Admiral Markets Review

Since 2001, Admiral Markets has been a popular forex and CFD broker offering thousands of instruments for trading on the MetaTrader platforms. Regulated by top-tier regulatory authorities in four countries, Admiral Markets provides clients’ fund protection and cutting-edge technologies that have engendered tight spreads and lightning speed executions. Admiral Markets has its head office in London, but it has other offices in Sydney, Mahé, and Nicosia, but serves clients from over 130 countries. The broker deploys the Straight-through processing (STP) brokerage model and does not interfere with clients’ trade positions, but routes all orders to its liquidity providers.

On its 20^th anniversary (2021), Admiral Markets has announced that it is rebranding to ‘Admirals’. Its name, logo, and services will change as the company transits to a financial hub through the introduction of solutions for investing, spending, managing funds, and a wide range of services. However, its commitment to excellence remains unchanged. The broker has already received over 20 industry awards for excellence.

Pros

• Admirals are regulated by FCA, CySEC, ASIC, and FSA, Estonia.
• Global and stable broker with two decades of experience in the business.
• Over 4,000 trading instruments can be traded on its platforms.
• Access to trade on modern sophisticated platforms which are MT4, MT5, and its own app.
• MT4 and MT5 supreme add several indicators and tools to the trading platforms.

Cons

• US clients are not allowed to trade.
• Inactivity fees are charged.
• Admirals demo account expires after 30 days.

Admiral Markets Regulation and Security

Admirals are regulated by the following authorities:

• Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) in the UK
• Estonian Financial Supervision Authority (FSA) in Estonia.
• Cyprus Securities and Exchange Commission (CySEC) in Cyprus.
• Australian Securities and Investments Commission (ASIC) in Australia.

Admirals strictly comply with the clients’ funds segregation policy which ensures that all traders’ deposits are properly kept in separate bank accounts from that of the broker. It has also implemented negative balance protection which ensures that the trader does not lose more than he deposited. Digital security measures and software are in place to protect all clients from the activities of cybercriminals. Furthermore, the broker has advised all registered clients to activate 2-factor authentication from their traders’ room.

UK clients are protected by the Financial Services Compensation Scheme (FSCS) which will repay traders their deposits up to £85,000 if Admirals go bankrupt. Similarly, clients from the CySEC regulated jurisdiction also enjoy the insurance provided by the ‘Investor Compensation Fund’ (ICF) which will pay investors up to €20,000 if Admirals become insolvent.

Trading Instruments

Admirals state that its clients have a choice of trading over 8,000 instruments. This includes stock CFDs from 15 of the world’s biggest exchanges. The asset classes are as follows:

• 50 currency pairs
• 43 Indices
• 28 Commodities
• 32 Cryptocurrencies
• 2 Bonds
• over 4,444 stock CFDs comprising of over 3,000 from US exchanges
• more than 373 Exchange-traded funds (ETFs)

Account opening

From the ‘Admirals’ website; click on the ‘start trading’ button to display the ‘account opening’ form. Enter your country, name, email, phone number, choose a password and click on ‘sign up’.

You will be sent a link to verify your email address. Upon successful email verification, you are logged into the traders’ room and prompted to complete your account setup by providing personal details, phone number verification, trading experience, net worth, sources of trading funds, etc. You will also need to provide a government-issued ID card and utility bill. When the account is approved, you will be issued account login details and you can start trading.

Admiral Markets Deposit and Withdrawals

Bank transfer

This transaction method is accepted in 14 currencies. There is no minimum or maximum transaction amount. There are no deposit fees, but for withdrawals, there is one free withdrawal request every month. Bank transfers take up to 3 days before the entire process is completed.

Credit/Debit cards

Visa and Mastercard are the accepted cards. The minimum deposit is $50 while the maximum is $5,000. There are no deposit fees and it is processed instantly.

Online payments

The acceptable payment options are Klarna, PayPal, Skrill, Neteller, SafetyPay, Przelewy, iBank&BankLink, and iDEAL. Generally, the minimum deposit is $50 and the deposits are processed instantly.

The maximum deposits are as follows:

• PayPal is $500
• iBank&BankLink and SafetyPay 5,000
• Skrill, Klarna, Neteller, iDEAL is $10,000 each.

There are 2 free withdrawal requests every month after which a 1% fee is charged except iBank&BankLink which charges 0.5%. Withdrawals via PayPal, Skrill, and Neteller are processed instantly.

Account types and fees

Admirals offer different account types; traders can choose an account based on the trading platform as well as the trading instruments available for the account. The account base currencies available are EUR, USD, GBP, CHF, BGN, CZK, HRK, HUF, PLN, and RON. The maximum leverage is 1:500 for international clients while ESMA restriction to 1:30 applies to European clients. The platform is tied to the account type as part of its name.

The account types are:

Trade.MT5

A minimum of $100/€100/£100 is required to open this account type for UK residents and $25/€25/£25 for international clients. All the available forex and CFD instruments can be traded by account holders. These include 40 currencies, 5 Metals, about 39 commodity CFDs, 24 index CFDs, 3300 stocks, 300 ETFs CFDs and 2 bonds CFDs. The spread starts from 0.5 pips. Commissions are only charged on shares and ETF CFDs.

Trade.MT4

This account is similar to Trade.MT5 account except that it is for the MT4 platform and offers fewer instruments; about 34 currencies, 78 stock CFDs, 16 cash index CFDs, 2 bond CFDs, 10 commodity CFDs. The floating spreads start from 0.5 pips.

Invest.MT5

The minimum deposit is $1 or €1 or £1. Over 4,350 stocks and more than 200 ETFs can be traded by account holders. Spreads start from 0 pips and a commission of $0.02 per share is charged. Orders are executed at the exchanges. This account type is only available to UK and EU clients.

Zero.MT5

Only $100/£100/€100 is needed to open a zero account. Only currencies, metals, indices, and energies can be traded. The maximum leverage is 1:30 and spreads can be as low as 0.0 pips. Commissions of $1.8 to $3 per lot are charged on forex and metals, $0.05 to $3 per lot is charged on cash indices, and $1/lot on energies. About 45 currency pairs, 3 metal CFDs, 10 cash index CFDs, and 3 energy CFDs can be traded from this account.

Zero.MT4

This account has exactly the same features as Zero.MT5 except that it is available on the MT4 platform

Islamic account

This option of Islamic account is only available to Trade.MT5 account holders. Islamic account holders do not receive or pay swap fees but admin fees are charged on open positions that are maintained for 3 days and above. For example, the admin fee for EURUSD open position maintained for 3 days is $7 per lot.

Admiral Pro

This is an account reserved for professional traders who are experienced, knowledgeable, or maintain a huge assets portfolio to the tune of $500,000. Admiral pro accounts are not protected and account holders can trade with higher leverages. Both new and existing clients can apply for Admiral Pro accounts provided that you meet the qualification criteria.

Demo accounts

Admirals provide a risk-free demo account that is preloaded with $10,000 for trading practice. It is available on all platforms, but it is only available for 30 days after which you are expected to migrate to a live account.

For stock market investing or trading stock CFDs and ETFs, the commissions are the same. For US stocks, it is $0.02 with a minimum of $1 for each transaction. European stocks commission is 0.15% of trade value with a minimum of €1 per transaction, UK stocks are 0.1% with a minimum of £1, and Asia Pacific stocks are 0.15% with a minimum of AUD 8.0 or JPY 1250.0. Inactivity fees of €10 per month are charged from accounts that have been dormant for at least 24 months.

Trading platforms

Admirals’ clients can trade on the platforms described below:

MetaTrader Platforms (MT4 and MT5)

The MT4 was launched in 2005 while the MT5 was launched as its successor in 2010. Both platforms were developed by ‘MetaQuotes Software Corporation’ which is a Cyprus-based Software firm. Both platforms have the same interface and functions except that the MT5 is more advanced and has more features and capabilities than the MT4. Actually, the MT5 was supposed to replace the MT4 but sadly, both software’s are not compatible; they both run parallel on the same system instead of the MT4 installation upgrading to MT5.

The platforms support the ‘AutoTrade’ function; which enables traders to automate their strategies using software robots known as ‘Experts advisors’ (EAs). For the MT4, EAs can be developed with the MQL4 while MQL5 is used to develop MT5 apps and EAs. From each of the platforms, you can access the MetaTrader market where EAs, indicators, and plug apps can be freely acquired, rented, or bought.

Admirals MT4 and MT5 platforms are available as android and iOS apps, windows desktop applications, MAC desktop applications, and WebTrader; which runs on web browsers on all devices.

Admiral Markets trading app

This proprietary android and iOS app is designed for trading on the go. The app is user-friendly and gives instant access to trade thousands of CFDs on forex, stock, cryptos, ETFs, and commodities.

Here are some of its features:

• Traders can easily create new demo and live accounts.
• Verification of funding of accounts.
• Manage open positions.
• Account management including funds deposit.
• Perform technical analysis using the available tools.
• Risk management using take profit and stop loss.

Research and analysis

Premium analytics

Registered clients are offered free analytics portal of research and market analysis whose contents are sourced from various professional research and fintech firms such as Dow Jones, Acuity, and Trading Central. It is made up of the following: Market news, trading ideas, global sentiment as well as economic and corporate events:

MetaTrader Supreme edition

This is an analysis trading package made up of apps bundled together for the MT4 and MT5 trading platforms. Admirals provide the MetaTrader Supreme to all its demo and live account holders at no extra costs. Some of the apps bundled into the MetaTrader Supremes are:

• Global Opinion
• Stay connected: features real-time news streamed directly to the platform
• Indicator package: adds a collection of technical indicators to the MetaTrader platform.
• Technical analysis with Trading Central.
• Mini terminal
• Market Heat Map
• Market Sentiment

Technical analysis with Trading Central

Trading Central is a renowned global fintech firm that provides in-depth research, expert analysis, and trading ideas on a wide range of financial instruments. Through the MT4 and MT5 supreme editions, the trading central app is added to the trading platform. This gives the trader the following services:

• Trading Central Web TV
• Technical insights into over 3,000 instruments including forex, indices, stocks, commodities, ETFs, and bonds.
• Trading education

Trading signals.

Forex Calendar

The economic calendar displays the dates and times of important events. These events are known to have impacts in the forex market. It also shows the impact degree (high or low), currency affected, previous record, and analysts’ forecast. This calendar is an important tool for traders who use derive their trade decisions from fundamental analysis. Clicking on any event displays the charts and details. Forex calendar can be customized to suit the trader’s preferences.

Virtual Private Server (VPS)

Admirals provide free VPS for all clients that apply for it provided that you have at €5,000 or its equivalent in your live account. Using a VPS gives a trader constant access to the trading servers; it is best for traders who use VPS, social trading, or some trading systems. The VPS service is provided in partnership with FOREXVPS.net.

Weekly trading podcast

Admirals state that its podcasts are available every Monday and it focuses on the events, news, and analysis of the past and present week.

Admiral Markets Education

Webinars

Admirals have in-house experts who facilitate webinars constantly on its website. To participate in any of the webinars, check the schedule on the website and browse the available topics and sessions. Then, register to attend the session that is most convenient for you.

FAQs

This section answers relevant questions about Admirals’ services and trading operations. The questions and answers are grouped into 3:

• General questions: deals with questions on forex trading and services offered by Admirals.
• MT4: answers questions on the MT4 platform.
• Retail and professional terms: focuses on professional accounts.

Glossary

The glossary is well arranged on a single webpage with over 150 trading terminologies defined and explained.

Education packages

For clients from the ASIC regulated regions, 3 packages are available at no costs to the trader provided you have the prerequisite account balances required. The packages are:

• Basic: available to clients that with deposits from $1,000 to $4,999. It has only the basic online course and another course on how to use the MT4 supreme.
• Pro: required deposit is $5,000 – $14,999. In addition to basic courses, there are live trading classes, trading coaching, advanced trading tools courses, etc.
• Advanced: This is reserved for clients who have deposited $15,000 and above into their accounts. All the available course, live classes, coaching, master trading strategies

Forex 101-The forex and CFD trading course

This is a forex education course packaged by Admirals. It comprises short animated videos. The course is grouped as follows:

• Step 1: Beginner; it has 3 lessons on introduction to forex
• Step 2: Intermediate; 3 lessons on MT4, making the first trade

Step 3: Advanced; 3 lessons on the trading plan, indicators, and risk management.

Trading videos

In its YouTube channel, Admirals has hundreds of educational videos on past webinars, training, and tutorials. These videos contain lots of information that can be useful to a trader.

eBook

The book ‘Blockchain basics’ written by ‘Alexander Tsikhilov’ is available to interest real account holders at no cost. The book is published by the renowned ‘Authority in the UK. The author is one of the cofounders and president of the International Admiral Markets Group. The book focuses on cryptocurrencies, their technology, potential applications, investment in crypto assets and risks, etc

Zero to hero

This is a free 20-day course designed for beginner forex traders. It is a comprehensive package that comprises 20 video sessions, questions, and answers, a live session, and a trading strategy. The aim is to move a trader from theory to practice in 20 days or less.

Customer Support

Admirals support team can be reached through various channels. The team encourages its clients or website visitors to leave feedback, ask questions, call on the phone, or drop by their office. The office addresses provided are in London, Sydney, Nicosia, and Seychelles depending on the regulation area. A ‘contact us form is provided which you can fill in to drop your message; the team will respond within a day. Phone numbers and email addresses are also provided. Clicking on the chat button pops up the chatting channels available; they are online web chat, WhatsApp, Telegram, and Facebook chat. Click on the appropriate icon to launch its service. On social media, you can reach Admirals on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Linked In, and YouTube.

100% welcome bonus

This bonus is only available through the admiral markets.sc website to new and existing clients who are interested. New clients are encouraged to sign up for a new account, fund it and receive double the deposit amount up to $5,000. Old clients may request it in their traders’ room. The bonus can be used for trading or withdrawn after you have traded the required weekly volume.

AM. Cashback

This is automatically calculated without separate applications for the Trade.MT4, Trade.MT5, Zero.MT4 and Zero.MT5 accounts. The rebate is $1 for every one million USD notional volume of currencies, commodities, and indices CFDs traded. Positions on stock and index CFDs are not included. It is calculated and paid monthly.

Summary

Admirals, previously known as Admiral Markets is a leading forex and CFD broker that has won multiple awards for its outstanding services. Regulated across 4 jurisdictions, the broker ensures segregation of clients’ funds, modern security technologies, and STP trade executions.

The choice of MetaTrader trading platforms is excellent because they are sophisticated, rugged, and used by most forex traders. Admirals MT4 and MT5 supreme editions add complexity, indicators, and multiple tools to the platforms. Analysis by Trading Central is comprehensive and definitely useful to traders. New traders are also supported with Forex 101 course, glossary, and various video lessons.

With its new rebranding from Admiral Markets to Admirals, we are braced to see the financial hub and multiple products that will be launched by the brokers. Its best is yet to come.