WhoTrades Review

Review

WhoTrades (formerly Finam) was founded in 2010 and is a social network of traders from all over the world who are interested in trading on international financial markets. Investors can trade Forex, stocks, stock indices, currency pairs, CFDs, commodities and precious metals. It has an established global footprint with 90 cities worldwide and a strong international presence with clients in 40 countries.

WhoTrades is domiciled in Seychelles and is regulated by CySec and NFA in the U.S. It also offers direct access to U.S. markets.

In March 2015, WhoTrades, Inc. acquired the Just2Trade and LowTrades brands from Washington, D.C.-based online securities broker Success Trade Securities, Inc. Through the acquisition, WhoTrades strengthens its role in the online deep discount brokerage space.

Accounts

WhoTrades offers several different trading accounts and there are different minimum deposit requirements for the different products. For Forex accounts the minimum initial deposit required is $ 100; for US markets the minimum initial deposit is $ 3000; and for European markets the minimum initial deposit is € 3000.

There is no minimum deposit requirement for the Forex Light account which is traded in the free economic zone with Seychelles broker Whotrades Ltd. There are 50 currency pairs to choose from and leverage is 1:500.

The Forex Standard account is traded with a licensed European broker Whotrades Ltd under MIFID. The minimum deposit is $100 and leverage is 1:200. EUR 20,000 insurance is provided for every client account. There is no commission on these two accounts and the spread is from 0.5.

The Forex ECN account is for algorithmic trading. It uses Currenex technology which provides a direct connection to the ECN and ensures maximum quality and speed of execution. A minimum of $10,000 is required for this account and leverage is 1:100. The spread is from 0.3 and there is a $3 commission on each trade.

A Multi Market Account (MMA) allows simultaneous access to all global and OTC markets with one account. Traders can trade stocks, currencies and futures on any exchange in the US, Europe or Asia without opening a separate account for each financial instrument. Traders enjoy low commissions on equity trades and no spreads on Forex trades.

MMA Account

Demo trading accounts can be opened on each of available markets once a Standard or Light account has been registered on the website.

Opening an account for a Forex account differs slightly from opening an account on the US and European markets because of the stricter regulations that are applied between the US and European markets.

With U.S. accounts, there is a commission per stock trade of $4.75. A deposit of at least $3000 is required to open an account. However, accessing a U.S. account via the MMA account requires a deposit of only $200.

Features

Trading at WhoTrades can be done in three different ways:

Via the WhoTrades web interface; with a web-based platform via WhoTrades Pro; from ones’ own computer by downloading the special trading software (Meta Trader 4, Transaq, ROX).

Besides trades in Forex, commodities, indices and stocks, WhoTrades also offers binary options trading with a simple Call-Put option, range and one touch options. Low spreads and instant execution are offered for these binaries.

All contracts expire no later than in 7 calendar days that it was opened (except for contracts for commodities). All open positions are subject to an automatic expiration each Friday 21:59 GMT.

For inexperienced traders, WhoTrades offers its “Chain Trading” feature whereby traders can opt to copy the trades of a more knowledgeable trader and benefit from their experience and know-how.

Copy Traders

Follow Strategies

WhoTrades.us is a separate site for U.S. traders. Traders with addresses in the United States can trade stocks and options through the Just2Trade platform.

Education

WhoTrades offers two different calendars—an Calendar of Events with a listing of all financial events scheduled across the globe and a separate Corporate Events listing.

Education is provided through a series of courses which includes both basic and advanced courses such as Fundamental Analysis, Elliot Wave Prinicple, Triple Screen Trading System and the Thomas Demark Trading System which is an advanced course that approaches the method to objectively draw trend lines and use them to trade in the markets.

Forex Courses

WhoTrades also offers institutional services for those wishing to partner with them as IB’s or white labels.

Bonuses/Promotions

At the time of this review, WhoTrades was offering a welcome bonus of $50 for registering an account. The offer is good until December 31, 2015.

Deposits/Withdrawals

Funding to WhoTrades accounts can be made via bank wire, credit cards and a host of online payment programs such as Skrill, Webmoney, Neteller and others.

Withdrawals are made using the same methods.

Customer Support

WhoTrades offers 24 hour support via telephones to their New York and Cyprus offices as well as to India and China. Email contact is available but surprisingly no Chat is offered.

The website is offered in English and 20 other languages.

Conclusion

WhoTrades seems to offer traders all they need for a successful social trading experience. I found the website somewhat confusing and topics seem to be hidden under inconspicuous tabs. In addition, there is a separate website for U.S. traders and that makes things even more confusing.

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Features

It is interesting that WhoTrades as well as its former brokerage, Finam, were actually started by a Russian businessman but no mention of the Russian connection is made. Instead, much is written about its U.S. location and the ability for U.S. citizens to trade through what looks like a subsidiary brokerage. This is actually a great feature as not many Forex brokers make the effort to be licensed with an American regulatory organization and there cannot accept U.S. traders.

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Platforms

TradeX

The TradeX platform is a system designed to trade the international financial markets. It allows WhoTrades clients the ability to trade on the Moscow Stock Exchange, Xetra, NYSE, and Nasdaq while monitoring real-time commodity and indices quotes.

TradeX Web Platform

MetaTrader 4

Clients can trade on Windows, Mac, iPhone, iPad, Windows Phone and Android using the popular MetaTrader 4 platform.

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