Alpari fancies itself as one of the leading online FX/CFD brokerages. Having been founded in 1998, back when few of the currently running operations existed, it may indeed have a case in this regard.
That said however, its reputation is hardly a reflection of such a lofty standing. In fact, it’s quite the mixed bag, with some positives strewn into a sea of complaints that cover just about every operational aspect of the brokerage.
The biggest problem about these complaints is that many of them allege refusal to honor withdrawals on the part of the broker. Stop loss hunting and spread manipulation are grave enough, but not letting traders withdraw their principals is nothing short of outright theft.
Whether or not these complaints are 100% relevant and reality-rooted is a question that needs to be considered as well. Actual user feedback is notoriously unreliable and often emotion-fuelled.
Is Alpari International (alpari.org) regulated?
Indeed, the broker possesses a license granting it the right to offer financial services. The said license has been issued by the Financial Services Commission of the Republic of Mauritius.
Mauritius is hardly a top financial hub however, so whether this setup does indeed offer Alpari the possibility to legally offer trading services within the EEA and other such jurisdictions, is unclear.
What is clear is that the broker does peddle its deals in Europe, with the exception of France and Belgium.
Other countries excluded from its services are the US, Japan as well as some parts of Canada.
The corporate owner of the Alpari International brand is Exinity Limited, which is registered and based in Mauritius. The exact address of the broker is: 11th Floor, Maeva Tower, Silicon Avenue, Cybercity, Ebene, 72201, Republic of Mauritius.
To conduct business, the operator uses a couple of companies based in the UK and Cyprus. Al Accept Solutions Limited is one of the credit card processors used. It is registered in the UK and based at 17 Ensign House, Admirals Way, Canary Wharf, London, United Kingdom E14 9XQ. The other credit card processor is a certain FT Global Services Ltd, registered and based at Tassou Papadopoulou 6, Flat/Office 22, Ag. Dometios, 2373, Nicosia, Cyprus.
These two payment processors may be key to why Alpari can peddle its trading services in the UK and the EEA.
Why would a rank-and-file trader want to join Alpari?
First of all: accessibility is one of the top draws of the operation. Its minimum deposit requirement is just $5 on the most basic account type it supports.
Other than that, the brokerage is a member of the FSC’s Investor Compensation Scheme, which offers traders guarantees of up to EUR 20,000. FSC regulation and licensing also means that traders gain access to a top-of-the-line dispute resolution system.
While on some of the more basic account types, the trading conditions can be a little adverse, there are options where the spreads and the leverage are extremely attractive.
Given the age of the broker, it is hardly surprising that it is a well-established entity indeed. It maintains offices in some 8 different locations, over 3 continents. It also serves more than 2 million clients, offering them over 250 trading instruments, including cryptocurrency CFDs and actual crypto trading.
The trading platforms currently offered by Alpari include MT4 and MT5. What this means is that clients of the broker gain access to a suite of superb charting and trading tools, as well as automated trading via MT4’s EAs.
Account Types
Its account type selection is one of the strengths of the broker. It covers everything in this regard, from a free Demo account, through a Micro one, all the way to a Pro option.
The Demo Account offers full access to all the supported trading platforms, and to all tradable assets.
The Micro Account is the entry-level option. To sign up for such an account, traders need to make a deposit of at least EUR/USD 5. The broker seems focused on Nigeria, offering traders from that country the option to deposit in NGN. The minimum for such deposits is NGN 1,000.
The maximum leverage on the Micro Account is 1:400, with spreads starting from 1.7 pips. The execution offered by this account type is “instant execution”.
The Standard Account is for slightly more serious traders. The minimum deposit requirement on this one is EUR/USD 100. For such an investment, traders get spreads from 1.2 pips on major currency pairs.
The maximum leverage on the Standard Account is 1:1,000.
The ECN Account ups the stakes a little, requiring a minimum deposit of EUR/USD 500. The spreads start from just 0.4 pips on this account, but there’s a commission involved.
The maximum leverage is 1:1,000 on this account type too.
The Pro Account is for serious, high-volume traders. The minimum deposit on this account is EUR/USD 25,000. No NGN deposits are accepted.
Spreads start from 0.4 pips, and no commission is charged.
The maximum leverage is 1:300
Trading Platforms
As mentioned, Alpari has made MT4 as well as MT5 available to its clients. Optimized for different purposes, the two platforms represent the cutting edge of MetaQuotes’ offer.
MT4 is by far the most popular and most capable trading platform available. Alpari offers versions for Desktop platforms, as well as a Web Trader and mobile apps for iOS and Android.
MT4’s charting and analysis capabilities are well known. EAs are among its most popular features and Alpari allows the use of these auto traders.
Deposits and Withdrawals
Obviously focused on parts of Asia and Africa, the broker accepts a surprisingly large selection of deposit and withdrawal methods.
Bank wires are accepted, together with credit cards such as VISA and MasterCard. In Nigeria, local bank transfers are accepted as well.
Neteller, Skrill, WebMoney and WebMoney are also accepted. What’s more, Bitcoin deposits are also supported.
FasaPay and Nganluong are supported too, together with GlobePay and online banking from a wide selection of Asian countries, such as Vietnam, Thailand, Malaysia and Indonesia.
Market Coverage
Alpari supports a massive range of FX pairs, as well as a handful of commodities and energies.
Majors, minors and exotics are all present in the tradable asset selection, together with a few Russian Ruble-based pairs.
Only gold and silver are available in the spot metals section, with oil and natural gas as commodities.
A number of tradable stocks are available, as well as a handsome selection of indices.
The cryptocurrency section only features BTC, LTC, ETH and XRP paired with USD. These are crypto CFDs. Despite the site stating that actual crypto trading is also done, we haven’t really found any evidence in this regard.
Promotions
The broker features a Refer a Friend Scheme, as well as a Loyalty Cashback deal, which rewards traders in direct proportion with the trading volumes they generate.
Conclusion
Alpari looks like a decent online trading service provider. It features reasonable trading conditions, a good selection of account types and solid trading platforms.
Accessibility is outstanding. Not only does the broker feature minimum deposits of $5, it also accepts a massive range of deposit and withdrawal methods.
The regulatory standing of the broker is not exactly ideal however. Also, we simply cannot look past the dubious feedback provided by actual traders.