The term “scam” had been an abused term across the online brokerage industry. Disillusioned traders had easily integrated the term into their vocabulary sometimes with due reason, and at times without. For what it’s worth there are legitimate premises that support certain allegations against a number of brokerages, but there are also those that were simply lodged out of sheer ignorance.
It is in this line that we have written this review. The team had aimed to look into the services of the brokerage firm, Axes to see if some of the bad wrap that it gets are warranted. While only a few negative things have been said against the aforementioned firm, this review is also written for the majority of brokerages that had been wrongly tagged as scams and fraudsters.
This review will focus on three of the essential services that the firm avails it clients namely, the live accounts that it allows clients to open, the trading software available for each, and the assets that are accessible for trading.
All About Axes
Given its relatively-young tenure, it might be understandable why there are certain online entities that are quick to judge Axes. The firm, being established in 2018, has yet to prove itself as a brokerage of note, specifically one that is not tarnished by damaging accusations.
Axes is based in London and is being regulated by the FSA. As of writing, the firm had already received a number of accolades for the range of assets it had opened to its clientele. One of these is the recognition from the Online Personal Wealth Awards that dubbed Axes as the “Best Forex Broker” for the year 2020.
Axes: What Traders are in For
Assets to Trade
The trader who had opted to enlist the assistance of the brokerage is open to seven (7) asset markets namely, Foreign Currency, Shares, Indices, Futures, Energies, Precious Metals, and Cryptocurrencies.
The assets available for each are numerous, with Forex amounting to over 70 pairs, which are a mix of major, minor, and exotic and Shares amounting to over 150. The rest are composed of well-known and widely traded entities. For instance, for CFDs, energies are given as contracts, for metals gold, silver, and platinum are provided. Cryptocurrencies are probably the more limited given that only Bitcoin and Litecoin are given access for trading.
Trading Software
Axes is a MetaTrader-only brokerage. Probably a wise move for a young and budding brokerage, it had partnered with MetaQuotes to offer MT5, which has a wealth of helpful features despite not being lauded as its predecessor MT4.
Those who have already been given the chance to trade through the platform are already privy to its numerous advantages such as being given the capability to view 100 charts at the same time, executions with hyper-speed, the availability of technical indicators that can be customized, Expert Advisors, just to name a few.
Admittedly, the MT5 opens its user to a number of learning curves. It takes a lot of getting used to its many functionalities, with some more complicated than the others. The takeaway here is that while not superior to MT4, MT5 does offer a load of purposeful features meant for the more advanced traders. The MT4 is only more preferred in light of the intuitiveness and easy navigation, something that the MetaQuotes developers could learn from should they think of updating MT5.
For traders who are always on the move, the mobile MT5 would prove beneficial. It is simply a more portable version of the desktop application which has quotes streamed in real time, news, and technical analysis. On top of these basic functions, push notification and a highly-responsive chat support are always available. It is downloadable for the mainstream mobile operating systems.
The Live Accounts
Apart from the simulation that is the Demo Account, Axes also lays out three (3) account types that traders of the firm can open, which are the VIP, Professional, and Live accounts. Among these of course, it is the VIP iteration that would prove most advantageous for traders such as a 30% discount from Spreads, use of VPS without limits, allowance for high volume trades, and the availability of well-rounded account managers.
Some Criticisms
If we are to look at the things that would go as points against Axes, it could be reduced to only a few.
First off, the educational materials available through the firm leave a lot to be desired. The firm should do more to bring comprehensive trading videos or articles that could scaffold new traders.
The customer service is yet another problematic area. When the review team tested the chat lines and the other channels of communication, the response wasn’t what the firm promised to be. It took some time to get anyone on the line. It took days before the team members could actually get solid responses from the supposed customer representatives.
Axes: Scam or Victim of Ignorance? Some Recommendations
To the contention of the review team, the bad accusations that Axes gets, much like what other brokerages are shaded for are a result of the lack of attention to terms and conditions and the ignorance of the nature of the assets that these aggrieve parties trade.
As this is the case, traders are advised to be wary of factors such as liquidity and leverage as these are factors that largely contribute to the success of failures of the trade. For instance, one must note that trading CFDs, an asset that is largely traded through Axes, is highly risky with a lot of traders losing due to leverage.
What this telegraphs is that the brokerage could be held blameless for trade turnouts. While this stands, the review team recognizes that there are legitimate cases of fraud among a number of brokerage firms. Luckily, Axes is not one these.
