investous.com briefly
The website investous.com/eu is operated by F1Markets Limited which is authorized and regulated by the Cyprus Securities and Exchange Commission (CySEC). However, there are some events in the history of F1Markets that need to be mentioned. In the middle of 2020, the CySEC partially suspended the license of F1Markets for a month because its own brands Investous and Stratton Markets were advertised using false recommendations for its products on social media. A month later, the company regained its license and is now authorized by the CySEC. Customers can trade CFDs on currency pairs, commodities, indices, shares and cryptocurrencies via the widespread MetaTrader 4 (MT4) platform. The company also offers its own terminal called WebTrader. The minimum initial deposit is EUR250.
Regulation
It is certainly a good idea to check the regulation of the brokerage company where you will open an account. Investous is a brand of F1Markets Limited, a Cyprus Investment Firm (CIF), authorized and regulated by the Cyprus Securities and Exchange Commission (CySEC) under license number 267/15. In addition, there is a global website investous.com/international that is operated by IOS Investments Limited. F1Markets Limited and IOS Investments Limited belong to the same Group of Companies and share the “Investous” brand. IOS Investments Limited is regulated by the International Financial Services Commission of Belize (IFSC) with license number 000349/122. You need to be careful about which company you deal with. F1Markets Limited complies with EU and local regulations such as the European Markets in Financial Instruments Directive II (MiFID II) offering services within the EU excluding Belgium.
Account Types
There are four types of live accounts you can open with Investous. They differ in the required deposit amount and spreads offered.
Basic Account – The minimum deposit amount is EUR250. The spreads for the EUR/USD pair start at 2.8 pips and for the Crude Oil – from USD0.12. In addition, you can withdraw once free of charges.
Gold Account – The minimum deposit amount is EUR25,000. The minimum spread for the EUR/USD pair is 2.5 pips and for the Crude Oil it is USD0.11. Additionally, you have one withdrawal per month, free of charge.
Platinum Account – You must invest at least EUR100,000 to open this type of account. Spreads for major currency pairs start at 1.9 pips and for the Crude Oil – at USD0.10. You can withdraw three times per month without any fees.
VIP Account – The minimum deposit amount is EUR250,000. The spread for the EUR/USD currency pair will start at 1.4 pips and that for the Crude Oil – at USD0.08. You can withdraw as much as you would like free of charges.
Market Maker or STP Brokerage?
We looked at the legal section to find out how F1Markets Limited executes customer’s orders. The Best Interest and Order Execution Policy text shows that the company does not execute client orders in financial instruments on an own account basis, as a principal to principal against the client. F1Markets uses third party financial institutions (liquidity providers) as execution venues. The company is currently using KTRADE (PTY) Limited as the execution venue. The company is not the execution venue but arranges client orders for execution with the execution venue. In other words, F1Markets uses the Straight Through Processing (STP) model to fulfill client orders, hedging all risk with its liquidity providers (currently – KTRADE (PTY) Limited). Therefore, there is no conflict of interest, and the company earns money only from the spread and commissions.
The same document explains that slippage may occur while trading in financial markets. This is a case when due to the sharp change in the price, the order will be executed at the first available price, and not at the requested price. All types of orders (including stop loss orders) are subject to slippage and the company claims it is a normal phenomenon during the period of low liquidity or high volatility. The orders will be filled at the next available market price. Therefore, stop loss orders are not guaranteed.
The Client Agreement document confirms that the company applies a Negative Balance Protection Policy according to which clients may not lose more than the amount deposited on the platform. If a position is closed at such a price causing the equity to fall below zero, the company shall waive its right to receive the balance from the client.
Fees
Of course, the basic fees such as spreads, swaps, rollovers, and commissions are applicable but there also is an inactivity fee. The company explains that the platform is constantly provided to clients for trading, regardless of its actual use. If there are no transactions (deposits, withdrawals, or trading activity) on a client’s account for a period of at least one (1) month or more, the company will charge a monthly inactivity fee on the client’s account. The client’s account will be charged a monthly inactivity fee of EUR80 until it becomes active again.
If there is a chargeback request, the company will impose a charge of USD150 to cover their investigative expenses.
Deposits and Withdrawals
There are multiple deposit methods available including bank transfer, credit or debit cards, and e-Wallets such as Neteller and Skrill. The minimum first deposit is USD250. The company does not charge any deposit fees.
Withdrawals must be made by the same payment method with which the customer’s trading account is credited. There are withdrawal fees for each payment method. If a customer deposits by credit or debit card, the applicable fee is 3.5% of the deposit amount. If a bank transfer is used as the method of payment, the withdrawal fee is EUR30. The applicable fee for deposits via Skrill is 2% and for those via Neteller is 3.5%.
Trading Platforms
The company provides one of the most widespread platforms for online trading is available – MetaTrader 4 (MT4). The terminal offers three different chart types and many technical indicators through a simple and customizable interface. Real time market analysis helps traders make a better decision about when to enter and exit markets. If you prefer to place orders using automated trading, you have several such tools called expert advisors (EAs).
Traders can use the company’s own trading platform titled WebTrader. It is web based and can be launched in any browser.
Assets
Investous offers nearly 300 assets for online trading.
Currency Pairs – 50 major, minor, and exotic currency pairs can be traded. The typical spread for the EUR/USD pair depends on the trading account and is within 1.4-2.8 pips.
Indices – Clients can trade CFDs on 21 global indices, such as ASX, DJIA, CAC40 etc. The average value of the spread for the DAX index is about 3 points and for the DJIA index it is 4 points.
Commodities – CFDs on 22 commodities are available including Crude Oil and Palladium, as well as agricultural and grain foods. The typical spread for the Gold is USD0.60 and the one for the Crude Oil it is USD0.05.
Shares – You can trade CFDs on 70 US shares and 150 European shares. The average spread for the Apple share is USD0.50 and for the Tesla share it is USD1.1.
Cryptocurrencies – 42 cryptocurrencies such as Bitcoin, Litecoin, Ethereum, Ripple, Monero, etc. are available as CFDs for online trading. They can be traded against USD, EUR, and GBP.
Education
In the Education section you can find materials of Trading Central (login required), several trading strategies (presented as recommendations), a basic glossary, basic explanations of technical and fundamental analysis and an economic calendar provided by MetaTrader.
Summary
Investous is a brand of F1Markets Ltd, a CySEC regulated Cyprus Investment Firm (CIF), which provides financial services across European Union. The documents confirm F1Markets is the STP brokerage company that transmits each of client orders to its liquidity providers for execution. There are many trading instruments that can be traded via the popular terminal MT4 and its own web-based platform. There are 4 different types of accounts that differ in the minimum required deposit and the spread offered. You can open a real account with at least USD250.
I have been investing for 3 months and my income is minimal. I was already thinking of giving up and throwing money on a bank deposit, but I decided to turn to Investous broker as a last resort, and I was not mistaken. On the first day I received a ton of new information. I got tips, concepts, error analysis. Now I am making good profits, compared to the past.
I am working with basic account, this is the most suitable account for beginners because the minimum deposit amount is only 250 dollars. I have a good and stable broker.
I also really hope that I will be able to earn enough from trading. I am still new in this business, I try Investous first, not everything is clear till the end, but at least there is a demo account where you can try different versions and strategies, no one rushes to go to a real account. They have Trading central and CFD trading strategies to help everyone who wants to trade.