HighTopFX Subsumed With Bugs & Errors?
HighTopFX is a very shady forex broker. Because of some technical error, I couldn’t download their legal documents. Moreover, the website of this broker (hightopfx.com) is filled with bugs and technical errors.
It seems as if the people running this firm don’t care about their clients at all, which is usually a sign of a scam. What’s worse is that the website (hightopfx.com) doesn’t give any contact information about the brokers. It reduces the reliability of HighTopFX considerably.
HighTopFX has a shady website and is based in an offshore region. I don’t recommend trading with them.
HighTopFX License and Regulation
The biggest red flag about this broker is it doesn’t give any vital information to its users. It’s a big indication that HighTopFX might be a scam. They don’t mention the address of the firm nor do they give any contact number.
The only information about their origin is that they are based in Australia and have been operating since 2009. HighTopFX claims to hold a license from ASIC (Australian Securities and Investments Commission), which is the financial regulator in Australia.
But when I checked for HighTopFX’s name in the ASIC register, I didn’t find any information. This means HighTopFX is lying about its license and is an unlicensed firm in reality. It is an unregulated broker and it’s trying to hide this fact by lying to everyone.
Did You Know/
ASIC stands for Application-Specific Integrated Circuit. ASIC is a micro-chip, specifically designed for special technical functions.
You shouldn’t trade with unlicensed and unregulated brokers. There are many scams in the forex industry and so, financial regulators exist in many regions such as the US and Europe. These regulators impose heavy restrictions and laws on forex brokers (and similar service providers) to ensure that the broker doesn’t act against the interests of its client.
However, unregulated and unlicensed wouldn’t have to follow those restrictions. They can act against your interests (such as steal your data) and get away scot-free.
On top of that, regulators like FCA offer insurance compensation in case the broker steals the funds of their clients. For example, FCA can give you up to £85,000 if an FCA-regulated broker steals your funds. You don’t get such facilities with unregulated brokers. This is a strong reason why I don’t recommend trading with an unregulated forex broker.
HighTopFX lies about having an ASIC license. It is an unregulated and shady broker and you should stay away from such a shady service provider. Your funds and data would be in danger with them.
HighTopFX Trading Conditions
You should always check the trading conditions of a forex broker before doing business with them. Let’s see what are trading conditions of this broker:
Trading Platform
A good thing I noticed about this broker was that it offers the MetaTrader 4 platform to its clients. Almost all reputed forex brokers use these platforms because they offer a ton of features. MT4 lets you use a code base with custom scripting and automate your trades. Considering that it has been in the industry since 2005 and has become an industry leader, I was glad to see them offering this platform.
However, many shady brokers try to use the positive reputation of MetaTrader platforms to appear reliable. And it seems to me that HighTopFX is using this tactic as well.
Minimum Deposit
The minimum deposit requirement with HighTopFX is 1000 AUD (Australian Dollar). This is nearly eight times more than the industry average of 100 USD. It’s obvious that HighTopFX is a very greedy and fishy broker.
Buyer Beware: XGlobal FX
Many forex scams keep their initial deposit requirement high which allows them to grab a lot of funds immediately. Such brokers are aware of their pathetic services and so, they don’t give you a chance to test out their services beforehand. Instead, they force you to make a big financial commitment. In case you decide to discontinue availing of their services, they will steal the huge deposit you had made.
It’s a common strategy among shady forex brokers and that’s why I don’t recommend trading with HighTopFX.
Leverage and Spreads
The minimum leverage you can get with HighTopFX is 1:100. It is quite a high ratio by industry standards. However, that’s not all, their highest leverage can go up to 1:400!
High leverage is usually a sign of a scam. This is why financial regulators restrict their brokers on how much leverage they can offer to their clients. For example, the UK-based regulator FCA doesn’t allow its brokers to offer a leverage ratio higher than 1:30.
High leverage ratios can wipe out all of your earnings and even put you in debt quickly. They are very risky, especially if you’re a beginner.
While using the website of HighTopFX, I wasn’t able to set up a live account because of some technical issue. It’s certainly not a good sign and makes them appear shadier.
However, I was able to try out their demo account and the spread on the EUR/USD pair was 0.3 pips, which is quite impressive. But there’s no way to confirm if they offer this spread on their live trading accounts too.
HighTopFX Payment Methods and Charges
Transaction Methods
HighTopFX offers very limited and strange deposit options to its users. You can only use EFT, UnionPay, and AliPay to fund your trading account with this broker. The common payment options such as credit/debit cards or eWallets were nowhere to be found.
Note that I couldn’t confirm whether their claimed deposit methods are actually true because of the various bugs present on their website. It was a recurring problem and made the broker more suspicious.
Also, you shouldn’t deposit funds into your trading account with methods you’re not familiar with. It can result in you losing your hard-earned money as the chargeback policy of every service provider differs.
Fees
HighTopFX doesn’t give much information about its fees. In fact, they only mention withdrawal fees of 30 AUD which they charge for every extra withdrawal request. However, they don’t mention the standard number of withdrawal requests they give to their users.
That’s not all, they claim to process withdrawals within three days of getting the request, but I couldn’t verify this information.
HighTopFX provides very vague information about its fees. They don’t specify any dormant or inactivity fee, which makes them more suspicious. If a broker hides such information from you, you should stay away from them as it allows them to steal your funds under the guise of random charges.
Offered Bonuses
HighTopFX doesn’t give any information about its offered bonuses. It’s unclear whether they run promotions or will run any promotions in the future.
Is HighTopFX a Scam? Definitely
The forex industry attracts a lot of scams and they are of various sorts. Some scammers tend to give an unsolicited call and claim that you’re eligible for a random bonus. Others would run ads on the internet claiming to offer attractive deposit bonuses or easy profits.
Creating a website and filling it with lies is very easy. And these scammers target inexperienced traders too. Usually, these brokers operate from offshore areas such as St. Vincent or the Commonwealth of Dominica. They operate from such areas because these places don’t have financial regulators like the US or the UK. So they don’t have to follow any strict laws and can easily steal the funds of their users without facing any legal repercussions.
You should always check a broker’s regulations and T&Cs before trading with them.
HighTopFX Review: Conclusion
HighTopFX has a terrible website filled with technical glitches and bugs. They don’t give you any vital information and provide only an email address as their contact information.
This broker lies about its license and it’s clear that it’s an unreliable service provider. Keep your funds and data safe by avoiding this broker.
There are many scams in the forex industry like HighTopFX. And they keep growing. The best way to combat these scams is to spread the truth about them so their schemes would fail before they even start.
If you know someone who’s interested in forex trading, share this article with them. They should know the truth about such scammers.
