SquaredFinancial Review 2023

Trust

SquaredFinancial Regulations

SquaredFinancial operates under two entities:

• SquaredFinancial (Seychelles) Ltd is regulated by the Financial Services Authority (FSA, Seychelles). We rate FSA as a Tier 3 regulator.
• SquaredFinancial (CY) Ltd is regulated by the Cyprus Securities and Exchange Commission (CySEC). We rate CySEC as a Tier 1 regulator.

Why is It Important to Know Where Your Broker Subsidiary Is Regulated?

Each regulator has its requirements for brokers, which may differ materially. Such requirements include leverage levels and specific protections offered to investors, including negative balance protection, segregated accounts, and investor compensation funds. Traders must understand the differences between regulations to evaluate whether the broker suits their needs.

With SquaredFinancial, clients can open an account with SquaredFinancial (Seychelles) Ltd, which is regulated by FSA, and SquaredFinancial (CY), which is regulated by CySEC.

Both entities hold clients’ funds in segregated accounts, which means that the firm’s capital is separated from clients’ money. The use of segregated accounts boosts the safety of clients’ funds in case SquaredFinancial has financial problems.

SquaredFinancial also provides negative balance protection, which ensures that clients will not be required to cover losses exceeding their invested capital.

In addition, clients of SquaredFinancial (Seychelles) Ltd will enjoy the protection of the insurance policy from Lloyd’s of London. Clients of SquaredFinancial (CY) Ltd will be subject to the protection of the Investor Compensation Fund, which covers losses of up to €20,000.

We have summarized key aspects of the broker’s entities in terms of regulation and safety in the table below:

Is SquaredFinancial Safe to Trade With?

SquaredFinancial has two entities: SquaredFinancial (Seychelles) Ltd and SquaredFinancial (CY) Ltd. SquaredFinancial (Seychelles) Ltd is regulated by FSA, a Tier 3 regulator. SquaredFinancial (CY) Ltd is regulated by CySEC, a Tier 1 regulator. Both entities provide negative balance protection and hold clients’ funds in segregated accounts.

Negative balance protection ensures that clients will not lose more money than they have in their accounts. Segregation of clients’ funds from the firm’s funds ensures that the broker cannot use them for its own needs. Clients of the FSA-regulated entity have additional protection from the Lloyd’s of London insurance, which covers up to $1 million. Clients of the CySEC-regulated entity have protection from the Investor Compensation Fund, which covers losses of up to €20,000.

Stability and Transparency

In our tests 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, how big the company is, and how transparent it is in terms of information being readily available.

SquaredFinancial was founded in 2005 and has been in business for 18 years. The company is not publicly traded and has no bank parent, which is usual for brokers.

SquaredFinancial received a high score for fees structure transparency, regulation protection transparency, and general transparency.

Traders can find important legal documents on the dedicated page of the broker’s website. These documents induce the Clients Agreement, Order Execution Policy, Privacy Policy, Terms of Use, Risk Disclosure Statement, Conflict of Interest Policy, Complaint Handling Policy, and Cookie Policy.

Clients of SquaredFinancial (Seychelles) Ltd can also find the details of the broker’s insurance in the client fund protection section of the website.

Traders can find out the details of the accounts offered by SquaredFinancial on the account comparison page. Spreads for each account type can be found on the instruments pages.

In summary, our findings indicate that SquaredFinancial can be regarded as having a decent level of trust and stability due to the following factors:

• SquaredFinancial is regulated by Tier 1 and Tier 3 regulators.
• The broker has been in business for over 18 years.
• The company provides easy access to important information on its website.

Fees

SquaredFinancial Trading Fees

For this review, we tested the SquaredFinancial SquaredPro account under the FSA-regulated entity, where the broker charges spreads and swap/rollover fees but doesn’t charge commissions. Spreads are variable and depend on the liquidity situation in each instrument at a certain point of time.

SquaredFinancial Spreads

We tested the spread on SquaredFinancial during the London open at 8:00 a.m. UK time and just after the US open at 2:45 p.m. UK time. These are the most actively traded times.

SquaredFinancial offers low fees for Apple, Tesla, and Dow Jones. Spreads for EUR/USD, WTI Oil, and DAX were medium, while the spreads for GBP/JPY were high.

Swap Fees

The swap fees for EUR/USD and GBP/JPY are medium.

Are SquaredFinancial Trading Fees Good?

SquaredFinancial received a good score in the Fees category in our rating. The broker offers attractive spreads for Apple, Tesla, and Dow Jones. The spreads for other instruments we measured were medium, with the exception of GBP/JPY, which had a high spread.

Non-Trading Fees

If the client’s account is not active for 3 months, a dormant fee of $5 per month will be charged.

Platforms and Tools

SquaredFinancial Desktop and Web Platforms

In this review, we tested the MetaTrader 5 platform analyzing charts, indicators, drawing tools, orders, and the general ease of use of the platform.

General Ease of Use

MT5 is an advanced trading platform that could be tailored to traders’ needs. The interface is rather intuitive, although some traders may want to search for tutorials to take a deep dive into MT5’s capabilities. In general, advanced traders would have no problems with MT5, while beginners have to spend some time learning the basics of this platform.

Novice traders should go through various chart options, indicators, drawing tools, and orders. Also, they have to learn how to create their watchlists and manage their trading positions. Despite this work requires some time and effort, traders who invest in that ultimately get a powerful tool that helps achieve better trading results.

Charts

MT5 offers 97 indicators and 21 timeframes, which is more than enough to customize your charts and adjust them to your needs.

Trend indicators, oscillators, volumes, Bill Williams, and custom indicators help to design the chart you need.

Available timeframes range from 1 minute to 1 month, so they provide the trader with an opportunity to take a look at short-term developments and significant multi-month trends.

MT5 also supports objects:

• lines
• channels
• Gann tools
• Fibonacci tools
• Elliott tools
• shapes

Many traders use these popular tools to make decisions, so their presence is a must for any reputable trading platform.

Each chart could be displayed as a bar, a candlestick, and a line. Candlesticks are generally the most popular among traders as they suggest an abundance of various patterns that are used to make trading decisions. Although, other types of charts also have their fans.

MT5 charts are easy to configure even for novice traders, but they also offer enough options for expert traders.

Orders

MT5 offers all main order types including:

• Market order. This order is used to buy or sell the instrument at the current market price. It is used when the trader needs to establish a position in the fastest possible way. The main downside of the market order is the necessity to pay a spread, which is a difference between the bid price and the ask price.
• Limit orders. This order is used to buy or sell the instrument at a pre-set price or better. A limit order is used when the trader wants to get a specific entry point and is unwilling to pay the current market prices.
• Stop-loss orders. Stop-loss orders are used to get you out of the position when the price is moving in the wrong way. The order is triggered when the price reaches a specified point.
• Stop limit orders. This is a stop-loss order which puts a limit order instead of a market order when it is triggered. This is a dangerous way to get out of the position and it should be used only by experienced traders.
• Trailing stop orders. This order allows you to set a stop order that will move if your open position trends in the right direction. This order is used to protect your profits in case the market direction reverses.

Different expiration types are available for all pending orders, including GTC (good-till-cancel), Today, Specified, and Specified Day.

SquaredFinancial Mobile App

In this review, we have tested the SquaredFinancial Mobile App for Android.

General Ease of Use

The MT5 mobile app for Android is rather easy to use. It provides charts, quotes, account balance info, economic calendar, news, and other tools giving traders an opportunity to make informed trading decisions.

Charts

MT5 mobile app offers:

• 30 technical indicators
• 24 drawing tools
• 9 timeframes
• 3 chart types

This selection of options is sufficient for mobile-based trading. Typically, the mobile app is used when the trader does not have access to the desktop platform but needs to monitor the market and open positions. While the app is helpful in certain circumstances, it cannot beat the speed of work that could be achieved using the desktop platform, which is the primary solution for active trading.

Orders

In an MT5 mobile app, you can set market orders, limit orders, and stop orders. Trailing stops are not available on mobile trading terminals.

Tradable Instruments

SquaredFinancial provides access to 48 forex pairs, 9 commodities, 22 indices, 36 cryptocurrencies, and 8776 stocks and ETFs. The number of available stocks, ETFs, and indices is high. The stock offering is especially interesting as it provides access to instruments from various markets, including the U.S., Hong Kong, the UK, and the EU.

The number of available forex pairs and commodities is medium. SquaredFinancial also offers a decent number of cryptocurrencies.

What are CFDs?

CFDs (Contracts for Differences) are financial instruments that allow traders to bet on securities without owning the underlying securities. The key advantage of CFDs is the access to significant leverage, which is typically not available when trading other instruments. In this light, CFDs are very popular in short-term trading.

What Can You Trade with SquaredFinancial?

• 48 forex pairs. The list includes popular names like EUR/USD and GBP/JPY as well as more exotic options like EUR/NOK and USD/MXN.
• 9 commodities. Spot and futures are available.
• 22 indices. Traders can work with spot and index futures.
• 36 cryptocurrencies. The list includes popular names like BTC/USD, AVA/USD, and XRP/USD.
• 8776 stocks and ETFs. SquaredFinancial offers multiple instruments from various markets.

SquaredFinancial offers forex pairs, commodities, indices, stocks, ETFs, and cryptocurrencies. The stock and ETF offering is especially interesting as the broker provides a wide range of instruments from various markets.

Customer Support

SquaredFinancial Customer Support Test

We have contacted SquaredFinancial customer support several times through online chat asking about swap rates, web trading platforms, and inactivity fees. We received detailed instructions on where swap rates can be found. We also learned about the in-house web trading platform. The customer support team has quickly provided the details about the inactivity fee. All in all, the SquaredFinancial customer support team’s answers were quick and professional.

Deposit and Withdrawal

The broker’s clients have multiple options to deposit and withdraw funds from their accounts. As usual, a bank transfer is the slowest option for both deposits and withdrawals. Importantly, SquaredFinancial does not charge deposit or withdrawal fees.

SquaredFinancial Deposits

SquaredFinancial provides a high number of deposit options. These options include debit/credit cards, bank transfers, e-wallets, and crypto.

SquaredFinancial Withdrawals

While all withdrawal methods are processed within two working days, bank transfers will take 3-5 business days for the funds to arrive to clients’ accounts. Traders should note that withdrawals are made with the same payment method that was used to deposit funds. If you want to withdraw profits, a bank transfer must be used.

Account Types and Terms

Why is Choosing the Right Account Type Important?

The account you choose must suit your needs. Typically, the trader should focus on base currency options, contract size, commission, fees, the number of pending orders/positions, and the minimum deposit size.

Traders who want to open an account with SquaredFinancial can choose between spread-based and commission-based accounts.

What Account Types does SquaredFinancial Offer?

The above example is an account opened with the FSA-regulated entity.  SquaredFinancial offers two types of accounts. SquaredPro is a spread-based account, where the broker charges spreads and swap/rollover fees. SquaredElite is a commission-based account. Spreads are tight in this account, but the broker also charges commissions.

What is CFD leverage?

CFD Leverage allows you to avoid paying the full value of the position. Instead, you pay a deposit, which is called a margin, while the remaining funds are borrowed.

In the SquaredFinancial case, the maximum leverage in both FSA-regulated accounts is 1:500. This is a high level of leverage, so traders should be careful when using the maximum amount of available leverage. This leverage changes if you open an account under the CySEC-regulated entity.

SquaredFinancial Account Opening Process

To open an account with SquaredFinancial:

1. Go to the register page.
2. Provide your full name, country of residence, phone number, and email.
3. Set your password for login.
4. Provide additional personal information, including the date of birth and residence address.
5. Answer questions on your trading experience, employment and financial status, and tax information.
6. Provide proofs of your identity and address.

What is a demo account?

A demo account is an account that allows you to test the broker’s services, but mostly your trading skills without risking your money.

Please note that your trading experience will differ when you use a demo account compared to a real-money account due to human psychology, as traders find themselves under pressure when real money is at stake.

It’s a good idea to use the demo account for practicing and learning the trading platform, but do not spend too much time on the demo.

Research

SquaredFinancial provides research in the Market Insights section of its website. There, clients can find daily commentary on the most important economic reports of the day and their potential impact on major financial instruments.

The reports in the Market Insights section usually start with a list of market-moving reports for the trading session and then proceed to the technical analysis of the most interesting instruments.

Education

SquaredFinancial provides a number of educational articles on its website. The broker also has short trading guides on topics like Financial Leverage and Forex Trading Rules. There is also an FAQ that contains short answers to typical questions like “How do I calculate Margin?” and “What is the difference between an intraday and overnight position?”.

The Bottom Line

Founded in 2005, SquaredFinancial has been in business for more than 18 years. The broker operates via two entities: SquaredFinancial (Seychelles) Ltd, which is regulated by FSA (Tier 3), and SquaredFinancial (CY) Ltd, which is regulated by CySEC (Tier 1).

SquaredFinancial provides access to forex pairs, commodities, indices, stocks, ETFs, and cryptocurrencies. The minimum deposit is $0 for the spread-based account and $5000 for the commissions-based account. Multiple deposit and withdrawal methods are available in several currencies, including major cryptocurrencies.

Advanced traders will benefit from multiple deposit and withdrawal options as well as from a sufficient number of account base currencies. The high level of leverage provided by the Seychelles-based entity gives advanced traders an opportunity to use risky trading strategies.

Beginner traders should note that broker’s research and educational support is limited. Such traders would likely start their trading journey with the spread-based account SquaredPro with no minimum deposit.

FAQ