Is GMOTrading good? This is what we’ll be seeking to determine in this review. To reach a conclusion, we’ll explore the tradeable assets on offer, the trading platforms, the usability of the website, the educational resources provided, and the broker’s trustworthiness and security efforts. The first thing to note is that GMOTrading is a very young company, having only begun trading in 2017. But perhaps there’s a clue to the answer to our opening question in the following fact: whereas many fledging operators in this industry take a few years to garner any awards, GMOTrading has so far earned one for each of its first two years of trading.
No review of GMOTrading would stand up to scrutiny if it made no mention of what the brokerage’s offerings were – so without further ado, let’s clarify what’s on offer.
GMOTrading stock trading is an online brokerage specialising in contracts for difference (CFDs). There are over 300 tradeable assets grouped into the following categories: you’ll find CFDs for currency pairs (forex – 50 pairs in total), for crypto assets (with an excellent total of 33 cryptocurrencies), for stock shares (79 US stocks, 76 European stocks and 39 Australian stocks), for commodities (17), and for indices (16).
While this may seem at first glance to be fairly standard for the online CFD brokerage market (many offer well over 300 tradeable assets, for example), what makes GMOTrading stand out from the crowd is the highly competitive range of spreads that it offers. Based on our own broker comparison, we think that GMOTrading’s exceptionally tight spreads on its crypto pairs are especially outstanding. The more prestigious the GMOTrading brokerage account you hold, the narrower the spread will be. There are three tiers of accounts, rising from standard (Gold), to intermediate (Silver), to premium (Platinum).
GMOTrading stock trading allows investors to trade top CFDs (currency pairs, cryptos, indices and commodities) in over 10,000 global markets.
The broker’s US stocks are tradeable on the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) and global electronic stock exchange NASDAQ.
Its European stocks are tradeable on:
Its Australian stocks are tradeable on the Australian Securities Exchange (ASX).
In addition, the brokerage offers a generous array of educational materials to investors, new and seasoned. These include short videos clearly explaining the fundamentals of financial training, tailored to beginners at one end of the spectrum and to expert traders at the other; informative and easy-to-read eBooks explaining the basics of online trading and itemising how to use the multifunctional tools on GMOTrading’s platforms; online tutorials on how to refine trading using the brokerage’s online tools; and cutting-edge calculators allowing investors to track their investments while adapting to shifting market conditions in real time.
These educational offerings, in our estimation, place GMOTrading firmly in the running for the competition to win the “best stock broker” accolade.
In carrying out our GMOTrading stock trading review, we were agreeably struck by the company’s policy of charging zero fees for deposits and withdrawals, and its refusal to charge any commission fees. The fees that are chargeable are reserved for accounts that have remained inactive above a specified number of days.
These charges are as follows:
There is also a charge of €50 made by Royal Forex Ltd (the investment company that operates GMOTrading) if there is little or no trading activity on an account prior to submitting a withdrawal request.
GMOTrading deserves credit for being forthright about the risk inherent to all forms of trading (i.e., investors can lose, as well as make, money). A drop-down menu under the “Assets” button at the top of the webpage, for example, contains this clearly worded warning:
“There is no specific EU regulatory framework governing the trading with cryptocurrencies. Trading cryptocurrencies does not entitle the investors to any protection under the Investors Compensation Fund. Traders have no rights to report to the Cyprus Financial Ombudsman in case of a cryptocurrencies trading dispute.”
One of the considerations when trying to determine the answer to a question such as “Is GMOTrading good?” relates to the trading platform on offer. We weren’t disappointed on this occasion.
GMOTrading stock trading provides two of the most popular, versatile and multifunctional trading platforms in the world: MetaTrader 4 (MT4) and WebTrader. Neither of these platforms involve the hassle of downloading and installation as they both run directly online.
MT4 is the world’s most popular trading platform, replete with superb charting and analytical tools that let traders monitor their transactions whenever they wish, adjusting their trading strategies according to the analyses and emerging market trends delivered. It’s protected by ultra-robust encryption for peerless security and has a pleasingly user-friendly interface.
WebTrader also provides analytics and charts in real time, permitting easily accessible overviews of all your trades, whether they are open or closed. Investors can also view recent market tendencies as they form via the platform’s visual trends feature.
There is also a smartphone app available from the iOS App store and Android’s Google Play store. Investors can use this while they’re “on the hoof” as it were, accessing their accounts from anywhere via a simple-to-use, user-friendly interface.
The broker allows prospective clients to familiarise themselves with the trading platforms and practice trading strategies courtesy of a 14-day demo account.
It would be remiss of us to omit reference to the company website in our GMOTrading brokerage review, so let’s begin.
GMOTrading’s website is uncluttered, unfussy, strikingly well-designed and easy to navigate. There are excellent, HD colour images featured on every page; the fonts are easy on the eye and a pleasure to read against the white background; and the layout of each page is inviting and logical.
Finding your way around is a walk in the park. You’ll find highly informative drop-down menus along the tabs in the narrow band at the top of each page, each of which will take you to the relevant pages when clicked (the pages load in the blink of an eye).
The company’s legal documentation and Terms and Conditions can be found at the foot of each page along with clear information about the broker’s trading platforms, MT4 and WebTrader.
The five horizontal headings along the banner at the top of the page release drop-down menus containing information on the assets traded, the trading platforms and phone app, the site’s generous educational resources, news and updates, and information about the brokerage (e.g., when it was founded, its regulator, customer support).
When compiling our review of GMOTrading, we found that all account holders will have access to 24/5 customer support (Monday to Friday), with opening hours currently being 6.00am to 7.00pm, GMT (i.e., 11 hours per day). There are four options available: email, online form, live chat and telephone.
Online chat is impressively swift. Typically, you’ll wait for no more than 30 seconds before being connected to a human customer support agent. The telephone option is toll-free, and both options are useful for queries that arise during the support team’s opening hours that require rapid resolution. Emails and online forms are more suitable for queries or problems that arise outside of customer support opening hours.
The professionalism of the staff is outstanding: we would describe them as being courteous, friendly, efficient and knowledgeable. The service is more reminiscent of a family business than a global financial investment brokerage, with staff eager to help and warmly receptive to customer concerns at all times.
As GMOTrading operates across the European Economic Area, investors tend to be drawn from each of the member states and speak different languages. Thankfully, the help staff are up to the task, with agents speaking fluent English, Spanish, German, Dutch, Italian, Polish and Russian all available.
This review of GMOTrading has found that the broker offers a wide variety of payment methods. In addition to bank wire transfers, credit and debit card options (Mastercard, Maestro and Visa), it also uses the following payment processors:
Third-party deposits are prohibited due to the broker’s compliance with international anti-money laundering rules. Customers are required to use the same transfer method for withdrawals as they used for the deposit. Withdrawal requests will be processed on the same day if submitted before 11.00am, or the next day if submitted after that.
A withdrawal fee of €50 is chargeable on any account that has only one position in place before the withdrawal request, and withdrawal requests below €100 will also be subject to an additional charge. Account holders should also be mindful of the fact that if they have used bank wire transfers, then transactions are not instantaneous and money may take up to five to seven days to reach their accounts.
There are no charges for deposits and no commission fees.
GMOTrading can only be faulted for its otherwise superb demo account on one score: it can only be accessed for 14 days. That said, provided you use that two-week window to make thorough use of it, it provides an excellent experience of trading and allows you to become acquainted with the broker’s outstanding trading platforms.
It’s always a positive sign for an online brokerage to offer a demo account in our view. It gives novices a chance to practice trading on an entirely risk-free basis (the account credits users with an “imaginary” €3,000 to start trading with), and you can also become familiar with the multifunctional features of the trading platforms themselves.
These are the very features that seasoned traders use to optimise their trading. Do remember, however, that your credit is purely for demo purposes, so you won’t be able to walk away with any profit you make.
Due to a prohibition from its regulator (CySEC) on what it terms “incentivised trading bonuses”, GMOTrading does not offer any bonuses or promotions.
As noted earlier in this review of GMOTrading, the broker provides a generous assortment of online educational resources for investors, tailored to level of experience: short, well-presented videos on demand (VOD) explaining the fundamentals of financial trading, pleasingly formatted eBooks on the basics of trading and using the trading platforms, online tutorials, and cutting-edge financial calculators.
GMOTrading is operated by the established and well-regarded Cypriot investment firm Royal Forex Ltd, and is headquartered in Nicosia, Cyprus. Founded in 2017, the brokerage is regulated by the official national financial regulatory agency, the internationally respected Cyprus Securities and Exchange Commission (CySEC). It is also subject to the MiFID (Markets in Financial Instruments Directive), the 2004 EU law regulating investment services across the 31 member states of the European Economic Area.
All client accounts are kept strictly segregated from GMOTrading’s own business accounts in premier banks, and the broker clearly states that it never uses client funds to finance its own business operations. All funding for these comes from its own profits.
To protect minors and shield against the dangers of money laundering, financing terrorist organisations, financial fraud and client identity theft, all clients of GMOTrading are required to submit identification documents before trading under the company’s “Know Your Customer” (KYC) policy.
Requisite documentation includes a colour copy of a valid passport, a colour copy of a valid credit card used to fund the account, a coloured copy of a utility bill, and a copy of the confirmation for bank wire transfer deposits.
Having only begun trading in 2017, GMOTrading is still a fledgling company. Even so, it has managed to win prestigious industry awards for each year of trading since it began operating.
In 2018, it received the “Best Customer Service Broker, Europe” award from Global Brands Magazine. The following year, it took FX Daily Info’s “Best Trading Experience” award.
The verdict of this GMOTrading brokerage review is that these are well-deserved honours. GMOTrading may be a newcomer to the industry, but in less than two years, it has unerringly positioned itself on a most promising trajectory.
We anticipate further awards as it moves forward.
We began by asking “Is GMOTrading good?” We believe that we can now deliver an affirmative verdict. GMOTrading is a rising star in the financial brokerage industry, and we think that its repertoire of CFD trading options is impressive, as indeed are the highly competitive narrow spreads that it provides for clients opting for its Gold and Platinum accounts.
While its asset list of 300 trading instruments doesn’t especially make it stand out from the crowd in a stock broker comparison (many brokerages offer more extensive lists than this), it makes up for this with superb trading platforms, an outstanding crypto trading offer, excellent online educational resources, and a stellar customer support service (it won an award for the latter).
It may be a young company, but we think that it’s on an upward path that may well see its repertoire of tradeable instruments grow substantially in the foreseeable future.
For GMOTrading, the future looks bright.