HFM, previously known as HotForex of HF Markets, is a multi-awarded broker with over 2,500,000 live accounts and 11 years of experience on the market. Established in 2010, the broker has developed significantly and provides over 1000 trading products to its clients. With one of the most competitive trading conditions and bonus programs, HFM Forex Broker is a leading brokerage services provider in several regions. Furthermore, the company is regulated by numerous authorities, including FCA, DFSA, FSCA, FSA, and CMA. The brokerage firm is headquartered in Forex’s homeland: Cyprus.
Since the company operates in many different countries and regions worldwide, its services and website provide translations in 27 different languages. Furthermore, HFM adopted extra measures to secure the funds of their customers and remains one of the most transparent service providers on the market. The leverage that the company offers can go up to 1:2000 depending on the trading instrument and the live account type, whereas the spreads can be as low as 0.0 pips. The broker operates a fee-free deposit system, as well.
HFM Background
The broker uses only major banks worldwide and is regularly audited by Deloitte. The client funds of the broker are held in segregated accounts as required by the official regulatory frameworks. Furthermore, the company provides additional security measures to ensure its liabilities against the customers within the insurance program of Civil Liability. The limit of the program is 5 million Euros, including the market-leading coverage against errors and negligence, as well as frauds or any other risk-containing events that lead to financial damage either to the company or the clients.
The company specializes in Forex, derivatives on US and UK stocks, spot metals, indices, and commodities. It offers over 6 different account types, one of the tightest spreads and beneficial leverages, along with 15 different payment methods available for the customers. HFM Forex broker also provides a negative balance protection policy which means that due to the extreme volatility on the market which leads to malfunctioning of margin calls and stop-outs, clients are not held responsible for repaying the negative balance.
The safety and security of HFM
The brokerage firm HFM is owned and operated by HF Market Group. HF Market Group has 5 industry regulations licensed from the top regulatory authorities worldwide. The company holds the following licenses:
- Financial Conduct Authority (United Kingdom), FCA – reference number 801701
- Dubai Financial Services Authority, DFSA – license number F004885
- Financial Sector Conduct Authority (South Africa), FSCA – license number 46632
- Financial Services Authority (Seychelles), FSA – Securities Dealer License number SD015
- St. Vincent & the Grenadine, SV – registration number 22747 IBC 2015
- Capital Markets Authority (Kenya), CMA
These above-listed regulations allow HFM broker to establish itself as one of the safest and the most trustworthy brokerage services providers in multiple regions. The regulatory frameworks, within which the company operates, oblige HFM to be a transparent and secure platform while complying with the laws set by the authorities regarding the provision of financial services.
HFM Fees and spreads
HFM Accounts, deposits, and withdrawals
HFM covers different types of accounts for the traders with various benefits associated with each of them:
- Premium – deposit $0; leverage 1:2000; max. simultaneous open orders – 500; spreads from 1.2 pip;
- Pro – deposit $100; leverage 1:2000; simultaneous open orders – 500; spreads from 0.5 pips;
- Zero – deposit $0; leverage 1:2000; simultaneous open orders – 500; spreads 0 on Forex;
- Cent – deposit $200; leverage 1:500; simultaneous open orders – 300; spreads from 1 pip;
Trading Platforms
The broker provides a great variety of trading platforms that suit all clients’ needs. The options allow traders to either trade from their desktops or on the go. The platforms concentrate on two of the most popular software – MetaTrader4 and MetaTrader5. Both software is provided as either a WebTrader or Installed tools. Furthermore, there are options like MultiTerminal, allowing users to simultaneously manage several accounts, and Rapid Trader, offering a dynamic and integrated environment. Additionally, HFM gives its clients an opportunity to trade from their mobile devices, with the MetaTraders supporting all types of devices, including IOS and Android.
Deposits and Withdrawals
BitPay, Skrill, FasaPay, crypto, Visa/ MasterCard, and more can be used for commission-free to deposit or withdraw funds from the HFM account. What’s more exciting about HFM is the withdrawals, as well as deposits, are instant and free of charge. This places HFM among the top 3 brokers in the world. To be able to withdraw your profits instantly is one of the rarest opportunities in the Forex brokers’ scene.
Trading assets and features of HFM
HFM offers over 1000 trading instruments to choose from their diversified portfolio. Around 10 different financial markets are available for trade with the broker. Below is the list of what you can trade with HFM:
- Forex
- Metals
- Energies
- Shares
- Indices
- Bonds
- Commodities
- DMA stocks
- ETF’s
- Cryptocurrencies
Forex
HFM offers around 50 currency pairs available for trade. The leverage for the currency pairs can go up to 1:1000. Spreads start from 1.2 for the classic account, however, there is a possibility to get 0.0 pips spread on the currency pairs, as well. 1 lot size is 100,000 units.
Metals
The broker provides 6 different metals within the instruments’ portfolio. These metals are Palladium, Platinum, Silver/Euro (XAG/EUR), and Silver/USD (XAG/USD). Gold/Euro (XAU/EUR) and Gold/USD (XAU/USD). The typical spreads for these products vary. For instance, for the Silver/EUR and Silver/USD, the spread is around 0.03 pips, whereas for Platinum and Palladium, it is 11.4 and 4.31 respectively. The leverage for trading Gold/Euro or Gold/USD is 1:200, Silver/USD or EUR is 1:100, for Platinum, it is floating and Palladium comes with 1:20.
Energies
The clients of HFM brokers can trade with UK Brent Oil or US Crude Oil. The spreads for these products are 0.08 and 0.09 respectively, with the leverage up to 1:66. HFM also offers CFDs on energy products with spreads of 0.07 for UK Brent Oil and 0.11 for US Crude Oil. The leverage for CFDs on energies remains the same.
Shares
The company offers some of the most popular shares for trading derivatives, including Apple, Amazon, and Facebook. There are over 55 stocks available for HFM clients, with the spreads varying according to the products. The leverage for all shares is 1:14 with a maximum trade size of 5,000 shares. Additionally, the commission fees are applicable to shares trading in the amount of 0.1%.
Indices
The traders can find all the major stock indices worldwide available on the trading platform of the broker. There is a total of 11 indices listed on the website including Australia 200, France 40, Germany 30, Japan 225, Netherlands 25, Spain 35, Switzerland 20, UK 100, US Tech 100, US Wall Street 20, and US SPX500. The spreads are relatively tight, with the latter one, US SPX500 for instance presented with a spread of 0.4 pips. The leverage for Indices is 1:200.
Bonds
There are three bonds offered by HFM, Euro Bund, UK Gilt, and US 10-year Treasury Note. The spread for the first two bonds is 0.05 and for the US 10-year Treasury Note is 0.07. The leverage available for trading is 1:50. There are no commissions applicable to trading with bonds with HFM.
Commodities
There are five different commodity products offered by HFM for its clients. The list includes Copper, Cotton, Coffee, Cocoa, and Sugar. Most of them have floating leverages, while Cotton and Cocoa have 1:66 leverage. The spreads vary according to the products.
Bonuses for HFM’s Traders
HFM Forex broker has dozens of different promotional programs available for both their new registering and existing users. The broker offers various different contests with various prize pools, as well as bonus programs. The most popular contest at the moment is the Road to Paris Trading Contest. The first-place winner of the contest will receive an opportunity to attend a training session of champions at the Paris Saint-Germain football club, 2 matchday VIP seats, 2 Stadium Tour tickets, a business class flight ticket, and luxurious accommodation at one of Paris’ best hotels.
More contests include:
- HFM Gadget Giveaway – GoPro Hero 7, iPhone 12 Pro, PlayStation 5, Amazon Fire HD 10 Tablet, AKG YBT Bluetooth Headphones, etc.
- 10th Anniversary Promotion – 2 million US dollars in cash prizes
- Traders Award 2021 – monthly winners of a 1000 USD cash prize along with entry into the HFM Hall of Fame
- Demo Contest – 2000 USD for 1st place winner, 1000 USD for runner-up, 500 USD for the 3-rd place holder
- HFM Merchandise – branded top-quality products
Furthermore, HFM broker offers three different bonus schemes – a 100% supercharged bonus, a 30% rescue bonus, and a 100% credit bonus. The supercharged bonus is a deposit bonus that credits double the amount of your initial deposit to your trading account. The rescue bonus is a non-withdrawable bonus that protects from the period of drawdown and applies to deposits over 50 USD. Whereas, the 100% credit bonus applies to the new deposits, which are offered on Micro, Premium, and Zero Spread accounts and is a type of withdrawable bonus after the trading volume requirements are met.
HFM Customer Support Review
Every method for connecting the broker support is provided by HFM and their team is ready to assist traders in important matters 24/7. Multilingual live chat is the most important and useful feature of the HFM website and it enables users to directly connect with HFM representatives. The support team of HFM is knowledgeable and polite and has a comprehensive understanding of their company’s services and terms. Other methods for support include an email address, hotline number, and online form. The firm additionally has multiple offices globally and can help traders who are living nearby.
HFM Education
Tools, education, news & analysis have a dedicated section on the HFM website. This is super useful as traders can do all the activities of monitoring the fundamental indicators, calculating important data, and learning to trade all on one website. This adds to trader comfort and enables beginners to learn complex FX concepts easily as there are many webinars, seminars, video tutorials, and articles offered. Podcasts are especially entertaining and traders have an opportunity to get inside the traders’ world with various experts and master traders. From market research tools HFM is not shy to offer a multitude of useful features. Autochartist, Advanced Insights, and Traders Board are a few to name.
Should you consider HFM?
HFM is a highly reputable broker with numerous awards and as we observed in the article it is for the right reason. The broker supports traders’ requirements in many different ways and provides competitive trading conditions. Apart from the diverse trading instruments’ portfolio, dozens of trading platforms, and exceptional promotional programs that the brokerage firm offers, HFM also affords one of the highest-quality customer support services, with toll-free hotlines, 24/5 support, and an extensive FAQ page. Additionally, HFM is dedicated to enlightening its customers regarding trading in general, strategies, market analysis, and many more educational matters. Multiple courses, webinars, and educational events are provided on the official website of the broker. Therefore, we conclude our HFM Forex broker review with the final statement that HFM in fact, deserves all the rewards it received for the best trading conditions, service excellence, transparency, and customers’ security.
