GO Markets Review 2022

Trust

Below is a list of the entities and who they are regulated by:

• GO Markets Ltd, authorised and regulated by tier 1 regulator the Cyprus Securities and Exchange Commission (CySEC).
• GO Markets Pty Ltd, authorised and regulated by tier 1 regulator the Australian Securities and Investments Commission (ASIC).
• GO Markets Pty Ltd (MU), authorised and regulated by tier 3 regulator the Financial Services Commission (FSC) of Mauritius.

Why is it important to know where your broker is regulated?

The location of a broker will dictate the level of regulatory oversight and protections offered to investors. Due to a regulatory clampdown from tier 1 regulators such as the FCA, CySEC and ASIC, many brokers have moved offshore so it’s worthwhile doing your due diligence.

We look for several things when analysing the safety and trust of a broker. This includes:

1. Segregation of client funds from company funds. Having client funds segregated from company funds is always important as you don’t want your broker to use your funds to run their business!
2. A negative balance protection policy. This means that your account cannot go into a negative balance from adverse movements in the market.
3. Compensation scheme. Does the entity or regulator provide access to compensation in the event a broker goes bust?
4. Are additional safeguards put in place by the broker even when they are not required to do so? This is a great measure of just how serious your broker takes your safety.

Some financial regulators make it a regulatory requirement to offer some of these features, while others do not. The protections offered to you by GO Markets are listed in the next section.

GO Markets Protections and Safeguards

The regulatory protection and safeguards you have as an investor are extremely important. You need to know how your money is kept safe, how the broker is protecting you and if there is any compensation if the broker goes bust.

Your geographical region will be the key factor in which entity you open an account with and what protections you have. Here’s a quick rundown on the GO Markets regulatory protections for retail clients:

The strongest protection is offered to retail traders under the CySEC entity. This is due to the fact it is a regulatory requirement to be part of the Investor Compensation Fund (ICF) which can protect you up to a certain amount if the broker defaults.

Stability & Transparency

In our test for the Trust category, we also cover factors relating to stability and transparency. Here, we focused on how long the broker has been in business, the size of the company and how transparent they are in terms of information being readily available.

We found that the trading fees for entering and exiting trades are transparent as they are listed on the broker’s account comparison page. However, the inactivity fee was in the 49-page long Terms & Conditions document which brought the score down.

As GO Markets was founded in 2006 we believe this shows a good level of stability. Having the ability to navigate all of the market and regulatory changes over the past few decades shows a strong commitment to having a good operating business.

Fees

There are a variety of different fees to look at when choosing a broker.

• Trading fees are those associated with buying and selling a financial instrument and include:
  • Commission – The cost to enter and exit a trade.
  • Spread – The cost between the buy price and sell price
  • Overnight swap fee – The cost of holding a leveraged position overnight.
  • Conversion fees – The cost to convert your base currency into the currency of the asset you are trading, if it is different.
• Non-trading fees are charges that are not related to buying and selling a financial instrument and include:
  • Deposit and withdrawal fees (discussed further down this review)
  • Inactivity fees – The cost to have a trading account opened with zero activity on it.

GO Markets Trading Fees

We viewed the live spread for forex, indices and commodities at two different times of the day – around 8 am and 2 pm London time on 21 January 2022.

These times generally cover the most liquid sessions of the day and should have the best available spreads.

What did we find? GO Markets are very competitive and much better than the industry average.

We also found the overnight swap fees were better than the industry average. The EURUSD overnight swap fee was -3.69 which is in line with the industry average and the GBPJPY overnight swap fee was only -0.6. 

Many brokers will mark this up without telling you but GO Markets keep this in line with the industry average which is great. This fee is important for long-term traders, as overnight fees can add up if you are holding trades for a long period of time.

Are the GO Markets Trading Fees Good?

Overall, GO Markets’ fees are very competitive. While some brokers may advertise a spread lower than 1 pip on EURUSD, it is usually on a commission-based account. The GO Markets spread of 1.1 pips on the commission-free trading account is very good.

The GBPJPY spread is one of the lowest we’ve seen for a commission-free trading account. Many brokers will have this instrument at a spread of around 3 – 5 pips, so the GBPJPY 1.65 pip average spread is excellent.

The fees for commodities and indices were also very good. The DAX 40 index spread remained under 1 point and the Dow Jones 30 index spread remained consistent around 1.55 points – many brokers would quote a spread of around 3 points for this index and in some cases 15 points!

The spreads for these instruments would be even lower on the GO Plus account but each trade has a commission of €2.00 per side which is also much better than the industry average for commission-based trading accounts.

GO Markets Non-Trading Fees

Some brokers impose an inactivity fee on trading accounts if there is no activity on your account, such as the buying and selling of an instrument, deposits and withdrawals, for a certain period of time.

According to the broker’s Terms & Conditions document, there is an inactivity fee of €15 per month if your trading account remains inactive for 3 months. Inactive is defined as no trading, no open positions, no withdrawals or deposits.

Platforms and Tools

The MetaTrader suite of trading platforms is considered to be the most popular trading platform in the world. Many brokers offer these platforms to their clients. With GO Markets, you can trade on the MetaTrader 4 (MT4) platform for PC, MAC and mobile.

The desktop platform is mainly geared towards professional traders and will take beginners some time to get used to. The broker does provide a wide range of platform tutorial videos to help. The MT4 mobile app is the fastest and easiest way to trade.

The GO Markets Australian entity does provide access to a web platform, as well as the MetaTrader 5 platform.

GO Markets Trading Desk Type

GO Markets operates a hybrid trading desk model. While they have a dealing desk there is no dealing desk intervention and prices are sourced from top-tier banks and other liquidity providers. Trades can either be sent via STP (straight through processing) or as principal to principal depending on the risk assessment.

GO Markets Desktop Platform

For our live testing, we used the feature-rich MetaTrader 4 desktop platform for Windows. This platform provides a high level of customisation with a lot of inbuilt technical indicators that are mainly geared towards professional traders.

General Ease of Use

The MetaTrader 4 is a feature-rich trading platform designed for professional traders. While there is a learning curve to navigating the platform, beginner traders will find everything is laid out in a simple manner and easily accessible.

Once you know where things are and how to access different charts and timeframes, it becomes quite clear that everything is laid out intuitively but there’s a small learning curve to be able to navigate the platform seamlessly.

But, learning how to use MetaTrader 4 is worthwhile as you can access multiple charts, technical indicators, different timeframes and additional services from the MetaTrader Marketplace such as algorithmic trading and copy trading.

Charts

The MetaTrader 4 desktop platform allows you to view multiple charts just from one screen so you can keep track of multiple markets. The products available to trade on are shown in the Market Watch column on the left.

You can customise this list and build your own watchlist, as well as create more columns to show more information such as the spread of an instrument. You can also access 42 technical indicators and drawing tools for analysis.

Below is a screenshot of the GO Markets MetaTrader 4 desktop platform for Windows:

Orders

You can access a variety of order types from the MetaTrader 4 platform. Market orders will open a trade at whatever the current market price is. Pending orders allow you to set an order at a specific price level. When the market price gets to your order level it will open your trade.

You can also set price alerts from the desktop platform.

GO Markets Mobile App

The MetaTrader 4 mobile app provided by GO Markets is the easiest and fastest way to place and manage trades, compared to the desktop platform.

The mobile app also allows you to perform a range of technical analysis on different markets and manage your trading account on the move.

Devices

You can download the MetaTrader 4 mobile app for both Android and iOS devices directly from the app store. In our test, we downloaded the iOS MT4 mobile app.

General Ease of Use

We found that GO Markets MT4 mobile app is simple to use with a clear interface to navigate between the different sections. At the bottom of the MT4 mobile app, the categories include Quotes, Chart, Trade, History and Settings.

The quotes tab allows you to view live price quotes of the different instruments available to trade on. You can create your own watchlist of favourite instruments and view details of each instrument such as the opening and closing times of the market.

Once you click on any of the markets from the quote window, you have options to view a chart of the instrument or go straight to a trading ticket to buy or sell. The MT4 mobile app charts allow you to view different timeframes and perform technical analysis while on the move.

The trading ticket is simple to use and well laid out. You can buy or sell a market at the current price or place an order at a future price. There will also be a confirmation message to confirm whether you want to place a trade or not which is great for safety in case you want to change your trade settings.

While there is a learning curve to using the mobile app, it is much easier to use than the desktop platform. Most people will be able to navigate the mobile app straight away and it is a great place for beginner traders to start.

Charts

From the MT4 mobile app, you can view only one chart at a time but you can access 3 chart styles, 9 timeframes, 30 technical indicators and 30 different drawing tools for technical analysis.

The charts are easy to navigate and to perform technical analysis on. You can view all the markets available to trade on from the charts and there is a link to open a trade directly from the chart window too.

Below are some screenshots of the GO Markets MetaTrader 4 mobile app for iOS devices:

You cannot access algorithmic trading capabilities, customised indicators or layouts from the MT4 mobile app, like you can in the desktop version. This is in line with the industry standard as there are no broker apps that provide such advanced levels of functionality on mobile.

Orders

The mobile app allows you to place pending trades or enter live at the market. Unfortunately, you cannot add expiries or set alerts.

Tradable Instruments

The range of instruments available to trade on via GO Markets Ltd is below the industry average. However, all the major markets across the different asset classes are available to trade on.

What are CFDs?

CFDs, or Contracts for Difference, is a derivative product that allows you to speculate on the price direction of a financial instrument allowing you to profit from rising and falling markets. You can also trade on margin which means you can control a large position with a smaller deposit, amplifying both gains and losses.

What Can You Trade with GO Markets?

With GO Markets Ltd you can trade on:

• 49 forex pairs
  • Majors, minors and exotics
• 15 indices
  • Global stock market indices
• 6 commodities
  • Precious metals and energies

Below is a list of just some of the available markets for trading:

The range of products available from GO Markets Ltd, the broker’s European entity, is more limited than what is available from its other entities.

For example, you can also access more than 400 shares from Australia, Hong Kong and the United States through the GO Markets Pty Ltd entity. This entity also provides access to real stocks to invest in as well as cryptocurrency CFDs.

Customer Support

GO Markets provides customer support via email, telephone, live chat and a contact form on its website. Customer support is provided 24 hours a day, 5 days a week in multiple languages but we could only access support in English.

Why is customer support important? If you need help with your platform, question a trade execution or have any administration issues you want to know that you can contact your broker as fast as possible when you want!

GO Markets Customer Support Test

In our live customer support test, we used the live chat icon on the GO Markets European homepage on Monday 17 January 2022 at 12.45 pm GMT. It took 3 minutes for the agent to connect and say they will review our question which was related to our inability to use the application form to open an account.

They then replied 5 minutes later saying there has been a technology issue to fill in the form but a new link would be sent to me via email. The email was sent promptly but failed to work as there were no links in the email to fill out an application form, so we had to contact customer support once more who explained the IT department will get back to me.

The live agents did the best they could but the overall experience was underwhelming and slow. We also tried to contact the UK telephone number but we were waiting for more than 15 minutes on the line with no one answering.

Having said this, when you first fill in the application form you are assigned an Account Manager. He was very responsive and emailed regularly to check how things were going, so that is a nice personalised touch many brokers do not have.

Deposit and Withdrawal

You can deposit funds in EUR, USD or PLN. If depositing from another currency there will be a conversion fee which will be based on your depositing company, rather than GO Markets.

Overall, depositing and withdrawing funds is very easy from the client portal area. Funds deposited via credit/debit cards, Skrill, Neteller or DotPay are credited instantly while bank transfers can take between 1 – 3 business days.

GO Markets Deposit Methods

With GO Markets you can deposit funds fee-free using a variety of methods. However, your own bank or payment provider may charge some fees.

GO Markets Withdrawal Methods

You can withdraw your funds from your GO Markets fee-free. However, there may be fees when withdrawing small amounts to non-Australian banking institutions.

Withdrawals can only be processed back to the same initial funding source. The maximum amount that can be withdrawn to a credit/debit card is equal to the amount of funds deposited from it.

The rest of the funds can only be transferred to a nominated bank account held in the same name as your trading account. Funds will take 2 – 5 business days to reach your bank account.

Account Types and Terms

GO Markets offers two different types of trading accounts called the Standard Account and the GO Plus+ Account which are suitable for beginner and advanced traders.

The Standard Account is a commission-free trading account with spreads starting from 1 pip, while the GO Plus+ Account is a commission-based account with spreads starting from 0 pips.

In our test, we opened the GO Markets Standard Account from the CySEC regulated entity.

Why is Choosing the Right Account Type Important?

The account you open will impact nearly every aspect of your trading. Different accounts will often have different fees, tradable instruments and platforms so choosing the right one for your own needs is important.

What Account Types does GO Markets Offer?

GO Markets offers a range of different accounts that are suitable for beginner and advanced traders. Some of the features are highlighted below:

One of the main differences between the two accounts is that the Standard Account is commission-free and the GO Plus+ Account is commission based. The latter also has a higher minimum deposit.

Both accounts come with the ability to access additional trading tools such as third-party analytics from Trading Central, as well as access to a free VPS if you have completed a minimum trade volume of $1 million per calendar month.

The GO Markets entity regulated by the Financial Services Commission of Mauritius offers the same accounts but access to higher CFD leverage at 500:1 and the ability to fund the account in more base currencies.

Why is a GO Markets Demo Account Important?

With GO Markets you can open a free demo trading account. Why is this important? A demo account allows you to practice your trading ideas and get comfortable on the trading platform with zero risk as you simply trade in a virtual environment.

It’s a great way to test all of the tools the broker provides you and get comfortable with the platform and the different markets available to trade on. When you are comfortable trading on a GO Markets demo account it is easy to transition to a live account with real money.

What is CFD Leverage?

Leverage in CFD trading allows you to open a large position with a smaller deposit. For example, a 30:1 trading leverage means you can have $30,000 exposure with only a $1,000 investment. A 1:500 trading leverage means you can have a $500,000 exposure with only a $1,000 investment.

But leverage is a double-edged sword. It can amplify your winning and losing trades. This is one reason regulators such as CySEC, ASIC and the FCA cut the leverage brokers can offer retail traders – to make it safer for beginners.

With GO Markets under the CySEC regulated entity, traders classified as retail can access a maximum of 1:30 leverage. Professional traders can access higher leverage but will lose some retail protections.

Retail clients with ASIC are also restricted to maximum leverage of 1:30. However, users opening an account with the entity regulated by the FSC of Mauritius can access leverage of up to 1:500. 

How to Open an Account with GO Markets

You can open an account with GO Markets in seven steps with everything done digitally and online.

Here is the step by step process we used to open a Standard Account:

• Step 1: Start the application form by filling in some basic information such as name, password, etc.
• Step 2: Fill in your contact information including your address and email.
• Step 3: Provide details regarding your trading knowledge and trading experience.
• Step 4: Fill in the information regarding your financial situation including employment, income, savings, etc.
• Step 5: Detail your investment objectives and the purpose for trading.
• Step 6: Sign a declaration form after reviewing the Terms and Conditions.
• Step 7: Verify your identity.

Verifying your identity is a standard procedure for regulated brokers. We found this process to be easy as you just need to upload proof of ID (passport or driver’s licence) and proof of residence (utility bill or bank statement).

You can upload your documents, access your trading accounts, platform downloads and additional features all through the GO Markets client portal area. This customised area is great for managing all of your trading activity.

GO Markets does not accept clients from the United States and other countries such as North Korea, Iran and others.

Research

On all of the GO Markets entities websites, they have tabs for daily news, weekly summaries and articles. However, none of them have been updated regularly.

The broker does provide access to third-party research from Trading Central. This includes access to a daily market forecast in multiple languages. This can be accessed from the client portal area.

When we clicked on ‘Today’s Report’ it went to a blank page.

The broker does provide access to a Signals page which provides trading signals across different markets including currencies, indices, commodities and shares across different timeframes.

However, this is not aimed at beginners as it uses advanced technical indicators and there are no entry or exit levels provided.

If you do subscribe to the Trading Central service then you will receive a Daily Market Report which provides a market wrap for forex, indices and commodities, as well as some potential trading ideas.

One thing to bear in mind is that this research is not unique as it’s provided by a third party so every broker using the same service will provide the same research to its clients. Having an in-house research department does provide a more unique perspective.

Nonetheless, it is still useful information to have for beginner traders.

Education

The Inner Circle weekly webinars is a group coaching program to provide ongoing education and market reviews to forex and CFD traders. It is a free weekly session every Wednesday at 8.30 pm AEST. You can also access a library of previous versions and a Facebook group for more support.

The GO Markets range of courses are mainly designed for beginner traders and include First Steps in Forex and Next Steps in Forex.

The courses are done in video format and include access to your own demo account, account manager and group coaching webinars. The First Steps course, for example, has 3 modules of learning and has 23 videos to view.

However, after registering for the First Steps in Forex we never received an email or any form of communication regarding the next steps which was a disappointing experience.

The Bottom Line

If you’re looking to trade with a broker that provides access to some of the best trading fees in the industry then GO Markets could be for you.

While the range of markets are small, customer service is slow and research outdated, we found the spreads on the commission-free trading account to be much better than the industry average.

Beginner traders will enjoy the commission-free trading account and access to an Account Manager. While the MetaTrader 4 trading platform is designed for professional traders there are platform video tutorials available.

It’s a shame there is no web trading platform. The desktop platform will take some time to get used to but the mobile trading app is simple to use and the fastest way to trade.

Advanced traders will enjoy the features of the desktop trading platform and the range of account types offering a mix of commission-free and commission-based trading.

Overall, GO Markets provides an above average offering mainly due to its trading fees. If you can ignore the outdated research on their site and slow customer support, then GO Markets (CySEC and ASIC regulated entities) is worthwhile considering.

FAQ