This is a review of a Standard account opened with Ardu Prime SA. We evaluated the broker’s terms and conditions, services, and the performance of its platform – the desktop and mobile app versions of MetaTrader 5 (MT5).
Ardu Prime is a CFD broker based in Greece with long-standing traditions in the OTC trading industry. The company was founded in 1999 and has since grown into one of the most reputable and trusted brokers in the region. In 2022, Ardu Prime was declared the winner of 6 awards in several categories of the Ultimate Fintech and Pan Finance Awards, some of which include “Best Trading Conditions”, “Most Trusted Broker Europe”, “Trading House of the Year”, and “Most Reliable FX & CFD Broker”.
In addition to offering CFD trading, Ardu Prime has its own cryptocurrency exchange and payment service. Cryptocurrency traders, in particular, can benefit from the possibility of holding, investing, and speculating with cryptos.
Clients of Ardu Prime can benefit from an extensive assortment of tradable instruments and industry-leading research materials incorporated from Trading Central. However, the broker’s trading fees are above average, and its customer support leaves more to be desired.
Ardu Prime offers a wide range of highly volatile instruments like forex pairs and CFD on shares, indices, and especially cryptocurrencies. Such diversity is ideal for intraday traders and scalpers looking to catch short-term price changes. Regarding cryptocurrencies, Ardu Crypto offers its clients even greater flexibility and generally more favorable conditions to trade, swap, and hold cryptos.
Pros | Cons |
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☑️ Regulations | |
🗺 Supported Languages | English, Spanish, Greek |
💰 Products | Currencies, Stocks, Crypto, Bonds, Indices, Commodities |
💵 Min Deposit | $250 |
💹 Max Leverage | |
🖥 Trading Desk Type | No dealing desk, STP |
📊 Trading Platforms | MT5 |
💳 Deposit Options | Cryptocurrencies, Wire Transfer, Neteller, Visa, Mastercard |
💳 Withdrawal Options | Wire Transfer, Cryptocurrencies, Visa, Mastercard |
🤴 Demo Account | Yes |
🗓 Foundation Year | 1999 |
🌎 Headquarters Country | Greece |
Ardu Prime earned an average mark in the Trust category. On the one hand, the broker’s single entity adheres to some crucial safety requirements, like having a ‘best execution’ policy.
In our reviews, we examine the licenses and regulations of each entity operated by a broker. This allows us to compare each entity’s different levels of protection. We rank licenses by various regulatory bodies on a three-tier system, where Tier-1 licensing indicates the highest level of regulation.
We have summarized the most essential aspects of Ardu Prime SA in terms of regulation and safety in the table below:
Entity Features | Ardu Prime SA |
Country/Region | Athens, Greece |
Regulation | HCMC |
Tier | 2 |
Segregated Funds | Yes |
Negative Balance Protection | Yes* |
Compensation Scheme | Up to 30,000 EUR |
Maximum Leverage | 1:30 Standard and Premium accounts 1:100 Institutional accounts |
* Except for cases of extreme market volatility
A broker is mandated to comply with the financial directives of the country where its regulator is based. This means that not all regulators ensure the same level of protection, which is why traders must be aware of the safety procedures their broker is made to follow.
We have listed the most important safety policies to look for in a broker below:
Ardu Prime operates under the MiFID II directive ensuring compliance with some of the industry’s strictest guidelines. As stated in Ardu Prime’s Trading Rules and Regulations, “the client under market normality is highly unlikely to lose more than his/ her overall invested capital (deposit).”
Ardu Prime has temporary permission from the FCA to provide certain financial services to clients in the UK. It is also authorized by BaFin to provide financial services to traders in the Federal Republic of Germany. The broker also has a ‘best execution’ policy. Consequently, Ardu Prime is indeed quite safe to trade with.
In our tests for the Trust category, we also cover factors relating to stability and transparency. Here, we focus on how long the broker has been in business, how big the company is, and how transparent it is in terms of readily available information.
The broker has existed for over two decades, demonstrating its business model’s stability. It is also fairly transparent, with some minor exceptions. There is no exhaustive list of available trading instruments on the website, and the ‘Contract Specification’ page was not available at the time of our review. Additionally, the ‘Account Types’ section states that the spread rates on a Standard account start from 1.6 pips, whereas in practice, these are higher.
There is also very little information concerning Ardu Prime’s Islamic and demo accounts (it is only available in the FAQ section). Despite these minor discrepancies, however, the company is very transparent where it needs to be. For instance, the ‘Our Team’ section of the website contains relevant information concerning the people running Ardu Prime.
In summary, our findings indicate that Ardu Prime can be regarded as having a good level of trust and stability due to the following factors:
Ardu Prime scored below average in the Fees category. While commission-free trading is available in some cases, the broker’s spreads are generally higher than the industry average. On the other hand, there is no inactivity fee, and Ardu Prime does not charge anything for deposits and withdrawals.
We tested Ardu Prime’s spreads during the most actively traded times – the London open at 8 AM GMT and just after the U.S. open at 2:45 PM GMT. The test was conducted on 22 November 2022.
Instrument | Live Spread AM | Live Spread PM |
EURUSD | 5.4 pips | 5.4 pips |
GBPJPY | 8.1 pips | 8 pips |
Gold (XAUUSD) | 92 pips | 90 pips |
Crude Oil | 0.51 pips | 0.52 pips |
Apple | NA | 0.22 points |
Tesla | NA | 1.1 points |
Dow Jones 30 | 2.5 basis points | 1.5 basis points |
Germany 40 | 1.7 basis points | 1.6 basis points |
Ardu Prime’s spreads on FX majors and commodities are quite high on a Standard account. Nevertheless, the spread rates on some blue chip stocks, indices, and cryptos are a lot more reasonable and, in some cases, lower than the industry average. It follows that Ardu Prime’s most competitive spreads can be found on higher-risk assets. This competitiveness is further enhanced by the fact that the Standard account affords commission-free trading.
A swap fee is a trader’s cost for holding an open position overnight because of changing interest rates. Swap long refers to the charge deductible or credit receivable for holding a buy position open overnight. In turn, swap short relates to the charges/credits deductible or receivable for holding a selling position open overnight.
The values listed below are for one full contract (100,000 units) of the base currency.
Instrument | Swap Long | Swap Short |
EURUSD | Charge of $3.2 | Charge of $2.9 |
GBPJPY | Charge of $3.4 | Charge of $3.8 |
At the time of our review, we found the broker’s swap rates lower than the industry average. Ardu Prime’s swaps are likely to fluctuate over time as they are subject to the market’s changing volatility levels.
Trading with instruments from most asset classes on a Standard Ardu Prime account is commission-free, except CFD shares. There is a fixed $0.02 commission per share (or $10 minimum), which is average for the industry. In comparison, the minimum commission on a Premium Ardu Prime account is $5.
The broker does not charge inactive accounts with a maintenance fee. It also does not have any handling fees for deposits or withdrawals; however, third-party banking fees may apply depending on the payment method.
The competitiveness of Ardu Prime’s fees depends on the type and quantity of the traded instrument. For instance, there is no commission for trading FX majors on a Standard account, but the spreads exceed the industry average. Arguably, the assets with the most competitive trading fees are indices and cryptocurrencies. This is why high-volatility traders interested in higher-risk instruments generally enjoy the most competitive conditions with Ardu Prime.
Ardu Prime earned an above-average mark in the Platforms category. The broker incorporates the renowned MetaTrader 5 (MT5), which is practical but not the most flexible of platforms. The lack of a proprietary platform prevented the broker from scoring higher in this category.
MT5 has a decent amount of drawing tools, technical indicators, and other secondary tools allowing for the execution of basic technical analyses. However, its design is somewhat dated and rugged, decreasing its user-friendliness. On the other hand, MT5’s simplicity makes it easy to navigate, meaning that even novice traders can get used to the platform’s layout fairly quickly.
The mobile app retains the practicality of MT5’s desktop version, affording traders quick and easy access to their accounts. This is very important for making emergency adjustments to your open trades while on the go.
Ardu Prime does not have social trading, but its clients interested in algorithmic trading can use MT5’s Expert Advisors (EAs) feature.
The biggest advantage of MT5 is the simplicity of its design. The charts are positioned in the middle of the screen, account info can be found at the bottom, the watch lists and other trading options are positioned on the left, and the settings menu can be found on the above panel.
The chart is arguably the most important component of every platform. Traders use it to observe price action behavior and make informed trading decisions. Hence, the flexibility of the chart and its array of supporting tools is of key importance for conducting probing technical analyses.
Here is a breakdown of the tools available on MT5’s charts:
Here is a list of MT5’s several order types:
MT5’s mobile app allows traders to stay connected to their accounts at all times, which is indispensable when having to make snap adjustments to any open positions. Because it has to be run on smaller-screen devices, the app feels even more clunky than the desktop version. The app is thus unsuitable for conducting probing technical research, but it can be quite useful for monitoring the performance of one’s account.
The app has several main components, including a charts window where price action can be observed, a quotes window representing a watch list of selected instruments, and the trade window where orders can be placed. There is also the news feed section.
Navigating the app is fairly easy, as everything is usually no more than several clicks away. However, the charts window does not afford in-depth examinations of price action behavior.
Listed below, are the chart tools available on the app:
Here is a breakdown of the different order types that can be executed through the app:
Ardu Prime scored highly in the Instruments category, offering 200+ instruments. It offers a decent amount of currency pairs, commodities, and CFD stocks, while the number of indices and cryptocurrencies exceeds the industry average. The broker also offers more complex instruments, such as bonds. Traders can thus diversify their positions with Ardu Prime’s wide selection of instruments from various asset classes.
This diversity is important because it affords traders with varying levels of risk aversion the flexibility to exploit different opportunities on the market by choosing from lower-risk securities like bonds to higher-risk assets like cryptocurrencies.
Contracts for difference (CFDs) are derivatives used to speculate on the price of the underlying without physical delivery. For example, a long position on gold would generate a profit as the price rises or incur a loss as it falls. This is achieved without having to purchase actual bars of gold. One of the biggest advantages of trading CFDs is that traders can get in and out of the market almost instantaneously, thereby catching even minute changes in the price of the derivative.
Listed below are the available instruments on a Standard account broken down by asset class:
The broker offers a decent amount of forex pairs and CFDs on shares and a wide range of indices and cryptocurrencies. This variety is important given that these are instruments with lower-to-medium spreads. Another point worth mentioning is the inclusion of 5 special CFDs, like the VIX, bonds, and currency indices. These allow more experienced traders to take advantage of more complex trading opportunities, such as fluctuations in underlying market volatility.
Forex | Commodities |
EURUSD, GBPJPY, AUDCHF, EURNOK, USDZAD, USDSGD | Crude Oil, Gold, Natural Gas, Brent Oil, Silver |
Shares | Indices |
Apple, Tesla, Microsoft, Caterpillar, Coca-Cola, Verizon, Walmart | Dow Jones 30, CAC 40, Germany 40, Euro Stoxx 50, Hang Seng 50 |
Cryptocurrencies | Other |
Bitcoin, Litecoin, Doge, Moonbeam, Polkadot, Kusama, Stellar | CBOE-VIX, U.S. Dollar Index, Euribor, UK Gilt |
Ardu Prime earned a below-average mark in the Customer Support category. There are several communication channels, though no live chat is available, which prevented the broker from scoring higher. Support is available in 7 languages, and the team usually replies to written queries within minutes via email. However, there are certain issues with communication over the phone.
For more general questions, traders are advised to turn to Ardu Prime’s dedicated FAQ section. Alternatively, more specific queries can be submitted via the contact form on the website or over the phone. In the first case, clients can expect prompt responses via email that are, for the most part, detailed and informative. In the latter, however, there could be certain difficulties in getting in touch with the support team.
When we test a broker’s customer support team, we evaluate the agents’ knowledge of their own website, how long it takes them to respond to questions, and how detailed their answers are.
When we submitted a question via the contact form on the website regarding Ardu Prime’s safety policies, we received a detailed response within minutes. The agent talked about Ardu’s ‘account balance protection’ scheme and the broker’s stop-out levels. He was polite with a good command of English.
However, when we tried reaching out to the support team over the phone, the agent who answered our call straightaway asked if it were possible to speak a little bit later. However, they never returned the call.
Ardu Prime scored highly in the Deposit and Withdrawal category. Traders can use several payment methods, and the broker does not charge any handling fees on either deposits or withdrawals. The company also has its own payment service – Ardu Pay.
Method | Currencies | Fee | Processing Time |
Bank Wire | EUR, USD, GBP | $0 | Varied |
Visa/Mastercard | EUR, USD, GBP | 1% | Varied |
Neteller | EUR, USD, GBP | 4% | Varied |
Crypto Wallet | BTC, ETH, USDT, USDC | $0 | Varied |
Method | Currencies | Fee | Processing Time |
Bank Wire | EUR, USD, GBP | $0 | Varied |
Visa/Mastercard | EUR, USD, GBP | $0 | Varied |
Crypto Wallet | BTC, ETH, USDT, USDC | $0 | Varied |
While traders cannot use e-wallets to fund their accounts with Ardu Prime, cryptocurrency traders are helped by the fact that the broker accepts payments via crypto wallets. This is particularly useful given that they can use cryptos as a base currency for their accounts. Hence, traders can avoid losing money from unfavorable exchange rates in some cases.
Ardu Prime scored very high in the Account Types category. The broker offers three account types – Standard, Premium, and Institutional – catering to the needs of different kinds of traders. They offer good overall conditions and accommodate various trading strategies. Swap-free trading is also permitted via Ardu Prime’s Islamic accounts.
The Standard account is the most accessible of the bunch, with a minimum deposit requirement of $250, but it also has the highest trading costs. The Premium account type has lower spreads and fixed commissions, however, its minimum balance requirement is $25,000. In contrast, the Institutional account’s parameters can be tailored depending on the client’s demands and the broker’s policies.
Some traders are more aggressive, while others are conservative by nature. Different traders have different styles, goals, and needs, so there is no uniform account type catering to everybody at once. Instead, it is up to each trader to pick the one account type that best matches their aspirations and means. The right account type would naturally enhance the strong aspects of a trader’s strategy and minimize the adverse impact of its drawbacks.
Account Type | Standard | Premium | Institutional |
Spreads | From 1.6 pips | From 0.8 pips | Tailored |
Commission | No | No | Tailored |
Commission US Equities | $0.02 per share, $10 minimum | $0.02 per share, $5 minimum | Tailored |
Min. Deposit | 250 | 25,000 | 100,000 |
Base Currency | USD, EUR, GBP, USDC, USDT | USD, EUR, GBP, USDC, USDT | USD, EUR, GBP, USDC, USDT |
Execution Type | STP | STP | STP |
Trading Central Tools | Analyst Views | Full Access | Full Access |
Islamic Account | Yes | Yes | Yes |
Platforms | MT5 | MT5 | MT5/Direct Liquidity Access |
Margin Call | 100% | 100% | 100% |
Stop-Out Level | 50% | 50% | 50% |
Algorithmic Trading | EAs | EAs | EAs/FIX-API |
While most brokers tend to offer a mixture of ECN and STP account types – the former usually having fixed commissions and raw spreads, while the latter affording commission-free trading and floating spreads – Ardu Prime offers an amalgamation of the two. The Standard account has floating spreads starting from 1.6 pips (in practice, they are higher — please refer to the Fees section of the review) and a fixed $0.02 commission per CFD share. The Premium account type offers lower spreads and commissions.
It follows that the two account types can be used by both high-frequency traders, such as intraday traders who stand to gain more from commission-free accounts, and high-volume traders, who are not as active and are instead more interested in having lower spreads. In both cases, a trader’s benefit also depends on the asset class of the underlying instrument being traded. Traders should also consider the considerable discrepancy in the minimum deposit requirements of the two account types.
The leverage determines a trader’s overall market exposure. When trading Contracts for Difference (CFDs), positions can be opened for a fraction of their value because of the leverage. Essentially, the broker lends the trader money so that the latter can open bigger-sized positions. The leverage multiplies the profits a trader generates from winning positions but also the losses incurred from failed trades.
We have summarized the essential steps necessary to open an account with Ardu Prime below:
Demo accounts serve a twofold purpose – introducing traders to a broker’s services and allowing them to tweak their strategies in a risk-free environment. The market is continually evolving, and its underlying conditions are never static, which is why demo accounts are such indispensable tools in the arsenal of every trader.
Ardu Prime does not provide services for citizens of certain regions, such as the United States, Syria, Iran, North Korea, Russia, and Belarus.
Ardu Prime earned a high mark in the Research category. The broker offers in-house materials in the form of weekly breakdowns and third-party content by other industry leaders. As a whole, Ardu Prime’s market research is varied and informative, though the lack of video breakdowns prevented it from scoring higher.
Clients of Ardu Prime with active accounts are granted access to Trading Central’s multifaceted research content, which covers current market developments and outlines potential trading opportunities. Trading Central’s insights can be beneficial to both beginners and advanced traders.
Listed below are different types of research materials made available to clients of Ardu Prime:
Ardu Prime scored low in the Education category. There are no videos, written articles, or third-party supporting content. However, the broker offers weekly market insights, an A-Z glossary of terms, and a daily market newsletter for its clients. Beginners cannot rely on the glossary alone to gain any comprehensive understanding of the intricacies of trading.
Even though there is an ‘Education’ section on the website, it contains the above-mentioned weekly breakdowns and a glossary. The glossary includes descriptions and explanations of a wide selection of trading terms and concepts but does not explore any broader topics. MT5 has several in-built videos explaining how the platform functions, but there aren’t any other educational videos.
Beginner traders can get access to Trading Central investment analysis tools upon registration. They may use the glossary in conjunction with Trading Central’s regular content, but this is not enough to teach them everything about technical, fundamental, or psychological analyses. Traders can always obtain research from outside sources or use the services offered by the MT5 trading community.
Ardu Prime is a derivatives OTC broker headquartered in Greece with UK offices. The award-winning company was founded in 1999 and has been evolving and adapting to changing market trends ever since. An example of this is the development of its own cryptocurrency exchange—Ardu Crypto—and the payment service Ardu Pay.
Ardu Prime has a diverse set of trading accounts catering to the needs of all kinds of traders and a wide selection of tradable instruments from different asset classes. The broker also excels in market research due to the incorporation of sophisticated content from third-party providers like Trading Central.
Ardu Prime is licensed by a Tier-2 regulator in Europe (HCMC) and adheres to most safety policies in the industry. The broker’s trading fees are generally higher than the industry average, while its customer support leaves more to be desired.
Even though Ardu Prime offers limited educational materials, beginners can benefit from Trading Central’s comprehensive materials that are made available to clients of the broker. Accordingly, seasoned, high-volatility traders can take advantage of Ardu Prime’s development of cryptocurrency trading and investing solutions and its diverse trading accounts containing both STP and ECN features.
Headquarters Country | Greece |
Foundation Year | 1999 |
Publicly Traded | No |
Number Of Employees | 138 |
Trading Desk Type | No dealing desk, STP |
Trading Platforms | MT5 |
Restricted Countries | Belarus, North Korea, Iran, United States, Russian Federation, Syria |
Supported Languages | English, Spanish, Greek |
Min Deposit | $250 |
Deposit Options | Cryptocurrencies, Wire Transfer, Neteller, Visa, Mastercard |
Withdrawal Options | Wire Transfer, Cryptocurrencies, Visa, Mastercard |
Time to Withdrawal | 5 |
Time to Open an Account | 9 |
Crypto | Bitcoin Cash, USD Coin, Bitcoin, Cardano, Dogecoin, Litecoin, Ripple, Stellar, EOS, Tether, Polkadot, Binance Coin, Tezos |
Products | Currencies, Stocks, Crypto, Bonds, Indices, Commodities |
Demo Account | Yes |
OCO Orders | No |
Offers Hedging | No |
Automated Trading | Yes |
API Trading | Yes |
Guaranteed Stop Loss | Yes |
Guaranteed Limit Orders | Yes |
Guaranteed Fills / Liquidity | No |
Economic calendar | Yes |
Trading From Chart | Yes |
One-Click Trading | Yes |
Expert Advisor | Yes |
Social Trading | No |
Autochartist | No |
Trading Signals | No |
Platform Languages | English, Spanish, Greek |
24 Hours Support | Yes |
Support During Weekends | No |
Live Chat | No |
Daily Market Commentary | No |
News (Top-Tier Sources) | Yes |
Webinars | No |
Deposit Fee | No |
Withdrawal Fee | No |
Inactivity Fee | No |
Having been a retail trader since 2013, Plamen has gained an in-depth understanding of the challenges that novice traders face today. His expertise is swing trading and day trading with a heavy emphasis on psychological and fundamental analysis. Plamen’s favourite trading instruments include FX majors and gold. He earned a Bachelor's degree in Economics and International Relations. Plamen's broad experience has equipped him with the expertise to recommend the best forex brokers.
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