Eightcap Review

Review

Eightcap was originally established in 2009 as an Australian regulated MT4 broker. It underwent significant changes during 2014/2015 with a management change and additional capital investment. additional offices were opened in London and Shanghai to complement their head office which is located in Melbourne. Eightcap is an ECN and STP broker and is regulated in Australia by Australian Securities and Investments Commission (ASIC).

Accounts

Eightcap offers traders several different trading accounts. The only difference between the ECN account and the STP Standard account is the spread amount with the spread in the ECN account being 0.1 pip and in the STP account 1.0 pip. The minimum lot size is 0.01(Micro) for any Forex or Metal trade.

Eightcap Account Types

The minimum amount needed for opening either account is $100 and $200 is necessary for maintaining the account.  There are 40 products to choose from including Forex, CFDs, Gold, Silver and Crude Oil and leverage is up to 400:1 in both accounts. Hedging and scalping are allowed as are EA’s and trading can be done in USD, AUD, EUR, or GBP.

In addition, a MAMM/PAMM account allows traders to maintain several accounts at the same time and place trades simultaneously in all of them.

I was pleased to see that a demo account is also available. Both Demo and live accounts have the same price feed. However according to a disclaimer on the Eightcap site, it is not possible to replicate a real trading environment on a Demo account due to technical limitations. Trades placed on demo accounts are not passed into the real market.

Features

Eightcap offers traders a choice of 40 products: 30 currency pairs, 6 CFDs in indices and commodities. A chart of swap rates is shown on the website as well as by clicking the tab leading to the Market Watch link.  

Spreads on the MetaTrader 4 platform are variable with a price feed coming through from a number of leading institutions. Spreads on the majors can go as low as zero during liquid times, and typical spreads are listed on an accompanying chart as per the Direct Account.

Trade execution is at market and is done via Equinix Data centers.

Eightcap is eager to extend its services through a partner arrangement. The Partner Portal at Eightcap provides the perfect tools for IB’s and affiliates to attract and manage their client base. Integrated with the platform is a dynamic and robust content delivery network which automatically generates affiliate tracking links and embeds them within the ad codes ready for affiliates to use with minimal effort and with maximium speed.

The partner portal allows IB’s to link advertising material quickly and easily on their website or referral point, tracking leads as they are directed to the Eightcap website. Detailed conversion and acquisition stats are provided in their multi layered reporting software.

Education

Eightcap offers a host of different educational material. Basic introduction to Forex trading is offered in textual form. Topics like ‘What is Forex,’ ‘Why Trade Forex, ’ ‘ Margin Trading’ and more are offered to all viewers. No seminars or webinars were offered.

Unfortunately, when doing this review, there were no news reports or analysis provided. Also missing was an economic calendar or calculators of any sort. One would have thought that when doing a major overhaul of their site these features would certainly have been included.

Deposits/Withdrawals

Clients can use a number of methods to fund their trading accounts including Wire, Credit/Debit Card Skrill, Poli, Wire transfer, Bpay and Moneybookers.

Withdrawals are made using the same methods as the deposits.  A withdrawal form can be found online.

Both deposits and withdrawals are made instantaneously.

Customer Support

Traders can access Eightcap via telephone to any of their three offices—in Melbourne, Shanghai and London. Chat is available during trading hours 24/5. Email contact is also available. The Eightcap website is available in English, Chinese and      .I tried chatting with a representative in Melbourne and despite the wide time difference, we were able to hold a meaningful conversation.

The fact that there is also an office in London makes the differences in time zones less acute.

Conclusion

Eightcap is one of a handful of Forex brokers domiciled in Australia and between its offices in Melbourne and Shanghai they seem to have Southeast Asia pretty well covered. Customer support is responsive and knowledgeable and I liked the graphics used on the website. The Eightcap website has recently been updated and although it seems to be missing some features that would have provided additional benefits to the site, the team at Eightcap seems to be quite proud of their new look and revised website. 

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Features

The best thing about the Eightcap website is their decision to offer their traders use of the MetaTrader 4 trading platforms. This is certainly one of the best trading platforms in the industry and there have been several companies who have tried to duplicate the benefits of the MT4 without the same success.  The MetaTrader 4 platform is easy to set up and is not complicated to use. It was nice to see that all mobile devices can be set up to use the MetaTrader 4 platforms as most traders are on the go these days.

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Platforms

MetaTrader 4

The Metatrader 4 platform at Eightcap is structured so as to give the client the ability to actively monitor and trade the market through live quotes, real-time and functional charts. The platform itself is constantly evolving with new features being added with each update and upgrade to the software. Clients can monitor news as it happens, follow either paid or free signals or pick up a new expert advisor that has been peer reviewed. Metaquotes new marketplace is also accessible through the MT4 so that clients can enhance the trading setup.

Eightcap MateTrader 4 Platform

The MT4 platform is easy to use and affords access to Expert Advisors and indicators. Traders need to simply drag and drop onto a chart in order to select from the pool with nearly 600 EAs and 1500 Indicators available through the platform itself.

The Eightcap Forex MT4 Client Terminal requires Windows operating system 2000, XP, Vista, 7 or 8. It is also possible to run MT4 natively on Mac OSX.

Mobile

The apps for the MT4 iPhone, Android and iPad apps can be downloaded from the app store and traders can use your either their demo or live accounts to stream prices and trade. 

The Eightcap advanced price feed is easily accessed through the Metatrader 4 mobile applications and gives traders capable charting abilities with access to 30 fully functional indicators. Once logged in traders can easily access all currency pairs, quotes and charts and can open trades as well one’s trading history. Notifications come through to the messages center.

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