Introduction

HotForex is an online Forex and CFD broker launched in 2010. HotForex is the unified brand name of the HF Markets Group:

• HF Markets (SV) Ltd incorporated in St. Vincent & the Grenadine as an International Business Company.
• HF Markets (Europe) Ltd a Cypriot Investment Firm (CIF) regulated by the Cyprus Securities and Exchange Commission (CySEC).
• HF Markets Ltd regulated by the Financial Services Commission (FSC) of the Republic of Mauritius.
• HF Markets SA (PTY) Ltd is an authorised Financial Service Provider from the Financial Sector Conduct Authority (FSCA) in South Africa.
• HF Markets (Seychelles) Ltd is regulated by the Seychelles Financial Services Authority (FSA).

It is regulated in various jurisdictions, most notably by CySEC in Cyprus and Financial Sector Conduct Authority in South Africa. It is also licensed by FCA and BaFin. With HotForex all deposits are safe in segregated accounts with various international banks. In addition, company got civil liability insurance program of by up to EUR5m.

HotForex has over 500,000 live accounts, with more than 200 employees and support that is offered in more than 27 languages.

HotForex offers multitude forms of accounts from Micro account (with $5 minimum deposit) for beginners that are aiming to learn to VIP accounts for professional/advanced traders. Below is a good summary of the accounts offered by HotForex.

As can be noted from the above – leverage is available for up to 1:1000 for customers. In addition, all these various account types gives the optionality and flexibility for all types of traders. For example the HF Copy account, offers Performance Fee of up to 35% from Followers who copy your trades, which is not something commonly offered. In addition, this allows followers to practice and improve themselves as they copy other traders.  

The spreads are as low as 1 Pip for Micro accounts and 0 Pips for the Zero or VIP accounts. In addition, Hotforex offers “Islamic accounts” (also known as known as swap-free accounts.

One can deposit in various forms, such as credit/debit cards such as VISA, MasterCard and Maestro, Bank Wire Transfer and e Wallets such as Neteller, Skrill, fasapay, WebMoney, UnionPay and BitPay. Please see below for further information.  They do not offer the ability to deposit or withdrawal from Paypal accounts.

Furthermore, Hotforex offers its own branded prepaid Mastercard, which would facilitate traders’ ability to get access to their funds.   

One can trade all types of products on Hotforex. These include, Forex, Metals and Energy, Indices, Stocks, Commodities, Cryptocurrencies and Bonds. Important to note that these are only offered in CFD Trading.   

Hotforex also offers negative protection balance, something that is key for a good broker. Furthermore Hotforex has a competitive fee structure which they continuously update. Below is an example how the fee comparison site they have works. For further info visit their site.   

Customer Support: Hotforex offers 24-hour basis customer support in 27 different languages. One can receive assistance through email, phone, webform, live chat. The company offers support in the following languages; Arabic, Bulgarian, Chinese, Czech, English, Farsi, French, German, Greek, Hindi, Hungarian, Italian, Japanese, Latvian, Portuguese, Romanian, Russian, Slovak, Spanish, Urdu.  Hotforex also offers local support contact-numbers for Brazil, China, India, Indonesia, Nigeria, Russia, South Africa, Spain, Taiwan and Turkey.

Hotforex offers various trading platforms. All of these trading platforms have their base in Metatrader (MTD4 and MTD5). The web platform is straight to the point and easy to use for all types of traders, from beginner to more advanced traders. Furthermore Hotforex offers mobile version of their trading platforms with downloadable apps for both Android and iOS based mobile phones and tables.  

One main factor that differentiates Hotforex from other brokers is the various forms accounts that are offered.

Education: Hotforex has an education center. There are webinars, video tutorials and other good learning material.

General

Positive

• Intuitive trading platform
• User friendly
• Effortless and fast account opening process
• Good customer service in various languages
• Very low deposit required
• Multitudes of account types for all types of traders
• No minimum trades required and no charges for dormant accounts
• Wide selection of trading platforms
• Accounts are separated and insured for civil liability up to EUR5m

Negative

• Does not readily offer Islamic accounts, something one has to specifically ask for
• Does not offer any  ETF trading

Products

• Stocks
• Forex
• Metals and Energy
• Indices
• Commodities
• Bonds
• Cryptocurrencies

Fee Structure

Positive

• Good and fee structure which can be compared to other sites

Negative

• Despite multitude of account types, would be beneficial if the client can get some fee proposals
• Somewhat difficult to get full breakdown of fee structure

The Account and Regulation

Positive

• CySEC, FSCA regulated. Has licenses from FCA and BAFIN as well
• Offers different account types
• Branded Mastercard for easy and quick withdrawals
• Capital is held in segregated accounts

Negative

• Optionality to open “Islamic account” is cumbersome
• Does not offer managed account services
• Paypal is not available as option for deposit and withdraw  

Trading Platforms

Web Trading Platform (MT4 and MT5, note MT4 is FX only)

Positive

• Simple and straight to the point industry standard platform
• Offers Rapid Trader API for more advanced trader
• Platform is powered by Integral, which offers traders access to automated trading and availability to trade outside of Metatrader trading environment
• Easily structured platform
• Simple to understand platform for all types of traders

Negative

• Lacks more advanced charting options
• Does not offer Chart Trading
• Does not offer OCO Orders
• No news ticker or more advanced features
• Platform lacks functions for the advanced trader

Mobile Trading Platform

Positive

• Offers most basic features with perfect use for novice traders
• Easily navigate between various functions in the app
• Charting is intuitive on the app  
• Got hot HotForex App which includes a lot of functions get on webtrader (such as news, calendar, trading tools)

Negative

• No mobile alerts when trading
• Several useful features offered on web trading platform are missing
• Certain account functions can be confusing
• Hotforex App is separate from the trading App

Research/Education

HotForex has a vast library of learning center, offering various forms of educational tools from: texts, videos, webinars, e-tutorials. Webinars are almost offered daily in several different languages and adjusted to level of trading experiences.

Above is a sample size of things that are offered. In addition there is a useful e-course book (download here).

The video courses as well as the tutorial webinars are informative and helpful for trader looking to improve their skills.

Hotforex also provides an extensive research site. In addition; tools & calculators, economic calendar, and other useful functions are available free of charge.   

HotForex offers multiple trading tools. Below is a sample of tools available; Autocharting, SMS Services and Premium Trader tools.

Furthermore, the Economic Calendar Hotforex offers is good and easy to navigate. This facilitates for the trader to gather useful information.

Finally, Hotforex offers a very interesting tool, “Traders Board”, basically showing an aggregate view of all other traders and how they are positioned on HotForex.

The Platform

Web Trading Platform

The Hotforex Platform is very intuitive. Hotforex uses the most used industry standard Metatrader Trading Systems which several other CFD brokers use as well. Subsequently, for traders that used other brokers with Metatrader, most functions are recognizable.

The basic layout is simple. Initially one has on top-right  the “Market watch” which consists of different FX pairs. Subsequently one has the “Navigator” bar which allows various forms of analysis/technical indicators to be implemented. On the right you have charts of various pairs of FX.

Placing order functions are straight to the point and fairly simple. Finally, the bottom of the page has a “Terminal Bar”, which shows previous trades, outstanding balance, exposure, news and expert features.

The charting functionality of Hotforex is fairly simple, and clean. This works very well for a beginner trader that does not want to have too many signals that affect the trading.  For an advanced trader, these features might be lacking.

Placing an order on Hotforex platforms is simple, as can be seen below. This is perfectly suited for someone who wants to quickly put on a trade.

Charting analysis can be somewhat simplistic, but these functions work perfectly for a less advanced investor that wants to focus on a few pairs and most important indicators. More advanced traders might prefer more bells and whistles on the charting analysis tool.

Mobile Trading Platform

The HotForex mobile platform is intuitive and easy to use. It provides the most important features that are available on the online platform.

Pricing information is straight to the point as can be seen by the chart below.

Placing an order functionality works well, and has the same layout as the web version.

Balance and exposure functionality are also easy to follow on the mobile app. This is an useful function where the trader instantly can see the risk exposure as well as the P/L.   

The charting functionality on the mobile is surprisingly good allowing the trader to chart and use various technical indicators, just as you can do on the web based platform.

In addition to the MTD4 trading app, Hotforex offers its own app that provides additional data and information that is not available on the MTD4 app.

As can be seen above, beyond offering pricing quotes, HotForex App also provides latest news, various trading tools, Traders Board, Webinars and more. In essence offering all the tools that are available on the web-trading format is also available in an app form. This app, is easily used, navigated and helps the trader on the go. Thumbs up!

Hot Forex also offers an Economic Calendar Feature.

Conclusion

HotForex is one of the more price competitive CFD brokers around. They offer vast amount of trading tools that are helpful for both beginners and more advanced traders Their web-based and online platforms are easily operated (all Metatrader based) and the company offers helpful and extensive tools for research and learning. Mobile trading functions are done through Metatrader, and the company has its own App.

Commissions

Being a CFD broker, all revenues HotForex makes deroves from the spreads it offers. Below is a sample size of various spreads/fees that Hotforex offers for the Zero account. There are no average published spread lists, but Hotforex provides a list of typical spreads for some of the offerings. Please visit their website for further details.

Commissions for Zero Account