When you’re choosing a forex broker, it is imperative that you make an informed decision that is backed by cold hard facts. iReviewForexBrokers has conducted a thorough broker review split into what we believe to be the six most important aspects that a forex broker can excel in. In this Vantage FX review, a member of the iReviewForexBrokers team has gone through the process of opening a live account and trading on the Vantage FX MT4 platform.
But while the quantitative numbers and cold hard facts of this Vantage FX review is highly important, there are certain human elements that a trader must look for when making a decision on which forex broker to choose. This is where the experience of the iReviewForexBrokers’ team of highly experienced professional traders comes in handy.
Vantage FX are a top tier forex broker. They operate under an ECN model. They offer the ability for their clients to trade a tonne of different markets across a wide variety of platforms. There are never any questions about whether the trader is going to be scammed or lose their deposit, because of the broker’s strict ASIC regulation.
The transparent nature of any top tier forex broker means you know what you are getting into when you open an account with them. The descriptions that you read on their websites are factual and trustworthy. Your point of difference has to come from somewhere else. From the human element that only a professional trader understands.
What happens when you have a question about a price feed delay? What happens when an upcoming market event changes the required margin in your account? Will the broker be able to answer the questions and make these things that real traders encounter in their trading careers run smooth?
You think that these sorts of things won’t happen, or matter to you until they do and you need a forex broker that you can trust. Read the iReviewForexBrokers Vantage FX review categories below.
Trading Platforms
The first aspect of this Vantage FX review is the selection of trading platforms the broker can offer to their clients. New traders who are looking for a forex broker have to decide what exactly it is that they’re looking to get out of a forex trading platform. They need to know which of the features that they’re looking for before they can make an informed decision on whether Vantage FX meets their own specific needs.
One thing that immediately stands out in this Vantage FX review is the fact that they have gone away from offering their own proprietary trading software to focus on their MetaTrader 4 offering. iReviewForex experts have concluded that this is in fact a positive step. Many forex brokers that offer an in-house developed trading platform actually find that compared to MT4, the uptake on their own software is poo and they would have been much better off focusing their attention on making sure their MT4 platform is of the highest standard.
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The MetaTrader 4 desktop platform is the most popular in the forex trading industry. If you’re a respectable forex broker then you offer the MT4 platform and Vantage FX tick this box. Their version of the software is fast, secure and most importantly stable.
The Vantage FX MT4 platform offers lightning fast trade executions for its clients thanks to their back end configurations and trading risk management team. Running a no dealing desk set up, their orders rely on their ECN price aggregator sourcing prices from their tier 1 liquidity providers, fresh from the interbank market. When you trade via the Vantage FX MT4 platform you can be confident that your funds are safe and secure.
Last but not least, Vantage FX’s MT4 platform is known for its stability. Known for their specialiSation as trading technological experts, their server layout and global trading infrastructure is second to none and ensures maximum uptime for their trading servers. As a trader, We’re sure that you know that stability could be the most important aspect when reviewing a forex broker’s trading platform.
When you’re on the go, the MT4 mobile app never has to be far from your side. Whether you’re an Apple or Android user, keep your trading account tucked neatly away in your pocket, ready to be pulled out and opportunity exploited, whenever and wherever you are!
the iReviewForex team found that results using the MT4 app with a Vantage FX account were good, but the limitations of the mobile app were there to see. The charting on a mobile phone is only basic and does not allow for templates or profiles to be saved for easy access when you re-enter the app.
Our team had the best results when using the MT4 mobile app in conjunction with the MT4 desktop app. An example of best practise here was to conduct our full technical analysis on our desktop MT4 charts where we could use profiles and templates, then after entering our position, with a clear trade management plan in place, managing the position on our mobile app on the go.
But what if you’re looking for that middle of the road solution? Saw you’re out, but you have access to someone else’s desktop computer or a laptop. You don’t want to have to settle for the inferior charting that the MT4 mobile app offers and with Vantage FX’s duel webtrader solution, you won’t have to.
The MT4 WebTrader platform is similar to the MT4 mobile app in that their charting is not quite up to scratch, but this is where Vantage FX has gone above and beyond for their clients and set up Chart IQ’s MarketTrader platform. The MarketTrader charts look great and have a plethora of indicators and chart studies that can be added just like you were on your desktop MT4 platform.
If you’ve never traded with Vantage FX before, it’s worth taking a look for their new MarketTrader platform alone.
Trading Conditions
The next aspect that we want to explore in this Vantage FX review, is the trading conditions that the broker can offer to their clients. Trading conditions cover things such as how tight their spreads are and most importantly whether they add any sort of markup when a trader’s account grows in size. Along with spreads the speed that the broker can execute trades at and the leverage on offer to clients are also hugely important things to consider when making a decision on whether you should select Vantage FX as your forex broker.
Vantage FX are a forex broker with an online reputation of being fair and transparent. Whenever they have an issue they are happy to come forward and explain themselves on both their own and industry websites such as LeapRate. They even respond to negative reviews individually on forex forums, something that is truly above and beyond when it comes to the forex broker industry.
Let’s take a look at some of the trading conditions that you can expect if you are to choose to trade forex with Vantage FX.
Vantage FX have some of the tightest spreads in the industry. There is no question about that. You don’t even have to take our reviewer’s word for this one, as you can head to multiple spread comparison tools throughout the web and do your own checks.
But what these checks won’t show you, is whether the spreads on offer vary between a small and large account. In this Vantage FX review, iReviewForexBrokers ran multiple tests on the spreads that Vantage FX quoted us on live accounts of various sizes. They lived up to their transparent reputation and there was no mark-up or variance in spread numbers from small account to big account.
This is a huge deal. Excellent!
When it comes to dodgy forex brokers offering different spreads to different account sizes to make up for iny market made risk that they might be forcing upon themselves, some brokers noticeably slip their clients entry price until it goes against them. By doing this, the broker can say they gave the client a tiny spread, but they are actually worse off because the price that they were executed at is nowhere near the price that they should have got.
We did not encounter any major slippage when it came to the execution of our orders at Vantage FX. During normal market conditions, once again their transparent reputation was lived up to. When tested during news, the slippage encountered was expected and with proper risk management and intelligent trading techniques, should not be a problem if you’re a serious trader. This then becomes not a Vantage FX specific issue, but a market liquidity issues.
The basic leverage that Vantage FX offer their clients are 100:1 but this is of course flexible to each individual client’s needs. We tested the Vantage FX operations team on leverage change requests up, down, with and without open trades. All were executed quickly without questions unless we were in danger of a margin call when we received a friendly call. This was surprising because our reviewer messed up the math in his head and it could have been an expensive review assignment for iReviewForexBrokers… Thanks for that Vantage FX!
Vantage FX do have a reputation of being a risk averse forex broker. This is because in the post-SNB floor dropout world that we live in, whenever there is any sort of major political event such as an election or referendum vote, Vantage FX will most likely be one of the early movers in adjusting leverage or margin requirements for vulnerable markets. While this can be frustrating for traders with long term open positions, it does keep the entire forex broker safe and give Vantage FX integrity.
It’s up to you how you choose to perceive this one.
Deposits and Withdrawals
When you trade forex, you want access to your funds as soon as you require. We’re all human beings with real life expenses, bills to pay and emergencies that we need to cover from time to time. This is why it’s imperative that the forex broker that you choose will allow for fast and easy withdrawals.
While many forex brokers have no problems taking your money, it is the withdrawal times, methods and conditions around when and where you can make them that are imperative to this Vantage FX review.
Vantage FX have all the major account funding options covered. Being an Australian forex broker, the Australian clients have a slight advantage due to being based out of that country and using the National Australia Bank to hold their funds. Bank transfer, bpay, debit/credit card as well as newcomers in WeChat and AliPay for their Chinese clients, Vantage FX have both the classics covered as well as pushing some of the new boundaries.
The only spot that Vantage FX let themselves down when it comes to deposit or withdrawal methods is that they don’t allow their clients to use PayPal. We asked Vantage FX about why they didn’t offer PayPal as an account funding option because we know from other reviews on the iReviewForex website that it is a highly popular method. In keeping with their transparent reputation, Vantage FX didn’t shy away from the question and while they acknowledge the disappointment from potential new clients, it just isn’t viable from their point of view at the current rate that PayPal charges. While they didn’t say as such, we definitely got the impression that something was in the works.
Lets face it. In reality, it’s the speed of deposits and withdrawals from your forex broker that really matters. A broker can have all the funding and deposit methods in the world, but if their back end can’t get your funds available to you when you need them, the point is mute.
Vantage FX have revamped their back end to automate the withdrawal process via their secure client portal. As long as you request a withdrawal before midday on that Australian business day, your funds will be available the next business day.
Being an ASIC regulated forex broker, Vantage FX do have to comply with the various anti-money laundering laws and therefore have a strict process of account identification to prevent deposits being funded from third parties. Please be aware of this but if you’re doing nothing wrong then you have nothing to worry about, do you!
Financial Regulation
Financial regulation of a forex broker is one of, if not the most important factors that a prospective clients should be aware of when they are signing up with a new forex broker like Vantage FX.
Something that throws the iReviewForexBrokers metric out on this one, is the reviewer’s personal opinion on how much is the client responsible for their own money vs how much they should be blindly protected by regulations. While at iReviewForexbrokers, it is basically implicitly implied that we are only featuring regulated forex brokers in jurisdictions that you can trust, this section of the Vantage FX review is still huge.
As we touched upon in the Deposits/Withdrawals section, being based out of Australia means that they have the rock solid regulatory backing of the Australian Securities and Investment Commission (ASIC).
If you feel hard done by when it comes to a decision from your broker, having the backing of a regulator to give you a pathway of appeal is huge. Honestly, you won’t understand until you feel you need it and have nobody to turn to.
At iReviewForex we can’t stress enough how important it is to only trade with forex brokers who are strictly regulated by rock solid regulatory bodies and under ASIC, Vantage FX pass this test with flying colours.
Having the forex broker’s funds needed to run the day to day operation of the business seperated from clients’ funds is implied when they are regulated by ASIC so once again, Vantage FX tick this box.
At Vantage FX, cleints’ funds are held in a segregated account at Australia’s AA rated, National Australia Bank (NAB). NAB are known as one of Australia’s ‘Big 4’ banks and after they survived the GFC almost unscathed due to the banking model that they ran, you know you can trust your funds being held in one of their accounts.
Not having to think about banking issues is a huge advantage of choosing to trade with an Australian forex broker such as Vantage FX. It’s just one less thing that you have to worry about when it comes to making your choice.
Customer Support
This quite simply comes down to whether your forex broker is there when you need them. If you have a question or any sort of problem whatsoever, is there going to be a member of staff ready to answer it at the drop of a hat?
Not just the forex broker industry, but society in general is headed away from phone calls and a website’s live chat feature has become the dominant way to get clients’ questions answered quickly and easily.
We take a look at Vantage FX’s livechat and if you’re still kicking it oldschool, we touch on the other classic mediums that you can get in contact below.
The livechat feature on the Vantage FX website is a breeze. With minimal inputs, you can be connected to a customer support officer at the forex broker’s head office in Sydney 24 hours a day. The fact you are not being re-routed via an outsourcing destination means even when we logged on and asked a question at 3am, we had our query answered in perfect English.
There was absolutely zero messing around here on either end. Our questions were answered clearly, with minimal fuss, no matter when we confronted them. This is exactly what you want from a broker in terms of support.
Vantage FX run multiple phone options that again all connect back to the Sydney office. This means that while the number makes it cheaper and more accessible for Australian or International callers, their support is centralised. Centralising their support from Sydney and not taking the easy way out of outsourcing to one of their satellite offices offshore is going to win them a lot of fans out of this Vantage FX review.
There is of course a support email address to go along with the livechat and phone numbers, but in the instantaneous world we operate in, this is now basically only used for sending account verification documentation that you want to be stored safely and securely on your forex broker’s encrypted data store.
Does no Fax number mean that Vantage FX are lacking…? 1980 called and wants their contact medium back!
Trading Education
So we finally come to our last forex broker review criteria, that of trading education. Whether a forex broker provides their traders’ with the information, tools and access to expert analysts that will give them the best chance at becoming a consistently profitable trader.
While by offering forex trading education, the broker of course isn’t guaranteeing success, but if the trader wants to take the time and put the effort required in, then they have the resources to make it. This is an area of the forex broker industry that has rapidly expanded over the last couple of years and according to us at iReviewForexBrokers, the trading education revolution is only just beginning!
So how is Vantage FX positioned to take advantage? Take a look below.
To be honest, the trading school section of the Vantage FX website is not up to scratch. They have a skeleton of a forex education section on the site, but it is nowhere near as comprehensive as you would expect from a leading forex broker.
To complement the trading school, Vantage FX do run monthly webinars from in house market analysts or guest presenters from external firms. These webinars are a key part of the education strategy at Vantage FX but the infrequency once against lets them down
Where Vantage FX redeem themselves however, is the fact that they run a free Forex News Centre blog that is updated daily with a market report from their Market Analyst, Dane Williams. The report usually focusses on a single forex currency pair, commodity or indices market per day, and attempts to focus the day’s social media discussion around that ‘in-play market’.
After the blog has gone up, the discussion between clients and other analysts who like to get involved from time to time can begin on social media. This is where the ECN forex broker industry is excellent. Everyone wants their traders to succeed so they can trade bigger size and clear more volume through the brokerage.
Educating clients is a win/win for bother broker and trader and the market analysis on the blog and most importantly the discussion around the posts on social media are real wins for Vantage FX.