IronFX Review 2023

Trust

IronFX Regulations

In our reviews, we examine the licenses and regulations of each entity operated by a broker. This allows us to compare their 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.

This is what I discovered about IronFX’s several entities:

• Notesco Financial Services Limited is licensed and regulated by the Securities and Exchange Commission (CySEC) in Cyprus under licensing number 125/10. We rank CySEC as a Tier-1 regulator.
• Notesco UK Limited is licensed and regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) in the UK under licensing number 585561. We rank the FCA as a Tier-1 regulator.
• Notesco (SA) Pty Ltd is licensed and regulated by the Financial Sector Conduct Authority (FSCA) in South Africa under licensing number 45276. We rank the FSCA as a Tier-2 regulator.
• Notesco Limited is registered in Bermuda. The entity is not regulated.

We have summarized the most essential aspects of IronFX in terms of regulation and safety in the table below:

Why is it Important to Know Where Your Broker’s Subsidiaries are Regulated?

Brokers operate multiple entities because it allows them to serve clients worldwide. However, licenses obtained by regulators in different jurisdictions do not always entail the same degree of protection. Some regulators mandate compliance with the strictest financial frameworks, whereas others are less rigid. That is why traders need to familiarize themselves with the safety mechanisms ensured by the entity they want to open an account with beforehand.

Here is what you need to be looking for in a broker in terms of safety mechanisms:

• Segregation of client funds. Keeping client funds in segregated bank accounts from the ones used for the broker’s corporate capital negates the risk of accounting errors. IronFX complies with this requirement.
• Negative balance protection. This safety mechanism removes the risk of trading losses exceeding the account balance. In other words, the losses you incur from trading are capped at the amount you have put in your trading account. This is especially important in volatile markets. IronFX complies with this requirement as well.
• Compensation scheme. A compensation scheme protects traders against the broker’s liabilities in the unlikely event that the company becomes insolvent. In the case of IronFX, only clients of the CySEC-regulated and FCA-regulated entities are protected under such schemes.
• Maximum leverage. Capping the maximum leverage limits the maximum market exposure to retail traders. The higher the leverage, the higher the potential profits and potential losses. IronFX’s clients can choose a maximum leverage up to 1:1000 which is quite high and suitable only for the most experienced traders.

Is IronFX Safe to Trade With?

As a whole, I found IronFX to be safe to trade with. Even though Notesco Limited does not have a compensation scheme, client funds are kept in segregated accounts, meaning that the risk of loss of capital due to negligence or bankruptcy of the broker is greatly diminished. Additionally, the broker provides negative balance protection.

The broker entity does have comparatively high maximum leverage, but selecting a multiplier is up to the trader. Less experienced traders do not have to go for the maximum and can instead choose a lot more comfortable leverage.

Stability and Transparency

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.

Information on IronFX’s website is easily accessible. There is a detailed description of each account type’s spreads and commissions. Additionally, all the safety mechanisms, execution methods, and standards are explained in detail in IronFX’s Client Agreement.

In summary, my research indicates that IronFX can be regarded as having a sufficient level of trust and stability due to the following factors:

• Ensures most safety mechanisms in the industry
• Has a fairly transparent website
• Is authorized by two top-tier regulators

Fees

IronFX’s Trading Fees

IronFX’s Spreads

I tested IronFX’s spreads during the most actively traded times – the London open at 8:00 a.m. GMT and just after the U.S. open at 2:45 p.m. GMT. The test was conducted on 01 August 2023.

Broken down by asset class and compared to the industry average, IronFX charges low-to-average spreads on FX pairs, average spreads on commodities, low spreads on CFD shares, and average-to-high spreads on indices. Based on my findings, I concluded that trading CFD shares is most advantageous with IronFX.

IronFX’s Swap Rates

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.

IronFX charges above-average swaps, though this can also be partially explained by heightened volatility at the time of my review. It is also worth pointing out that the broker permits swap-free trading via its Islamic accounts.

IronFX’s Commissions

IronFX charges a fixed commission on two of its account types – Live Zero Fixed and Zero Spread. For the former, there is a $18 round-turn commission per traded lot (100,000 units), whereas the latter has a $10 round-turn commission per traded lot.

Round-turn means that half of the commission ($9 in the first case and $5 in the second) is charged when a position is opened, and the other half is then charged when the position is closed.

I compared my findings to the industry benchmark and determined that the fixed commission on the ‘Live Zero Fixed’ account type exceeds the industry average by a lot, whereas the $10 commission on the ‘Zero Spread’ account type falls below the industry average.

IronFX’s Non-Trading Fees

There is no monthly inactivity fee with IronFX. However, any account that has been inactive for 90 days and has an account balance of up to 1 cent of any currency will be achieved. Also, IronFX reserves the right to apply a 3% ‘no trading’ fee when a trader has deposited and requested to withdraw funds without ever entering one trade.

Are IronFX’s Fees Competitive?

In general, IronFX’s offering is slightly more competitive than the industry average. Traders can choose between commission-free, swap-free accounts and accounts with low floating spreads. Plus, there are no major non-trading costs.

Accounts Comparison

To help you better understand the difference between IronFX’s different accounts in terms of trading costs, I have compiled the table below. It illustrates the spreads and

commissions I have recorded on the EUR/USD for the seven account types. The table shows how much you will have to pay to trade 1 full lot (100,000 units) on the EUR/USD when the pip value of the pair is $10.

My tests indicate that IronFX’s floating spread accounts are slightly more competitive than the fixed spread alternatives in normal market conditions. However, this may change at times of heightened market volatility as floating spreads tend to rise at such times.

I consider the ‘Zero Spread’ account most suitable for traders looking for stability and competitiveness. The account type has fixed raw spreads and a fixed $10

round-turn commission, meaning that a trader’s costs will remain constant regardless of the underlying market sentiment. The combination of the two costs is below the industry average. The account is equally suitable for high-volume and high-frequency trading.

Platforms and Tools

MetaTrader became the first successful retail platform, pretty much setting the benchmark for what should be incorporated into such a platform. Traders can build custom watch lists to navigate IronFX’s multiple instruments, while charts can be populated with multiple technical indicators and drawing tools.

As a high-frequency trader, I have always looked for precision and efficiency in a platform. And in some ways, MetaTrader delivers on both. There is a limited capacity to scale price action up and down in order to gain a sense of the prevailing market sentiment. The platform also supports one-click trading, which allows traders to execute orders fairly quickly.

Automated trading is possible via MetaTrader’s Expert Advisors (EAs) feature. IronFX provides Virtual Private Server (VPS) hosting to ensure better connection and faster execution for algo trading. Social trading is also available via IronFX’s ‘AutoTrade’ feature, allowing clients of the broker to choose the best-performing trading strategies.

IronFX’s Desktop MT4 Platform

General Ease of Use

MetaTrader’s layout is pretty straightforward. You have your watchlists, indicators, and other tools on the left side of the window, a chart screen on the right, and account info at the bottom.

Certain features, such as the one-click trading option and depth of market tool, enhance the platform’s overall performance. They allow traders to easily examine the current market behavior and enter into trades quickly.

However, I consider the lack of an instruments search tool to be the biggest drawback of the platform. You have to scroll through the entire list of available instruments in order to find the asset you are looking for, which I find tedious and unnecessary.

Charts

In my experience, the charts screen is probably the most important component of every platform. It is the window through which traders can observe price action behavior and understand where the market might be headed next.

It is vitally important for a chart to be as clear and informative as possible and allow traders to manipulate price action freely by scaling it up and down. Additionally, a good chart should be supplemented by a broad range of technical indicators, drawing tools, and other such instruments to accommodate technical analysis.

My impression of MT4’s charts is that they are somewhat rigid. You can apply multiple indicators and drawing tools, but this can actually lead to obscuring price action rather than contextualizing it. Still, the platform supports a broad range of diverse features. I have broken them down by class:

• 30 technical indicators. The platform supports trend-based, volume-based indicators, oscillators, and Bill Williams indicators. These can be applied to study price action behavior and determine the underlying market sentiment. In general, technical indicators are used to gauge where the market is likely to head next.
• 23 drawing tools. Drawing tools, such as Fibonacci retracement levels and Elliott waves, are used to study repeatable price patterns. Additionally, they can be applied to determine key support and resistance levels and potential breakout or breakdown levels.
• 9 timeframes. MetaTrader 4 allows multi-timeframe analysis of price action behavior, though its assortment of timeframes is relatively constrained. In comparison, its successor, MT5, has 21 different timeframes. The greater the number, the more intricate examinations that can be carried out across the short-term and long-term.
• 3 chart types. Price action can be represented as a line, bars, or candlesticks.

Orders

I have broken down the available order types on MT5 below:

• Market orders. Market orders are used for immediate entry at the best possible price. If triggered, they guarantee volume filling, though there could be a discrepancy between the requested price and the price where the order actually gets filled.
• Limit orders. Unlike market orders, limit orders guarantee exact price execution. However, a limit order will not be filled if the price action does not reach the pre-determined execution price.
• Stop orders. They are used to support open positions by limiting the maximum loss that can be incurred if the market turns in the opposite direction. A stop-loss order is placed at a fixed price below or above the spot price. If the market does indeed turn and triggers the stop-loss, it will transform into a market order and get filled at the best possible price.

IronFX’s Mobile MT4 App

The mobile app affords traders quick and easy access to the market on the go. It is indispensable when you must swiftly adjust your open positions. I checked the usability of the mobile app version of MT4 by testing how long it would take me to do just that. In just a few seconds, I was able to log into my account, go to my open orders, and adjust the parameters (move the stop-loss) of a trade.

On the other hand, the app is not suitable for much else. It is even more cumbersome than the platform’s desktop version, and carrying out sophisticated technical analyses on a small-screened device is virtually impossible. This is a problem that is inherent to almost all trading apps.

Tradable Instruments

What I thought very useful is that some of the available instruments are denominated in different currencies. For instance, you can trade XAUUSD (Gold vs. US Dollar) or XAUEUR (Gold vs. Euro). Traders can avoid paying conversion fees when trading with instruments denominated in their account currency.

What Are CFDs?

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.

What Can You Trade With IronFX?

I have broken down the available instruments by asset class:

• 84 Currency Pairs CFDs
  • Major, Minor, Exotic
• 18 Commodities CFDs
  • Metals (6), Energy (3), Agriculture (9)
• 145 Shares CFD
  • US (92), UK (20), France (7), Germany (12), EU (14)
• 19 Indices CFDs
  • Spot Equity (16), Energy Commodities (3)
• 26 Futures
  • Commodity (9), FX (6), Energy (3), Indices (8)

Compared to the broader industry, IronFX offers an above-average number of FX pairs, commodities, and indices. These afford traders access to multiple markets with varying degrees of underlying volatility.

Customer Support

Customer support via live chat is available in English, French, Spanish, Chinese, Japanese, Korean, and Farsi. Before you connect to an agent, you have to provide your name, email, and account number (if applicable), and choose a preferred language.

Phone support is available only to active clients with their account managers.

Customer Support Test

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.

The test was conducted on 1 August at 13:36 CET via live chat. An agent connected almost instantaneously. She responded fairly quickly to my more general questions and did her due diligence concerning the more complex inquiries. I was interested to learn more about IronFX’s average order execution speed and whether there are any minimum deposit requirements per account type.

Agent’s answers were prompt, for the most part, though at times, it was hard to understand her. Eventually, I was advised to refer to a different support department to receive additional clarification. I did as I was told and sent an email to the address that the agent provided. I got an answer the following day.

I received a rather terse explanation that IronFX averages speeds of under 50 milliseconds on most orders, without any further context. I had expected to learn more about the total number of trades that were tested over the previous year, the percentages of trades that resulted in positive and negative slippage, etc.

My question regarding the minimum deposit requirements was ignored.

Deposit and Withdrawal

IronFX Deposit Methods

IronFX Withdrawal Methods

The available payment methods are shown in the client portal and not on the website for the general viewer. Deposits and withdrawals are generally free of charge, though

third-party banking fees may apply. For withdrawals below $300, there is a $55 fee. Also, withdrawals from accounts on which there have been no executed trades are liable for a 20% transaction fee charged by IronFX.

Account Types and Terms

Why is Choosing the Right Account Type Important?

Your account should reflect your goals, needs, and ambitions on the market. You should take into consideration several things, such as whether the account type has a minimum deposit requirement, what its spreads and commissions are, what the execution method is, and more.

What Account Types Does IronFX Offer?

I have broken down IronFX’s account types by category and arranged them in the two tables below:

Live Floating/Fixed Spread Accounts

STP/ECN Accounts

I evaluated IronFX’s fixed/floating spread and STP/ECN account types across multiple factors and discovered certain important differences. As shown above, the latter tend to have more favorable spreads and commissions. However, the STP/ECN accounts also have higher stop-out levels (50%). This translates into higher overall trading risk. I found these accounts most suitable for experienced high-frequency traders looking for the most competitive prices.

The fixed/floating spread account types, in contrast, have narrower stop-out levels (20%), making them more suitable for applying tight risk management. This is especially important for highly volatile markets. Fixed spread accounts also have a competitive advantage in such environments as their costs cannot rise, no matter how volatile the market becomes. I thus determined that fixed/floating spread accounts are better suited for beginners looking for extra protection.

IronFX’s Order Execution Model

I checked IronFX’s execution policy and accounts structure and determined that the broker’s hybrid execution model most closely resembles market execution. It guarantees volume filling at the best possible price, though not necessarily at the requested price. IronFX claims to average execution speeds of under 50 milliseconds. To understand the functioning of market execution, consider the following example:

Suppose you wish to go long 100,000 units (1 lot) on the EUR/USD at 1.07650. You place your buy order, but there is not enough liquidity in the market at that price level, not enough to fill your order. Hence, no trade is opened. The price then climbs to 1.07700, where there is enough liquidity to fill that volume, and your trade is finally

executed. If the value of 1 pip is $10, then you would have missed a chance to generate a $50 profit due to this discrepancy (5 pips).

The clear advantage of this model of execution is that with it, you are guaranteed entry, in that your order request will eventually be filled once there is enough liquidity. However, the corresponding disadvantage is that you are exposed to price discrepancies in the form of negative slippage.

In my experience, market execution is better suited for day trading and position trading strategies where volume is important. But it is less so for intraday trading strategies, such as scalping, where precise order filling is more important.

What is CFD Leverage?

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.

IronFX Account Opening Process

I have organized the account creation process with IronFX in the following easy steps:

• Step 1. Click the ‘Register’ button in green at the top-right corner of the main page.
• Step 2. Fill in your name, email, country of residence, and telephone number.
• Step 3. Choose a password.
• Step 4. Login to your client portal.
• Step 7. Verify your account by uploading proof of identity and proof of address.

Why is a Demo Account Important?

IronFX offers demo accounts that introduce traders to the broker’s services and allows them to tweak their strategies in a risk-free environment. The market is continually evolving and never static, so it is important to hone your skills in a safe environment.

You can set up a demo account for yourself alongside your live CFD account.

IronFX Restricted Countries

Notesco Limited does not accept clients from the U.S., Cuba, Sudan, Syria, and North Korea.

Research

Research Tools

I have broken down IronFX’s research content by type below:

Forex Featured Ideas

Provided by TradingCentral, they are entirely technical. Each idea underscores a currently unfolding trading setup – a bullish or bearish pattern, such as the ‘Engulfing Line (Bullish)’ shown below. What I found particularly useful is that it states for how long the idea can be applied before the underlying opportunity expires.

Market Buzz

The Market Buzz feature is a tool used for fundamental analysis and trading on volatility outbursts. You can use it to gauge interactions on social media for instruments from several asset classes – cryptos, shares, currencies, commodities, and indices.

In the example below, you can see the net mentions of Tesla compared to the industry for the last 24 hours. The more interactions there are, the likelier it is that volatility on the instrument in question will increase in the near future.

Newsdesk

Live news feed helps traders stay on top of the latest market developments. Each piece is light and easy to grasp, containing no more than 2-3 sentences. This type of content is not intended to delve deep into the subject matter but rather to help traders screen potential opportunities as they emerge.

Technical Views

Provided by Trading Central, the Technical Views section affords a more detailed insight into current trading opportunities. Price action is examined more intricately, utilizing more indicators. The materials underpin key support and resistance levels and pivot points.

Market Insights

Proprietary to IronFX, the Market Insights section comprises lengthy and comprehensive takes on current trading opportunities. Articles in this section underpin major economic developments and the underlying factors driving price action. They also include a multi-timeframe technical analysis. Technical, fundamental, and psychological analyses are implemented to provide a balanced and well-researched picture of current trading opportunities. Articles in this section are published regularly.

Economic Calendar

Pretty standard for the industry, the economic calendar is a tool used by traders to inform themselves about upcoming economic releases and other major events that can create viable trading opportunities. You can use the filters of the calendar to search for events depending on their expected market impact.

WebTV

WebTV represents ‘Market Insights’ and ‘Technical Views’ in video format. Making the content more accessible and easier to grasp.

Blog

The blog is where you can access more articles and opinion pieces to get a broader perspective on what is driving the market. Materials in the website’s blog section are written in support of the rest of the technical and fundamental content.

Seminars

IronFX should also be praised for holding periodic seminars at various locations globally and in different languages. Traders attending these seminars can benefit by gaining critical trading insights directly from IronFX experts.

Education

I broke down IronFX’s educational materials by type below:

Educational Videos

Hundreds of educational videos are available on IronFX’s YouTube channel. They cover a wide range of trading topics, including charting, technical analysis, fundamental analysis, and trading psychology. These are available in several languages, including

English, German, and Spanish. The videos are generally easy to understand and highly informative. I thus found them quite useful for both beginners and experienced traders.

eBooks

Clients of IronFX can access four eBooks from the client portal of the website. These include: ‘Introduction to Forex’, ‘Trading Strategies’, ‘Technical Analysis’, and

‘Fundamental Analysis’. The books are pretty exhaustive and can help newbies gain a firm understanding of trading basics.

Glossary

A pretty standard feature, the glossary contains descriptions of some of the most popular trading concepts so that first-time traders can learn what they mean. IronFX’s glossary contains over 60 entries.

Webinars

IronFX publishes webinars almost daily. They are highly informative and cover a wide range of topics – from the basics of technical analysis to the intricacies of trading psychology. They are in multiple languages, making them quite accessible to a larger number of traders.

After reviewing a couple of IronFX’s past webinars, I considered they can help beginners gain a solid understanding of essential trading concepts and techniques,

whereas more experienced traders can always find something new to add to their skills and improve their knowledge.

Podcasts

IronFX also publishes regular podcasts in addition to its webinars. The podcasts are more topic-specific, usually focusing on particular trading concepts. They can, thus, help you gain a broader trading perspective and improve your general knowledge.

The Bottom Line

IronFX is a forex and CFD broker that is headquartered in Cyprus and also has offices in the UK, South Africa, and elsewhere. Over the last decade, IronFX established itself as a reliable broker that offers its clients access to over 500 tradable instruments. It is suitable for traders with various experience levels and for implementing a wide range of trading strategies.

The company serves traders globally and is regulated in several jurisdictions. IronFX is licensed by a couple of top-tier regulators like CySEC and FCA and has one unregulated entity. The broker’s seven account types are versatile and can be used to gain a competitive advantage via the quite low spreads and commissions on the

STP/ECN accounts or to implement tight risk management via the fixed/floating spread accounts.

I examined IronFX’s offering from start to finish and determined that its research and educational materials are the standout features. The broker offers penetrating in-house content, such as eBooks, trading courses, webinars, seminars, market analyses, and more. It also incorporates the sophisticated TradingCentral service, which is a comprehensive market research tool.

What I found lacking is an additional trading platform. Currently, clients of IronFX can only trade on MetaTrader 4, which is rather cumbersome and outclassed by newer trading platforms. Additionally, IronFX’s customer support seems to struggle with addressing more complex questions, such as what their average execution speed is.

To sum it all up, I would say that IronFX is a well-calibrated broker with a balanced offering. The aspects in which it excels make up for the lack of services. The broker is suitable for both beginners and experienced traders.

FAQ