WH Selfinvest
Why They are Bad for Traders
Based in Luxembourg, WH Selfinvest is a prominent Forex broker that has its offices in Netherlands, Belgium, Switzerland, Germany, and France. They offer their services in 28 countries. And that’s why they are among the largest Forex brokers in mainland Europe.
They were founded in the year 1998, and since then they have become a major name in the industry. Their range of financial products is wide as well and they offer their clients to trade in futures, CFDs, and over 65 currency pairs.
But having a strong brand name doesn’t always mean they are a great service provider. WH Selfinvest receives a lot of backlash from Forex traders and experts because of their hidden fees and expensive deposit requirements. Having experience of more than two decades has helped them in establishing a strong presence, but many people (including me) don’t recommend their services.
Their commission rates and minimum deposit requirements are very high. This makes trading with them quite an expensive and risky affair. Usually forex brokers keep their initial deposit requirements low to let investors get familiar with their services with minimum risk possible. A high minimum deposit leads to a bigger risk and also restricts you from testing out the broker before. In the following points, I have discussed the various aspects of WH Selfinvest to give you a better idea of why they aren’t the right choice for your trading needs.
About WH Selfinvest
Like I mentioned earlier, WH Selfinvest was founded in 1998 and is primarily based in Luxembourg. They operate in 28 Entries and have offices in many of them. Their parent company is WH SELFINVEST S.A.
Their parent company got their license from the Commission de Surveillance du Secteur Financier (CSSF) and the Ministry of Finance of Luxembourg. Apart from the licensing body, their offices fall under the jurisdictions of the local regulatory authorities as well, including their offices in Germany, France, Netherlands, and Belgium. These regulatory authorities include Autoriteit Financiële Markten (AFM Netherlands), Banque de France (Central Bank of France), the Financial Services and Market Authority (FSMA of Belgium), and Autorite de Contrȏle Prudentiel et de Résolution (ACPR of France).
The funds of clients are separate from the company’s funds. Thanks to the regulatory authorities, the funds of the broker’s clients have protection if the broker fails. You can get guaranteed investments up to €20,000 in case such a situation arises.
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Luxembourg is a part of the EU, so under the EEA (European Economic Area) agreement, WH Selfinvest can offer all of its services to all member countries of the EU without needing more licenses. They don’t operate in other key markets including the US and Japan. However, they offer plenty of financial products such as CFDs, 69 currency pairs, and others.
Trading Requirements on WH Selfinvest
The trading requirements and conditions on WH Selfinvest are its biggest drawback. It’s the chief reason why I don’t recommend this forex broker to anyone, especially new traders. But before I begin sharing my opinion on why they are bad, I want to give you all the details:
Minimum Deposit:
To open a live account with this broker, you’ll need to invest a minimum of 2,500. Yes, you read it correct, you need to make a minimum deposit of €2,500 to open a live account with WH Selfinvest.
That’s a huge amount considering the fact that most of the brokers demand minimum deposits in a few hundred dollars or euros. But the people at WH Selfinvest have kept a high minimum deposit.
Trading Accounts and Commissions:
You can open two kinds of trading accounts with WH Selfinvest. The first one is a spread-based account. They don’t charge you a commission on this account, instead, they charge a variable spread on every trade you make. Their variable spreads start at 0.9 pips but the usual spreads are of around 2 pips. You can expect the spreads to increase during sessions with low volume as well as times with high volatility.
Another type of trading account you can open with WH Selfinvest is a commission-based account with spreads that start from 1 pip. Every transaction would have a commission of €0.035 per €1000. As you would’ve noticed, WH Selfinvest has similar charges for both types of trading accounts. But you should remember that the MT4 trading platform doesn’t offer choices for account types.
There’s no discrimination between the two account types. But this also means that you’ll have to make a minimum deposit of €2,500 to open both account types.
Leverage:
WH Selfinvest offers a 1:50 leverage, which is quite low in comparison to the industry standard. Other brokers of the same region offer leverages of 1:100 or 1:200. You get around 1:20 leverage for other trading instruments.
Trading Platforms on WH Selfinvest
My WH Selfinvest review would be incomplete without discussing their trading platforms. They use the popular MT4 Platform for trading. MT4 gives its users multiple tools and services such as technical indicators and back-testing options. Their MT4 platform is available on mobile and desktop devices but they don’t have a dedicated Android app for this purpose. This can cause some issues to some traders who use those devices.
They also use NanoTrader for trading, which has two available versions. The free version of NanoTrader offers a few basic functionalities but is very limited. The paid version, which costs €29 per month, offers you multiple facilities including trading ideas as well as analytics. NanoTrader has more than 40 trading strategies that you can use.
The trading platforms at WHS might seem like a great thing at first, but you should know that it’s the minimum they must provide. You pay for the trading platform nonetheless, and that isn’t something exclusive to this broker. You can avail the benefits of these platforms from other brokers too.
Accepted Payment Methods
WH Selfinvest doesn’t have many payment methods available. They only use the following methods for payments:
- Bank wire transfer
- Citi
- Check
- Credit or debit cards
You get one free withdrawal per month. After withdrawing once, all other withdrawals get charged according to the currency of your account. Money laundering is a major issue and to counter that, WHS accepts transfers through ING Luxembourg S.A. and the Banque Internationale a Luxembourg S.A. only. And your deposit instructions should contain the beneficiary’s name and the WH account number. This is another major drawback that I’ve discussed in the next section in detail.
Why Trading with WH Selfinvest is a Bad Idea
Now that I’ve discussed all the significant aspects of WH Selfinvest, here is why I don’t recommend using their services:
High Minimum Deposit:
They require you to deposit €2,500 initially which is significantly more than any other broker. This gives you no room to work with. Their minimum deposit amount is huge and it puts you at risk because you can’t test their services before. Some might say that WHS has a huge brand name, but it still doesn’t give them the right to bully new customers into joining them. A small minimum deposit, gives you a chance to see how good a broker is before you make any significant financial commitment, WH Selfinvest doesn’t give you that opportunity.
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You just have to take their word for it. You can’t test out their services before figuring out whether they deserve such a high deposit or not. If you’re a new or small Forex trader, it’s not the broker for you.
Low Leverage:
Another major drawback of trading with WH Selfinvest is their low leverage. Like I mentioned earlier in this article, they give you 1:50 leverage, which is lower than the industry standard, especially in the EU.
A low leverage limits your trading opportunities and it puts big traders at a disadvantage. Why is that?
That’s because you’ll need to invest more to get the benefits a trader with higher leverage would enjoy. And there’s no reason for you to get low leverage when you have other brokers who’d gladly give you 1:75 or 1:200.
Hidden Fees:
The high minimum deposit and the low leverage, both require you to invest more in your trading account. And when the broker demands you to invest more, it should give you some benefits too. But WH Selfinvest seems to ignore their client’s interests here as well.
The primary trading platform on WHS is NanoTrader, and you’ll have to pay for its premium version additionally. They could’ve at least kept it free but for some reason, they don’t.
This gives them the opportunity to charge hidden fees from their clients.
Final Thoughts
After going through their services and seeing how big a brand they are, I wouldn’t recommend working with them. Their high charges and requirements make them a bad choice for small traders, whereas their low leverage makes them a bad choice for big traders. So, I can’t suggest anyone to use their services.
It would be better for you if you looked for other options. I have tried to keep my WH Selfinvest review as detailed as possible to help you make an informed decision.
Reference Links:
WH Selfinvest UK – Home | Facebookwww.facebook.com › … › Brand › Product/Service › WH Selfinvest UK
Please help me, they are not letting me withdraw my balance! If anyone can help me get my money back then please email me at li*******@pr********.com
Despite the steep deposit requirements, the service is actually really good. If you give them a call, there’s no menu, you immediately get a friendly person on the phone who is very patient in solving your problems.
I’ve been trading with them shy under a year. First futures, now forex. Can’t say that I’m disappointed.
If you are complaining about small leverage, you just don’t have a good money management system. WH Selfinvest has a leverage of 1:50 and this should be enough if you are planning to stay in the game for many years.
The account comes with Nanotrader which is really good software, but only available on Windows. If you are a mac user and not a big fan of bootcamp, just take the Nanotrader Free version and trade via Tradingview.com. This is what I am doing and I’m very happy about my setup.
Only complaint: the look and feel, branding and website of WHS looks outdated and needs to be renewed.
Wh Seflinvest is definitely a shady broker. These people are in the business of stealing from their customers. I had invested €4500 in my account there and they reduced it to €4000. I couldn’t believe it when I saw my balance.
Their customer support told me that it was some technical problem but so far, they haven’t fixed it.
They aren’t processing my withdrawal request too. I’m doomed.