ECBStox: Is it Safe for Trading? The Truth Exposed (2024)
ECBStox is a suspicious broker based in Cyprus. The broker claims that it has more than 2.5 million clients which is clearly a lie as the website is ridden with technical glitches and bugs.
ECBStox has plenty of issues and in my ECBStox review, you’ll find out why I don’t recommend trading with them:
ECBStox License and Regulation
The first thing I always check 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.
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As ECBStox claims to be based in Cyprus, it must hold a license from CySEC, the financial regulator of the region. However, when I checked CySEC’s register for this broker’s name, I didn’t find any information about them.
ECBStox is an unregulated broker and is running an illegal operation
Unregulated and unlicensed brokers are very dangerous as they can steal your funds (through hidden charges) and even your private data!
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.
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.
ECBStox 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 ECBStox is a reliable broker or not:
Trading Platform
ECBStox offers the reputed MetaTrader 4 platform to its users. You don’t get MetaTrader 5 with this broker however.
MT4 and MT5 are the most popular trading platforms on the plat. They pack a lot of features and benefits while providing excellent customer support. Around 80% of the industry uses these platforms. In my opinion, you should only trade with a broker which uses these platforms.
Note that it’s a common strategy among forex scams to use the pristine reputation of MetaTrader platforms to appear reliable. I suspect ECBStox is doing the same here.
They are using the fantastic reputation of MetaTrader 4 to seem trustworthy in the eyes of traders.
Minimum Deposit
This broker claims to have a minimum deposit requirement of only $5. However, on another section they mention their minimum deposit requirement is $200.
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
Another sign that ECBStox is a scam is the astonishing leverage it offers. With this broker, you get 1:500 leverage, which is too high by industry standards.
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.
The offered spreads of this broker aren’t any good either. You get 3 pips spread on the EUR/USD pair with this broker while the industry norm is 1 pip. A high spread is another indication that the broker is a scam because the lower the spread, the more profit the trader makes.
ECBStox offers a very risky leverage of 1:500 and gives contradictory information on its minimum deposit requirement. The spread for the EUR/USD pair with this broker is 3 pips, which is substantially higher than the industry average.
ECBStox Payment Methods and Charges
Transaction Methods
ECBStox lets you deposit funds into your trading account through Bitcoin, wire transfer, UnionPay, credit or debit cards, UnionPay, and Skrill. However, I can’t confirm whether all of these payment options are available to traders or not.
Even though there are plenty of payment methods available, you should only use credit or debit cards as they let you file a chargeback 540 days since you make a transaction. This way, if something goes wrong, you always have that option.
Fees
ECBStox doesn’t provide any information on its fees including the withdrawal fees and inactivity fees. Moreover, they don’t provide any terms and conditions on their website.
Brokers who keep their fee-related information hidden usually use this to charge unfair fees randomly and steal the funds of their clients. Many forex scams use this method and it seems ECBStox is using the same technique here.
It seems odd and suspicious that this broker has kept its legal documents inaccessible for its prospective clients. If you sign up on their site, you would accept their unknown terms and conditions automatically, which is unfair and dangerous.
Is ECBStox 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.
ECBStox Review: Conclusion
ECBStox is definitely a scam. This broker doesn’t have a license and pretends to be based in Cyprus. It has kept its legal information hidden to ensure no one exposes their scam easily. You should be wary of such a dangerous broker and avoid them at all costs.
I hope my ECBStox 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.
