokers. The selection available includes some of the major US, UK, German, and Australian Exchanges.
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Indices: There are 11 indices available for trading at Eightcap, which is around the average available at other similar brokers. The most popular indices are those that combine the shares of some of the largest and globally acknowledged companies.
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Commodities: Eightcap offers trading on 4 commodities, which is limited compared to other similar brokers. Most brokers offer between 5 and 10 commodities. Commodities include energies such as Brent Crude Oil, and two metals – silver and gold.
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Cryptocurrencies: At the time of writing, there are 250 crypto pairs available, including Bitcoin, Ethereum, TRON, and DASH, among many others. This is THE largest set in the industry. However, traders should be aware that the spreads vary significantly compared to other traditional Fiat currencies, so if you trade on these assets, watch your margins.
Overall, Eightcap’s CFD offering is in line with what is offered by other similar international brokerages.
Eightcap for Beginners
Eightcap has a strong focus on simplicity and transparency, which is ideal for beginner traders. The website is easy to navigate and all the information new traders might need is explained in a clear and concise manner. Eightcap’s education section is small but well-written, useful, and updated every few days with new material. Likewise, the market analysis section is updated infrequently, but thoughtful and written by Eightcap’s in-house team.
Educational Material
Eightcap’s educational materials are detailed and well-presented, but not the best in the Forex trading space.
Eightcap’s Trading Education section is well-presented and accessible. Three main categories are presented to the reader: MetaTrader Guides, Fundamentals, and Trading Strategies. Further investigation reveals that all the material is written as blog posts but is of a high standard and useful for beginners. The MetaTrader Guides and Trading Strategies section will particularly be helpful for new traders. Unfortunately, no video material or webinars are available at this time, and the addition of a structured course for beginners would be welcome.
Analysis Material
Eightcap’s market analysis materials are of a high quality, but are not frequently updated.
Eightcap’s Analysis section is presented in a similar fashion to the Trading Education section. Blogposts are arranged chronologically, and three main categories are presented: CFD News, Forex News, and Market Updates. While analysis is not provided daily, there is always a detailed outlook for the week ahead and another analysis is published throughout the week on a range of markets. The analysis is provided by an in-house team and will be useful for new traders looking for a better understanding of the markets and new trading opportunities.
Customer Support
Customer support is available 24/5 from Eightcap’s five global offices via email, live chat, and telephone. Support is available in English, Chinese, Thai, Korean, French, Spanish, Italian, German, Vietnamese, and Portuguese.
For the purposes of this review, we found Customer Support at Eightcap to be responsive, polite, and resourceful.
Evaluation Method
We value transparency and openness in the way we review the partners. To bring transparency to the forefront, we have published our review process that includes a detailed breakdown of Eightcap’s offering. Central to that process is the evaluation of the reliability of the broker, the platform offering of the broker, and the trading conditions offered to clients, which are summarised in this review. Each one of these is graded, and an overall score is calculated and assigned to the broker.
Risk Statement
Trading Forex is risky, and each broker is required to detail how risky the trading of Forex CFDs is to clients. Eightcap would like you to know that: Margin trading involves a high level of risk and may not be suitable for all investors. You should carefully consider your objectives, financial situation, needs, and level of experience before entering into any margined transactions with Eightcap, and seek independent advice if necessary. Forex and CFDs are highly leveraged products which means both gains and losses are magnified. You should only trade in these products if you fully understand the risks involved and can afford losses without adversely affecting your lifestyle (including the risk of losing substantially more than your initial investment).
Overview
Eightcap is an ASIC-regulated market-maker with tight spreads, full support for MT4 and MT5, and two simple accounts. Minimum deposits are reasonable, and deposits and withdrawals are generally free, but withdrawal processing times are slower than average. Eightcap offers trading on a large range of tradable assets, including Forex, indices, commodities, share CFDs, and over 250 cryptocurrencies – one of the largest sets in the industry.
Education and analysis are not as strong or as well-structured as Eightcap’s larger competitors, but beginners will find the material available helpful and informative. Eightcap’s simple account structure and transparent approach are very welcome in an industry where many brokers confuse their clients in a storm of options and small print.
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