NBH Markets – Great Forex Brokers Review

nbhm.eu in brief

The nbhm.eu website is operated by NBH Markets EU Ltd, which is authorized and regulated by the Cyprus Securities and Exchange Commission (CySEC). The defines itself as a leading brokerage firm that understands the requirements of every type of trader. NBH Markets offers an optimal STP trading environment, the company says. It works with primary banks to provide customers with high liquidity, narrow spreads, and fast order execution through the No Dealing Desk (NDD) model. Clients can trade currency pairs, commodities, and indices through the popular MetaTrader 4 (MT4) and MetaTrader 5 (MT5) platforms. You can start trading with at least USD500.

Regulation

You can be more confident when you deal with regulated brokerage firms, and those regulated by EU bodies are preferable because of the stricter requirements they must meet. NBH Markets is a trading name of NBH Markets EU Ltd, which is registered in the Republic of Cyprus with registration number HE 291974 and is authorized and regulated by the Cyprus Securities Exchange Commission (CySEC) under the license number 208/13. This license allows the company to provide investment services such as reception, transmission, and execution of orders on behalf of clients. NBH Markets complies with EU regulations such as the European Markets in Financial Instruments Directive II (MiFID II). The company is a member of the Investor Compensation Fund (ICF), a scheme that serves to protect retail customers by paying compensation in the event of default. In addition, client’s funds are kept in segregated accounts. NHB Markets uses only reliable European banks for client’s money, the company claims.

Account Types

There are three types of live trading accounts, which differ in the required initial deposit and the accrued commission.

Standard account – The required initial deposit is USD500 and you will be charged a commission of USD8 per lot traded. The spread for the EUR/USD pair starts at 0.6 pips.

Pro account – The required minimum deposit amount is USD25,000 and you will be charged a commission of USD5 per lot traded. The spread for the EUR/USD pair starts at 0.6 pips.

Elite account – You must invest at least EUR50,000 to open it. You will be charged a commission of USD20 per 1,000,000 traded. The spread for the EUR/USD pair starts at 0.6 pips.

Swap Free Islamic Accounts are also available, but the swap free trading positions may be held for a maximum of 5 days, beyond that period the normal overnight fee will apply, the company says. Another thing to mention is that scalping is allowed as a trading method in any type of account.

Market Maker or STP Brokerage?

The Order Execution Policy document shows that the company is always the counterparty (principal) to every trade. For the purposes of orders for the financial Instruments provided by the company, NBH Markets acts as principal and not as agent on the customer’s behalf. Although the company may transmit the customer’s orders for execution to third party liquidity providers, contractually the company is the sole counterparty to the customer’s trades and any execution of orders is done in the company’s name. Therefore, the company is the sole execution venue for the execution of the customer’s orders. All this means that the company acts as a market maker. When customer orders are transmitted for execution using the Straight Through Processing (STP) model, there is no major conflict of interest. In any other case it keeps the risk to itself and the conflict of interest exists. Any loss to customers is a gain for the company.

The same file warns about the presence of slippage: at the time that an order is presented for execution, the specific price requested by the customer may not be available; therefore, the order will be executed close to or a number of pips away from the customer’s requested price. It is also written that once the market reaches the stop loss price the order is triggered and treated as a market order – executed at the current market price available. This means that stop loss orders are also subject to slippage and will be filled at the first available market price; therefore, they are non-guaranteed.

Although it is not mentioned explicitly, all retail clients are covered by the Negative Balance Protection. This provides an overall guaranteed limit on retail client losses; therefore, their account balance will never be allowed to go below zero, regardless of market conditions.

Fees

There is no inactivity fee, so you can choose the period when and how frequently you want to trade. Of course, there are common fees such as spread, swap, rollover, and commissions.

Deposits and Withdrawals

Customers can make deposits by bank transfer, credit/debit cards, Skrill, Neteller, and fasapay. The company does not charge any additional commission on deposits, so any fees charged will be only by your intermediary bank. All deposits made by eWallets, cards and bank transfers above EUR5,000 are included in the company’s zero-fees policy.

Withdrawals must be made by the same payment method with which the customer’s trading account is credited. If funds were added using a credit/debit card, the total amount of withdrawals should equal the total amount of deposits from the card. Therefore, only your initial investment can be returned to the card and earned profit will be processed back to any other payment solution of your choice. The company does not charge any fees on withdrawals and any fees charged will be only by intermediary banks or payment providers. All bank wires normally take 3 -5 business days depending on the intermediary bank. Skrill withdrawal requests are normally processed the same day.

Trading Platforms

Customers can trade through two of the most powerful terminals in the industry – MetaTrader 4 (MT4) and MetaTrader 5 (MT5). MT4 represents the common concept in trading and is the preferred terminal of many traders. It unites an intuitive user interface with a customizable environment. MT4 allows traders to use expert advisors (EAs), which expand their trading strategies. One-click trading directly from the charts is also available. NHB Markets claims that all strategies are allowed including hedging and scalping. The terminal is available as a desktop version and as a mobile app for Android and iOS devices.

MT5 is another powerful and reliable trading platform that adds new advanced trading features, so it has now become an industry standard. MT5 provides advanced trading features and a wide range of technical and fundamental analysis tools, including a strategy tester. There are over 80 built-in indicators, over 20 timeframes in the charts and you can open up to 100 charts at once.

The company represents the main differences between MT4 and MT5 in a table.

Assets

Forex – More than 40 currency pairs are available for trading. The spread for the EUR/USD pair is the same for all types of accounts and starts at 0.6 pips. There are commissions between USD2 and USD8 per lot traded, depending on the account type.

Indices – You can trade CFDs on 10 of global indices, such as DAX30, FTSE100 and DJIA. The minimum spread for DAX30 is 0.7-0.9 points depending on the account. You will be charged a commission per lot traded.

Commodities – CFDs on 3 precious metals and 3 energy products are available for trading, including Gold, Silver, Crude Oil and Brent Oil. The minimum spread for the Gold is within USD0.30-USD0.34 and the one for the Crude Oil is USD0.04-USD0.06.

Summary

NBH Markets is regulated by the CySEC and this license allows it to provide financial services across European Union. The company can act as a market maker, which is associated with a major conflict of interest. The company provides a not so wide range of trading instruments (mostly currency pairs) via the popular MT4and MT5 platforms. There are three types of live accounts that differ in the minimum deposit requirements and commissions. However, if you would like to trade with better trading conditions, you must invest at least EUR25,000.