Vantage FX Broker Review

Vantage FX is an online financial services provider that is based on the core values of accountability, transparency, reliability, integrity, and trust. Their clients are offered over 300 CFD products, including FX pairs, precious metals, commodities, indices, futures, and share CFDs. The broker aims to provide retail and professional clients with unrivaled trading conditions.

In this broker review, we will pay attention to the critical aspects of Vantage FX, which you may consider before deciding whether to trade with this online brokerage.

Key Pros and Cons

First, let us take a brief look at Vantage FX’s advantages and disadvantages.

Company Information

Vantage FX Group is comprised of the following corporate entities with their respective regulated offices:

• Vantage Global Prime Pty Ltd, regulated by the ASIC: office address: level 29, 31 Market St, Sydney, New South Wales, 2000, Australia.
• Vantage International Group Limited, regulated by the CIMA: office address: Artemis House, 67 Fort St, PO Box 2775, Grand Cayman KY1-1111.
• Vantage Global Limited regulated by the VFSC: office address: iCount Building, Kumul Highway, Port Vila, Vanuatu.

Note that Vantage FX does not offer its services to residents of specific areas such as North Korea, Japan, the United States, and other regions.

Why Trade with Vantage FX?

Now, let us provide a quick list of the key features that we like about Vantage FX.

Regulation

Vantage Group of companies is authorized and regulated in various jurisdictions.

First, Vantage Global Prime Pty Ltd, trading under Vantage FX, is regulated by the Australian Securities and Investments Commission (ASIC), with AFSL no. 428901. This is a strict regulatory authority in Australia.

Vantage FX operates as Vantage Global Limited, which is authorized by the VFSC under Section 4 of the Financial Dealers Licensing Act [CAP 70] with the registration number: 700271. This entity serves clients from different parts of the world.

Vantage FX’s international operations are also handled by Vantage International Group Limited, which is registered under the Securities Investment Business Law (SIBL) with registration number: 1383491. Vantage International Group Limited is authorized and regulated by the Cayman Islands Monetary Authority (CIMA). However, this regulation by CIMA is not as solid as ASIC.

A breakdown of the various regulatory regimes is presented below.

The regulation from ASIC is strict, thus giving the broker a fairly solid regulation status.

However, CFTC regulation is absent; therefore, Vantage FX cannot provide its services to citizens or residents of the United States.

Also, the absence of an FCA regulation indicates that UK-based are not covered under the Financial Services Compensation Scheme (FSCS) if the broker fails to meet its financial obligations in the United Kingdom.

KYC Procedure for Account Creation and Depositing

Creating an account with Vantage FX is straightforward and can be completed in less than 5 minutes. However, it may take up to 24 hours to get your trading account verified. Generally, the entire account creation process complies with the industry-standard procedure and follows these steps:

1. Creating your secure login: You enter a valid email and choose a password
2. Completing the application form with your details: You input your names, date of birth, city of residence, address, postcode, and phone number
3. Choosing your trading account: Choose your preferred trading platform and account type (Individual or Company Account)
4. Checking your suitability status You will be required to disclose information about your employment status and sources of income, as well as your trading experience. If you are approved based on your answers, you can proceed to the next step of the process, but if any of your answers do not match the broker’s internal requirements, your application will be rejected;
5. Agree to the terms: You need to tick the box at the bottom of the account registration form to indicate that you agree to Vantage FX’s Terms and Conditions
6. Verifying your documents: You provide your proof of ID (Passport, national ID card, or Driver’s License) and proof of residency (utility bill or bank account statement that is less than three months) for Vantage FX to verify your account.

While the account creation is swift (can be completed within 5 minutes), it may take up to 24 hours to get your trading account verified. Upon verifying your account, you will have to fund your account using any of the available payment methods before you can start trading.

Account Types

The broker offers three main live account types: Standard STP Account, Raw ECN Account, and Pro ECN Account. All account options are denominated in the following currencies: AUD, USD, GBP, EUR, SGD, CAD, NZD, JPY, and HKD. Traders can choose the account that best suits their individual needs and trading style. The available trading account options include the following.

Pro ECN Account

Thanks to its various favorable trading conditions — ultra-tight spreads from 0.0 pips and just $2.00 commission per standard FX lot, per side — the Pro ECN account is suitable for high-volume traders, such as professional traders, money managers, and algorithmic traders. The account allows its users to take advantage of the lowest costs while capitalizing on the fastest execution speeds. The minimum deposit required to start trading is $20,000.

Islamic Account (Swap-Free)

Vantage FX offers swap-free trading on both the Standard STP and Raw ECN accounts. Both Swap-Free Standard STP and Swap-Free RAW ECN accounts are designed for traders who are unable to receive or pay swaps due to religious beliefs. While this account type does not incur any swaps or interest charges on overnight positions, the account holder is charged an administration fee on trading positions.

Demo Account

The broker provides traders with MT4 and MT5 demo account, which traders can use to practice their trading strategies on over 180 financial instruments without risking real money. It is preloaded with virtual for practice purposes.

Trading fees and other costs

Every trader should always consider a broker’s trading fees and other costs before making a trading decision. As a CFD and forex broker, Vantage FX offers two types of trading fees, namely:

• Trading costs – spreads, commissions, and overnight financing rates;
• Non-trading costs – account management fees, deposit and withdrawal fees, non-activity fees.

Let us take a quick look at the trading fees that are available at Vantage FX.

Spreads

Vantage offers Raw ECN spreads across all its account types as follows:

• Standard STP Account — Spreads start from 1.0 pips with no commissions.
• Raw ECN Account — Raw ECN spreads (starting from 0.0 pips) and a commission of $6.0 per round turn.
• Pro ECN Account — Raw ECN spreads (starting from 0.0 pips) + a commission of $4.0 per round turn.

Let us take a look at the average spreads offered on the three account types:

From the above, we can see a mark-up spread of 0.8 pips to the average spread on Vantage FX’s Standard Account to cover the costs of trading the EUR/USD pair.

Now, let us compare the trading costs for the three account types. Let use a 1 Lot trade on EUR/USD (one pip movement equals $10) and assume that the trade is opened and closed at the same price. By using the average spreads, the trading costs for the three accounts will be:

So, the Pro ECN Account is the cheapest of the three accounts, which is why it is offered to high-volume traders.

Finally, let us compare Vantage FX Standard Account average spreads with those other major brokerages offer on the three most actively traded Forex pairs.

From the table above, the spreads offered by Vantage FX Standard STP Account are a bit higher than those offered by the big names in the industry — IC Markets and Fusion Markets.

Commissions

The broker charges a commission of $3.0 per lot per side ($6 round trip) on the Raw ECN account and $2.0 per lot side ($4 round trip) on the Pro ECN account. Vantage FX does not charge any commissions on the Standard STP account.

This means that:

On the Raw ECN account

• for a 1 Standard Lot trade (100,000 units), you will pay a $6.0 commission to open and close the position;
• for a 1 Mini Lot trade (10,000 units), you will pay a $0.6 commission to open and close the position;
• for a 1 Micro Lot trade (1,000 units), you will pay a $0.06 commission to open and close the position.

On the Pro ECN account:

• for a 1 Standard Lot trade (100,000 units), you will pay a $4.0 commission to open and close the position;
• for a 1 Mini Lot trade (10,000 units), you will pay a $0.4 commission to open and close the position;
• for a 1 Micro Lot trade (1,000 units), you will pay a $0.04 commission to open and close the position.

A $4.0 commission for a 1 Lot trade on the Pro account is very competitive. This is because an equivalent trade on a zero spread account with Fusion Markets will incur a $4.50 commission per round turn, which is, at present, among the most competitive offers within the industry.

Financing charges

Forex Swap rates are affected by market conditions and the interest rate of the affiliated countries of the chosen Forex currency pair.

Vantage FX’s financial institutional partners calculate the daily released rates using risk-management analysis. As a result, each forex currency pair has its forex swap charge, and interest is paid on currency sold and received on currency bought.

Traders can see the swap charges for a currency position by logging into their MT4 platform and taking the following steps:

1. Locate your product in the ‘Market Watch’ window. Right-click and select ‘Symbols.’
2. Select the product you wish to view from the list. Select ‘Specifications’.
3. Here, you can view the Forex swap rates for both long and short positions.

Deposit fees

Vantage FX will not charge any deposit fees, just like most online brokerage firms. This is standard practice for brokers – for more details see Deposit Methods

Withdrawal fees

Vantage FX will also not charge any withdrawal fees on all payment options available. However, payments to and from overseas banking institutions may attract intermediary transfer fees from either party, which are independent of Vantage FX – for more details see Withdrawal Methods

Inactivity fees

Vantage FX will not charge an inactivity fee on dormant accounts. This is unlike most financial firms that would charge a certain sum on trading accounts after a prolonged period of inactivity.

Overall on Fees

Vantage FX offers ECN spreads for the Raw ECN and Pro ECN account types, but the Standard STP account has marked-up spreads. The commission fees are competitive, and there are no additional fees on top of overnight financing charges. The absence of non-trading costs is largely beneficial for traders.

Overall, Vantage FX deserves a good pass mark on fees: their commission fee of $4 per round turn stands closely to the fees of their competitors, such as Fusion Markets.

Desktop Trading Platforms

Vantage FX provides traders with popular trading platforms, including:

MetaTrader 4

Vantage FX provides traders with the MT4 trading platform, an advanced trading platform that was introduced in 2005 by MetaQuotes. It is the most popular trading platform among forex and CFD traders due to the abundance of essential trading tools that ensure an enhanced trading experience. The platform becomes more useful when connected to the broker’s deep FX liquidity pools via the custom-made oneZero™ MT4 Bridge. MT4 is available as a desktop application for Windows and Mac computers, WebTrader, and a mobile app for Android and iOS devices. The WebTrader can be accessed through all popular web browsers, such as Chrome, Safari, Firefox, and Edge.

Some exciting features you will enjoy from this platform include three real-time chart types with nine timeframes, good drawing tools, various technical indicators, and more.

MetaTrader 5

This is a more advanced trading platform introduced by MetaQuotes in 2010 to take your forex trading to the next level. In addition to offering all of the features of MT4, the MetaTrader 5 trading platform comes with more advanced capabilities, such as 21 timeframes and nine chart types. Furthermore, the platform’s addition of a two-position accounting system — netting and hedging — allows traders to maintain complete risk management control of their accounts in their way.

The platform offers a complete set of trading orders for flexible forex, commodities, and indices trading, with easy access to the market depth from the broker’s liquidity providers.
In addition, Vantage FX’s MT4/MT5 trading platforms will also grant you access to:

1. Smart Trader Tools: This range of tools gives the Vantage FX MT4 and MT5 platforms an edge over even the most advanced institutional trading platforms on the market.
2. Forex VPS: This helps you to keep your MetaTrader 4 platform running 24 hours a day. It uses an external server to manage your trading connectivity to ensure that your EAs can run non-stop.
3. Forex Signals in MT4: These signals allow traders to follow professional traders and benefit from their trading decisions in real-time.
4. Forex robots (Expert Advisors): The MetaTrader forex robots allow traders to automate their trading strategies.

Copy-trading with Vantage FX

Vantage FX offers various copy-trading tools, and they include:

1. ZuluTrade: This is a world-leading online and mobile social trading platform. It allows users to locate successful traders easily using the ZuluRank, a proprietary performance evaluation algorithm, and then copy their trades.
2. Myfxbook Autotrade: This is an online platform that allows you to copy trades from over 90,000 successful forex trading systems. With your unique Vantage FX AutoTrade account, you can easily create a portfolio and automatically copy the trades of other successful Forex traders.
3. Duplitrade: As the name suggests, the Duplitarde is a tool that helps traders to duplicate the trades of proprietary traders. The tool offers a selection of hand-picked proprietary traders, allowing you to choose the traders you want to copy based on their performance, strategy, and trading style. After that, their trades will be duplicated on your Vantage FX MT4 or MT5 accounts.

Mobile Trading Platforms

The broker provides traders the Vantage FX app; it is a proprietary mobile trading platform that allows traders to buy and sell various financial assets from the convenience of their mobile handheld devices. The platform is replete with a suite of advanced trading tools, such as technical indicators, order management, custom watchlists, trading signals by Trading Central, alerts, news calendars, and more. It is available as a mobile app that is compatible with Android and iOS devices and can be downloaded from the respective app stores.

Additionally, Vantage FX’s traders can trade with the mobile versions of the MT4 and MT5 trading platforms. This brings a whole new level of convenience to the entire trading process as traders can access their trading accounts and place trades on the go, as long as they are connected to the internet. Interestingly, when you trade with the mobile versions of the MT4 and MT5 trading platforms, there is nothing to lose since the mobile app offers the same features and functionalities as the desktop platforms. The app requires Android 5.0 or later, while the iOS app requires iOS 9.0 or later.

Trading Instruments

Vantage FX offers over 300 CFD products, including FX pairs, precious metals, commodities, indices, futures, and share CFDs. Their range of available financial assets compares fairly to other big brokers, such as OANDA and Fusion Markets.

Let us now take a closer look at the product list.

Forex

Vantage FX offers access to the most liquid global FX markets, allowing traders to trade over 40 forex pairs. The broker provides traders with institutional-level trading through its deep FX liquidity pools with inter-bank market access.

The broker offers favorable trading conditions, including leverage of up to 1:500, raw ECN spreads, and competitive pricing due to its deep liquidity pools. For example, you can trade major Forex pairs with spreads of as low as 0.1 pips on Vantage FX’s Raw ECN Account, while the spreads on the Standard Account start from 1.0 pip on EUR/USD, which is fair when compared with its peers such as IC Markets and FP Markets.

Index CFDs

Vantage FX allows traders to trade the world’s most liquid Stock Exchange indices — S&P 500, DAX, FTSE, DJ30, and more — through the MT4 and MT5 trading platforms. Thanks to the broker’s oneZero™ MT4 Bridge, traders can enjoy the fastest execution speed. The prices of all Vantage FX Indices are based on the underlying price of the index’s corresponding stock market.

At Vantage FX, all indices trading styles are welcome, including scalping, hedging, swing trading, and position trading, and you can use any Expert Advisor (EA) that suits your trading style. The index CFDs are designed for institutional traders, and as such, traders enjoy zero commissions, transparent prices, leverage of up to 1:500, and ultra-sharp spreads.

Stock CFDs

Traders who are looking to profit from some of the world’s most popular stocks can consider trading stock CFDs with Vantage FX. Currently, Vantage FX offers 50 share CFDs from the US stock exchanges, over 70 share CFDs from the UK and European markets, and 50 share CFDs from the Australian market. You can speculate on some of the largest companies from the United States, the UK/Europe at $6 and €10 per trade, respectively. Australian stock CFDs come at just $5 per trade.

You can take advantage of 20:1 leverage and get started with just a small initial margin. Since the broker welcomes all trading styles, all types of traders (whether short, medium, or long-term traders) can trade stocks with them manually or with an expert advisor.

Energies

Energy commodities are some of the most important commodities in the world because they are used to power the economy. Vantage FX allows you to trade the energy markets via the MT4 and MT5 trading platforms. The broker offers CFDs of the most popular energy commodities, such as crude oil, natural gas, gasoline, and heating oil, allowing you to take advantage of fluctuations in the prices of those commodities.

Precious Metals

Vantage FX gives traders the opportunity to benefit from the precious metals markets by offering CFDs in various precious metals, which traders can use to speculate on the price movements or hedge against inflation.

With a Vantage FX MT4 or MT5 trading account, traders can seamlessly open short-term or long-term position trades in physical gold and silver. Also, they can trade in both long and short directions and can hedge their physical positions whenever they see the market turning.

Trade Execution

With Vantage FX, you will enjoy the benefit of super-fast trade execution and interbank grade RAW ECN spreads with no dealing desk intervention. The broker offers institutional trading conditions to retail traders, operating a true ECN/STP model of execution that offers transparency and helps to build trust. As with other ECN brokers, Vantage FX uses top-tier liquidity providers (LPs) to ensure deep liquidity, fast trade execution speeds, and tight interbank RAW ECN spreads that start from just 0 pips.

Vantage FX incorporates the latest innovative technologies to make trading faster and easier for their clients. They partner with Equinix, enabling them to provide a diverse network of servers linked by fiber optics. Every fiber optic line that connects their services is carefully selected and tested to ensure minimal latency (with up to 100 gb/s bandwidth). Servers are located worldwide in major financial hubs, including New York and London, giving ECN market liquidity to client platforms for fast execution speeds.

Vantage FX also makes various VPS providers available to traders. VPS hosting ensures your platform keeps running 24 hours a day so you set up EAs to take advantage of every opportunity that arises in the market. Using a VPS hosting service with Vantage FX reduces latency to the broker’s trade servers, ensures 100% uptime during market hours, and allows you to install third-party applications, such as the MT4 platform and EAs.

One of Vantage FX’s VPS partners is ForexVPS, which allows users to simply log in to their servers through any stable desktop or mobile device. The broker offers access to ForexVPS free of charge for clients that have a minimum balance of $1000.

Deposits

Vantage FX supports different deposit methods to enable traders to fund their accounts and trade with ease. The broker does not charge any deposit fees, and it allows clients to open accounts and deposit funds in the following base currencies: AUD, USD, EUR, GBP, NZD, SGD, JPY, and CAD.

Vantage FX does not accept third-party payments, so all funds deposited into your trading account must be under the same name as your Vantage FX trading account. Payment from joint bank accounts or credit cards is accepted if the trading account holder is one of the beneficiaries. The minimum deposit is $200.

The broker offers a generous selection of deposit methods, including:

Currently, there are no deposit bonuses available with this brokerage.

Withdrawal Methods

Clients can withdraw funds online by logging into the secure Vantage FX client portal and selecting the withdraw tab from the menu. All withdrawal requests are processed via the payment method that was used to make a deposit. For instance, Debit/Credit Card withdrawal can only be used for accounts that made deposits using a Debit/Credit Card.

Vantage FX does not charge any internal fees for deposits or withdrawals. However, payments to and from overseas banking institutions may attract intermediary transfer fees from either party independent of Vantage FX.

Due to AML / CTF laws, Vantage FX cannot deposit funds to third parties. As a result, all money withdrawn from your account must go to a bank account in the same name as your Vantage FX trading account.

Customer Support Contacts

Vantage FX has a knowledgeable client support team that is very polite and highly responsive to clients’ problems. The support team is available 24 hours a day, five days a week — from Mondays to Fridays. You can contact the broker’s support team through any of the following channels:

1. Live Chat: This efficient channel allows you to chat directly with the broker’s support team live. The live chat function is available as a “Chat” icon at the lower-right corner of the website. When you click on the icon, you will be required to input your name and email address. Next, type in your message in the bigger box to interact with the customer support team live.
2. Telephone contact: You can also contact the broker’s support team over the phone from 9 am to 5 pm, Monday – Friday through any of the following phone numbers for the broker’s offices in various cities:
   • Australia: 1300 945 517
   • The United Kingdom: +44(0)20 7043 5050

   When we contacted the broker’s Australian office during local business hours, we got a response within few minutes. The response from the customer support team was polite and offered all the information we were looking for.

3. Email Contact: You can send specific inquiries to the following email addresses:
   • Support United Kingdom: support@vantageprime.co.uk
   • Support Australia: support@vantagefx.com.au
   • Support Cayman Island and Vanuatu: support@vantagefx.com

   After emailing the support team during business hours, we got a reply to our queries within a few hours.

4. Help & Support: This is a comprehensive list of Frequently Asked Questions. They answer some of the clients’ most common questions, and they arrange in the following categories: about Vantage FX, account application, account management, fund management, trading with Vantage FX, and trading platforms.

We should also mention some of Vantage FX’s awards for their satisfactory services:

• Financial Trading Services Provider of the Year: CV Magazine, 2019
• Best Customer Support: The Forex Awards, 2016
• Financial Trading Services Provider of the Year: Fintech Awards, 2018
• Best Forex Education Asia Pacific: IB Times Trading Awards, 2012
• Best ECN Broker: The Forex Awards, 2016

Research and Educational Materials

To help traders make knowledgeable trading decisions, Vantage FX makes a range of learning resources available on their website. These educational resources include learning courses, trading platform manuals, video tutorials, daily market updates, and more. Here is what you will find:

1. A rich education section containing various market analyses and educational content
2. A press release section that keeps traders up to date with the latest events in the markets.
3. Video tutorials on the following topics:
   • How to Install MT4 VFX+
   • How to Install MT4 Smart Trader Tools
   • How to Enable RAW ECN Pairs
   • How to Create and Save MT4 Profiles
   • How to Create and Save MT4 Templates
   • How to Change MT4 Chart Colour Settings
   • How to Install an MT4 Expert Advisor
   • How to Install a Custom MT4 Indicator
   • How to Place Trades in MT4 – Stop Loss and Take Profit
   • How to Install and Log into MT4How to install MetaTrader 4
4. Ebooks on various trading topics

Security and Money Guarantees

At bestbrokers.com, we are committed to ensuring that traders trade with only regulated online brokers, and Vantage FX is one of such. Our key findings include:

• Over a decade of business history and growth
• Top-tier ASIC regulation
• Award-winning brokerage

The broker’s regulation by ASIC indicates a reputable broker that keeps to regulatory and ethical requirements. But surprisingly, the broker does not accept Australian clients. As a Tier 1 regulatory authority, ASIC also mandates that all client funds are kept fully segregated from the broker’s corporate accounts in client trust accounts at top-rated banks. This way, the risk of fraudulent behavior by the brokerage is kept at a minimum.

Finally, the broker has bagged several industry awards from CV Magazine, Fintech Awards, The Forex Awards, IB Times Trading Awards, and more. Some of the awards include Financial Trading Services Provider of the Year, Financial Trading Services Provider of the Year, Best ECN Broker, Best Customer Support, and Best Forex Education Asia Pacific.

Conclusion

Putting it all together, our team of experts at BestBrokers.com make bold to say that Vantage FX offers some of the best trading conditions for Forex trading among peers due to its:

• Mixed pricing: Very competitive for the Pro ECN account and exorbitant on the Standard ECN account
• High liquidity, flexible leverage
• Innovative trading technology
• Lightning-fast execution via the MT4and MT5 trading platforms
• Award-winning customer service
• Free education to sharpen your skills
• Fully licensed and regulated since 2009

Emmanuel Ifeanyi