Cibfx (Capital Investment Brokers) seems like an excellent broker at first. They have kept the style of their site very accessible and modern. Considering that all the brokers I have reviewed recently turned out to be scammers, I started thinking Cibfx would be an exception. However, all my expectations went out of the window as soon as I started getting into the details.
Cibfx has a website that looks great from afar but in reality, it is a terrible platform. The registration panel is similar to tons of various forex scams I have covered on this website. They have kept the user area very lack-lustre and isn’t user-friendly. The website of Cibfx (cibfx.com) is available in Portuguese, English and Spanish.
Cibfx License and Regulation
The first thing you should always look for is the broker’s address. The address of a broker would determine which jurisdiction it would fall into. In case the broker belongs to an offshore area such as Marshall Islands or St. Vincent and the Grenadines, you should stay away from them.
Cibfx is based in St. Vincent and the Grenadines but highlights it as something to be proud of:
I’m not saying they shouldn’t be proud of having a registered office, it’s just that they make it appear as if it’s sufficient when it’s not. Cibfx doesn’t give any information on its license and it’s clear from their claims that Cibfx is an unlicensed and unregulated broker.
How can you spot a broker who is trying to deceive you?
A broker’s credentials, registration, and job history can be reviewed using BrokerCheck, a free online tool provided by FINRA. Disputes with clients, disciplinary actions, and specific financial and criminal matters on the broker’s record are all covered in the disclosure portion of BrokerCheck.
Unregulated and unlicensed brokers are very dangerous as they can steal your funds (through hidden charges) and even your private data!
Regulatory authorities such as CySEC (Cyprus Securities and Exchange Commission) or FCA (Financial Conduct Authority) have many rules and regulations. These regulations make sure the broker doesn’t harm the interests of their users, and doesn’t deceive them.
Moreover, regulatory authorities have insurance policies in case one of their licensed brokers breaks a regulation or steals their users’ funds. With unlicensed brokers, you don’t get any of these benefits.
Cibfx Trading Conditions
Even though the license of a broker can tell you a lot about its reliability, the second most important factor is its trading conditions. What trading platform does it offer? What’s the minimum deposit limit? We’ll discuss these factors in detail to determine whether Cibfx is a reliable broker or not:
Trading Platform
The most popular trading platforms in the industry are Metatrader 4 and Metatrader 5. They pack a lot of features and benefits while providing excellent customer support. That’s why around 80% of the industry uses these platforms. In my opinion, you should only trade with a broker which uses these platforms.
The people behind Cibfx understand these facts and that’s why they have kept their trading platform MetaTrader 4. It was quite an impressive thing to find out. However, many shady brokers tend to use the pristine reputation of MT platforms to seem trustworthy and it seems to me that Cibfx is doing the same here.
Even though they offer an amazing trading platform, I can’t recommend their services as they are an unlicensed service provider.
Minimum Deposit
Cibfx offers multiple account types, each with a different minimum deposit requirement. The lowest amount it requires you to open a trading account with this trader is $500, which is much higher than the industry norm.
A high minimum deposit usually indicates that the broker is a scam. Most regulated brokers keep their minimum deposit requirements around $100 or $50. That’s because they want to give their new users a chance to experience their services without making a big financial commitment.
On the other hand, shady brokers don’t want you to test out their services, usually because they are terrible. They force you to invest a heavy amount at the start so they can steal at least that amount from you. You should stay away from brokers that have high minimum deposits.
Leverage and Spreads
Cibfx claims that the spreads start from 0.3 pips but they average at around 0.6 pips. To be honest, they were quite impressive.
However, the offered leverage is very high as it can go up to 1:500 and starts from 1:200. Both of these ratios are substantially higher than safe levels and because of that alone, I can’t recommend trading with Cibfx.
If a broker offers a very high leverage, you should be wary of them. Many financial regulators in different regions have imposed restrictions on how much leverage brokers can offer to their clients.
For example, in the US, a broker can offer a maximum leverage ratio of 1:50.
They have these restrictions because a high leverage ratio can cause you huge losses very quickly. Such leverage ratios are dangerous for new traders particularly.
Cibfx Trading Accounts
Following are the trading accounts you get with this broker:
Micro Account
The minimum deposit required for this account is $500. You get video tutorials, MT4 trading platform, a dedicated manager, and your spread starts from 1 pip. The maximum leverage this account offers is 1:200.
Standard Account
The minimum deposit requirement of this trading account is $1000. You get all the benefits of the previous account here and your margin call increases by 10% to 50%.
Executive Account
The Executive account requires a minimum deposit of $10,000. The maximum leverage you get with this account is 1:100 and all the benefits you enjoyed with the previous accounts.
Cibfx Payment Methods and Charges
Transaction Methods
Cibfx offers multiple transaction methods to its clients. You can pay through credit card, Wire Transfer, AstroPay, and Brazilian Bank Transfer. However, there wasn’t much information on the withdrawal methods and the minimum withdrawal limit.
If you don’t verify your account with this broker, you’d have to wait for 30 days and complete a trade volume equal to 10% of your account’s credit if you want to withdraw your funds. These conditions make it very difficult for new users to get their funds back. Moreover, I don’t recommend sharing your sensitive files with a shady broker like Cibfx. If your account remains dormant, you’d need to pay 30% commission to them.
Fees
THe broker charges you plenty of fees depending on the withdrawal method you use. If you withdraw through a credit card, you’ll have to pay 2% of the amount as fees and they’ll process your request within 24 hours. You get the same benefits with Neteller. However, with wire transfers, you’ll have to pay 4% fees and wait for a week to get your request processed.
Is Cibfx a Scam? Yes!
The forex industry has expanded exponentially in the last few years. Because of that, many kinds of scams have entered this sector as well. Usually, a scammer would target novice traders through bonus offers and bogus claims so they would sign up on their platform. Such brokers usually have unfair terms and conditions but people rarely read them before accepting the same.
When a person finally signs up and makes a deposit on their account, the broker can do whatever they desire. They can steal the user’s funds through hidden fees or even steal their private data.
Usually these brokers operate from offshore areas such as St. Vincent. These regions don’t have financial regulators like the US or the EU so they have become havens for shady forex brokers.
Cibfx Review: Conclusion
Cibfx seemed like an amazing broker before. However, as I delved further, I found it to be a shady broker like the rest. It’s not recommended to trade with them as they don’t have a license and have a very high minimum deposit requirement.
Cibfx is a shady forex broker as it’s unlicensed and demands a very high minimum deposit to start trading with them.
I hope my Cibfx review helped you make an informed decision regarding this broker. There are many scams in the forex industry similar to this one. It’s best to stay alert and do some research before signing up with a new broker.
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