Global Forex Trading, recognized as GFT Forex among the online trading world, is a retail Forex broker and has been in operation since the late 90’s. GFT’s headquarters are located in Ada, Michigan, USA and the broker has various other branches in a number of countries including the United Kingdom, Singapore, Australia, Dubai and Japan from which the nearby regional clients of each country are served. The GFT forex broker was one of the first brokers, back in 1997, which took the initiative to offer its services of Forex trading to retail clients, a service which enabled the GFT Forex broker to expand in the following 10 years and span to accommodate Clients from over 120 countries around the world with their Forex trading needs.
The GFT Brokers provide over 120 currency pairs with spreads as low as 1 pip on a number of major pairs including the most commonly traded EUR/USD. The GFT website is user friendly, with its colorful yet professional ambiance making it an easy site to navigate. Throughout its many years of servicing retail Forex clients, the GFT Forex broker has received a number of awards for growth, technology and entrepreneurship, making it a respectable and acknowledgeable broker in the Forex world. GFT delivers
Regulation: Any trader who has been long enough in the Forex and commodities market knows how important it to be a member of a regulated Forex broker is. As a well capitalized group, the companies within the GFT group are regulated by the following regulatory bodies:
- A Futures Commission Merchant (FCM) with the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) (United States)
- Member of the National Futures Association (NFA) (United States)
- Financial Services Agency (FSA) (Japan)
- Australian Securities and Investments Commission (ASIC)
- Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS)
- Dubai Gold & Commodities Exchange (DGCX)
- Dubai Multi Commodities Centre (DMCC)
- Financial Services Authority (FSA) (United Kingdom)
In addition to obtaining information as to whether a broker is regulated or not and by whom, a trader should ensure that they check up on the regulators website with regards to any complaints that may have been posted by the regulator with regards to the broker, as in this case GFT Forex broker, as it is sometimes the case that the supervisory authority may post their complains publicly.
GFT Trading Software
GFT DealBook 360 – From the three available platforms for trading with GFT brokers, the DealBook 360 is the most widely used as it offers the maximum customization and contains a large selection of features including charting tools, indicators (more than 85 technical indicators) and news to aid with your trading. The news is provided by GFT via the DealBook 360 in real time and includes news sources such as Reuters, Dow Jones Newswires and Informa Global Markets. As appealing as it sounds, with regards to the standard of service, the information GFT provides is not made available to all clients as a minimum, with regards to accounts, does apply in order to receive such news mentioned above and all 85+ technical indicators (the minimum being having deposited USD 25000 or above, for a US based account). In spite of this the fact that everything is available through one platform is still very impressive and deserves a ‘thumbs up’ for efficiency.
GFT DealBook Web – The GFT DealBook Web is designed to accommodate the needs of those who may travel on a frequent basis or access their trading from various computers throughout the day (be it from work or a friend’s house) and do not wish to have to download the software over and over in order to place their trades. It is a web based platform that can be accessed quickly and easily and provides for the main features you receive within the GFT DealBook 360 platform. What’s more the GFT platform is available for both Mac and PC, making its accessible by almost all computer users.
GFT DealBook Mobile – While on the go you can choose to view, amend or place trades in the comfort of your travels with the GFT DealBook Mobile which allows you to get the big picture on your small screen. This application enables traders to stay abreast with the market and be able to monitor prices changes without having the need to call a dealing desk or sit down in front of a computer. The GFT DealBook Mobile includes 13+ of the most used technical indicators, three different chart types, seven different timescales and the ability to view past historical data allowing GFT clients to gain the most valuable information ahead of their trades.
The availability of a range of trading software has made GFT forex popular for all traders, whether they may be on the go or choose to trade from home. GFT’s DealBook 360 trading software is one of the pioneering programs when it comes to Forex trading and has in fact won a number of awards for 8 consecutive years, an achievement which spurred GFT forex to build the GFT DealBook Web and GFT DealBook Mobile. The application process may take some minutes to go through, as may be expected from the fact that the GFT Forex Broker is regulated and as such there is a minimum amount of data that needs to be collected as per their regulators instruction. Their application for a demo account unfortunately is also a little time consuming with similar questions needing to be filled in, a needless process which could be shortened for those who want to simply try the demo to start with.
GFT Forex Education
The GFT website provides various educative pages, ranging in both fundamental and technical analysis education as well as webinars which you may sign up for and are free of charge for the live clients. Additional to their information contained on their website, GFT also has a number of downloadable guides within their website for beginners, intermediate and expert traders, all of which may be downloaded within minutes!
GFT Forex Account Types
GFT offers the following four account packages for its clients:
Bronze – The smallest account that can be obtained with GFT Brokers, which has a minimum balance of $2500 and ranges to $9,999. The GFT Bronze package includes the Informa Global Markets News Feed and provides more than 85 indicators as well as analysis tools that may be available for an additional cost
Silver – The next step up from a GFT Bronze account is the GFT Silver account which may be obtained with a deposit between $10,000 and $49,999. The GFT Silver account includes news feeds from Informa Global Markets and Dow Jones and in addition to the services offered within the GFT Bronze account, with the GFT Silver account clients will obtain one analysis tool for 3 months
Gold – The GFT Gold account is obtained with a deposit between $50,000 and $249,999 and entails 3 news feeds, the 2 mentioned for Silver accounts and in addition a Reuters news feed. In addition wo what is offered on a GFT Silver account, the GFT Gold account offers an additional analysis tool (hence 2) for 3 months, a waived fee for one outgoing (withdrawal) wire transfer and a Premium Roll Service
Platinum – The most prestige account one can open with GFT is a Platinum account, which in addition to a Gold account, entails 3 extra months (hence 6 months in total) of 2 analysis tools, 3 more waived fees (in total 4) for outgoing/incoming wire transfers, currency conversion and inactivity and a premium service of live weekly market commentary.
As is evident, GFT operates with larger volumes in trade, what with their minimum balance being $2500 and minimum transaction size at 1 micro lot (0.01 standard lots = 1000 units). As such their service cannot be recommended to all, with the exception of those who have a minimum of $2500 that the can afford to lose as Forex trading does carry a substantial amount of risk.
GFT Leverages
For the GFT branches in the United States leverages rage from 1:1 up to a maximum of 50:1, as per US regulation. In other GFT branches the leverage may reach up to 400:1 which enables GFT to stay competitive in the Forex Market with the majority of Brokers not offering much more than a 500:1 leverage.
GFT Bonuses
Bonuses that can be obtained through GFT include:
- Up to $5,000 Bonus – GFT will give you a 5% on any deposit between $10,000-$100,000. Any amount above $100,000 will results in a maximum bonus of $5,000. The Bonus is credited within 60 days provided a number of requirements are met (for each $1000 bonus, in order to have this credited into your account with GFT, a Client will need to complete 125 round turns of standard lot size 1)
- A rebate of $1 per 1 standard lot – This bonus is applicable for clients who are currently trading with a different Forex broker and open an account with GFT. The cash back rebate is applied into a Client’s account within 30 days following the end of each month in which the Client trades took place
GFT’s bonus schemes are conflicting in quality, with many other Forex brokers out there providing for a higher percentage of credit upon deposit, however the majority of GFT’s competitors do cap the limit at usually lower levels than $5,000.
Deposit and Withdrawals
GFT Brokers provides the following deposit and withdrawal methods:
- Debit/Credit Card (Visa, MasterCard, American Express and Discover) – With a minimum deposit of 50.000 in any currency and a maximum deposit of $75,000. The period for the deposit to be processed takes up to 24 working hours.
- Paypal – Minimum deposit of $100. The period for the deposit to be processed takes up to 24 working hours.
- Wire Transfer – This has no minimum or maximum deposit and may take up to 48 working hours to process.
- Check – Again there is no minimum or maximum when using a check method for deposit. It may take up to 5 business days before the balance becomes available from the point of receipt.
- eCheck – With a minimum and maximum deposit of $50 and $10,000 respectively. It may take up to 5 business days before the balance becomes available from the point of receipt and is available to US bank accounts only.
GTF Forex Review
Overall GFT is recommended to retail Clients that may be well off and have some experience in the Forex market. As a market maker, GFT may give re-quotes or provide price latency to some client orders and as such if you are a news trader/ scalper then using GFT for your trades may prove difficult for you to make profits from such methods. The vast presence, easy availability and great technological platform of GFT are what the Broker has going for them as well as many years of experience in the Forex industry and provides great support to all new and non-existing GFT forex clients through its 24/7 chat service which is easily accessible.