Alpari Broker Review

Is Alpari Safe?

Alpari Group has been a global FX and CFD broker since 1998 and has over two million customers worldwide.

Alpari International has been regulated by the Financial Services Commission of Mauritius (License C113012295) under the name Exinity Limited since 2013. Alpari has also been a member of The Financial Commission since 2013. The Financial Commission is an independent international body specialising in the resolution of disputes between Forex brokers and traders.

The Alpari Group has over two million customers worldwide, and all customer funds are kept in segregated accounts and all communications are encrypted to ensure client security.

 

Alpari For Beginners

Alpari has a brief but helpful education section but no analysis to speak of, apart from what is included in the platforms offered. 

Educational Material

Alpari International offers a short educational section which will be very useful for beginners with little to experience trading. Unfortunately, there is no video tutorials or webinars currently, but Alpari will be rolling out a fully-fledged education section by Q1 2020.

The written material available is mainly composed of a Beginners Guide to Forex Trading. This includes an explanation of the main concepts involved in Forex trading and a glossary of the most commonly used terms. It’s capped off with an introduction to the different types of charts used by traders.

Accompanying the Beginner’s Guide is an introduction to trading strategies, which is useful for familiarising yourself with the ideas and terms used when developing a trading plan.

 

Analysis Material

Alpari supports the newest iteration of the popular MetaTrader platform, MetaTrader 5 (MT5). MT5 has a built-in economic calendar to keep track of important events in the financial world and live a market depth tracker, which is an excellent way to keep track of other traders moves in the market.

Customer support

Like most brokers, Alpari offers 24-hour support from Monday to Friday. But, unusually, Alpari also offers customer support from 12:00 – 20:00 (all hours GMT+2/3) on weekends. This is very welcome and something we wish more brokers would do. Help is available via live chat, Telegram, phone, email and the myAlpari hub.

Please note that the Deposit/Withdrawal customer service team only work from 02:00 – 20:00 during the week and from 13:00 – 17:00 on Saturday.

Alpari Trading Conditions

Alpari offers very competitive trading conditions across four different account types.

Unusually, it offers two standard, instant execution (dealing desk) accounts and two ECN, market execution accounts.

As with most brokers, trading conditions become better the more money you deposit, but base trading conditions are better than most Forex brokers.  Leverage is floating except on the Micro Account and swap-free accounts are available across all account types (though restricted to the MT4 platform).

 

Account types

Alpari has two Standard Accounts and two ECN Accounts. The ECN Accounts are more suited to experienced traders and require a higher minimum deposit, but you gain you access to the MT5 platform. Demo accounts are available but not for either the Micro Account or the ECN Pro Account.

Standard Accounts

There are two standard accounts at Alpari and both use instant order execution and both are only available on the MT4 platform. Spreads are generally wider than market execution accounts, but no commission is charged, and both are available as swap-free accounts.

Standard Account – This account type requires a 100 USD/EUR/GBP minimum deposit. The spreads start at 1.2 pips, and the margin call is set at  60%. With this account, you will be able to trade 61 Forex pairs as well as spot metals and spot CFDs. Leverage is floating, but the upper limit is 1:1000, which is a hazardous amount. If you are a new trader, we would recommend setting your leverage much lower.

Micro Account – This is an entry-level account, with a minimum deposit of only 5 USD/EUR/GBP. The spreads are wider, starting at 1.7 pips, and the margin call is set at 50%. You are limited to trading only 25 Forex pairs (no exotics) and spot metals.  Leverage is fixed at 1:400, which is still quite high, so do be aware of that before you start trading. The real advantage of this account is the tiny minimum deposit, but if you can afford it, we would recommend opening the Standard Account above.

ECN Accounts

The two ECN accounts at Alpari use market execution and the standard account supports MT5 as well as MT4, though the MT5 platform will not support Islamic/swap-free accounts. As with all ECN accounts, spreads are much tighter.

ECN Account – This account requires a minimum deposit of 500 USD/EUR/GBP and spreads start from 0.4 pips. The commission is 1.5USD/lot per side and leverage is floating from 1:1000. If you use this account with the MT4 platform, you will also be able to trade a limited number of cryptocurrencies. This account is also available on the MT5 platform, which will limit the number of assets you can trade (33 pairs instead of 56 on MT4) but will give you access to everything MT5 has to offer (economic calendar, built-in chat function, market depth, more indicators and signals, deeper back-testing, etc.) 

Pro Account – This account is made for professional traders only and requires a minimum balance of 25,000 USD/GBP/EUR at all times. No commission is charged on trades and spreads are as low as 0.4 pips. Leverage is floating with an upper limit of 1:300, and the margin call is set at 120%. The only real downside to this account is that it is no supported on the MT5 platform.

Deposits and withdrawals

Alpari supports free online deposits and withdrawals with all major Malaysian banks including Public Bank, Hong Leong, Maybank, CIMB and RHB.

All major credit cards are accepted (though there is a flat 3USD fee for withdrawals) and both deposits and withdrawals are free with the following e-wallets:

• Neteller
• Skrill
• VLOAD
• WebMoney
• Perfectmoney
• Bitcoin

If you prefer to make a deposit via bank transfer, this can take 3-5 business days to complete. Withdrawals via bank transfer have a fee of 30 EUR.

Alpari Trading Platforms

All accounts use the industry-standard MetaTrader 4, and the ECN Standard account also uses MetaTrader 5. The advantage of using the MetaTrader platform is the cross-device and multi-broker functionality, making it easier to change broker or use multiple brokers.

 

Mobile Trading Apps

MT4 and MT5  both have excellent mobile apps that are free to download and fully synchronise with your desktop platform.  

Trading Tools

Alpari CopyTrade allows you to copy the trading positions of other traders, who Alpari calls Strategy Managers. This is especially useful for new traders who want to start profiting from the market while they are still learning, as you don’t need any advanced knowledge of forex trading to get started. Strategy Managers usually have a wealth of experience in the markets, with tried-and-tested strategic trading decisions. Once you decide whom to follow, you can subscribe to their trades and pay them a percentage of whatever profits you make. 

 

Alpari in their own words

“Alpari is one of the largest forex brands around, and at Alpari International, we work hard to make sure our clients make the best trading and investment decisions. Our broad range of services enables you to get the best guidance, advice and resources to build a richer future.

Evaluation Method

We value transparency and openness in the way we review the partners. To bring transparency to the forefront, we have published our review process that includes a detailed breakdown of the FXTM offering. Central to that process is the evaluation of the reliability of the broker, the platform offering of the broker and the trading conditions offered to clients, which are summarised in this review. Each one of these is graded, and an overall score is calculated and assigned to the broker.

Alpari Risk Statement

Trading Forex is risky, and each broker is required to detail how risky the trading of Forex CFDs is to clients. Alpari would like you to know that:

Contracts for Difference (‘CFDs’) are complex financial products and not suitable for all investors. CFDs, are leveraged products that mature when you choose to close an existing open position. By investing in CFDs, you assume a high level of risk and can result in the loss of all of your invested capital.

Clients should consider which Financial Instrument is suitable for them according to their financial status and goals before opening an account with ALPARI INTERNATIONAL. If a client is unclear about the risks involved in trading in Financial Instruments, then they should consult an independent financial advisor. If the client still doesn’t understand these risks after consulting an independent financial advisor, then they should refrain from trading at all. Purchasing and selling Financial Instruments comes with a significant risk of losses and damages and each client must understand that the investment value can both increase and decrease, clients they are liable for all these losses and damages, which could result in more than the initial invested capital once they make the decision has been made to trade.

Overview

Alpari is a large international broker with a long history in the industry. Though there is little educational material currently available and analysis is thin, the trading conditions and account options are second to none. This is backed up by excellent and responsive customer support and support for the industry-leading MT4 and MT5 platforms. 

Editorial Team