Hotforex Philippines Review 2021

Hotforex is our top rated forex broker that offers wide range of trading instruments. Traders in Philippines can start trading at Hotforex with a minimum deposit of 5$. Before opening the account, read our comprehensive review to check every pro and con of the broker in detail.

Regulated By: FCA, FSCA, CySEC

Headquarters: Suite 305, Griffith Corporate Centre, P.O. Box 1510, Beachmont Kingstown, St. Vincent and the Grenadines.

Foundation Year: 2010

Min Deposit: $5

Open Account Note: Forex & CFD Trading is Risky.

Hotforex is a regulated CFD broker that offers STP trading platform at a low cost. It is internationally renowned forex broker that claims to have opened more than 2.5 million accounts since incorporation in 2010.

Hotforex has offices in numerous countries all over the world but does not have a local office in the Philippines. Their official website and trading platform are available in the Filipino language for better assistance to local retail clients in the Philippines. However, local phone support is not available in the Philippines.

Hotforex is not regulated by SEC of the Philippines. They are regulated with foreign top-tier regulations like FCA, CySEC & FSCA.

We have comprehensively reviewed Hotforex specifically for traders in the Philippines. We compare how well they do in terms of fees, safety, platform & other factors compared to other brokers that accept traders from Philippines.

Hotforex Philippines – A quick look

Is Hotforex Safe for traders in the Philippines?

Yes, Hotforex is considered safe for traders based in Philippines.

Hotforex is not regulated by the SEC, so this makes them risky for traders. But the broker is regulated by 4 foreign Tier-1 & Tier-2 regulatory authorities, so there is a low risk of scam by Hotforex. If there is any bad practice done by Hotforex, this can be reported to the concerned foreign regulatory authority that has granted the license to Hotforex.

Hotforex is not regulated by any regulatory authority in Philippines but it is regulated by following top-tier international financial regulators.

1. Hotforex is licensed with Tier-1 regulator FCA: The reference number is 801701 for HF Markets (UK) Ltd.



2. Hotforex is licensed by CySEC: The license number for HF Markets (Europe) Ltd is 183/12.

Regulation from multiple regulatory authorities makes Hotforex low risk broker for traders in Philippines. We also checked the reviews of existing clients of HF in Philippines and found most of them to be positive. We couldn’t find any significant scam or reported breach of regulatory compliance against the broker.

Hotforex is privately owned by HF Markets Group and is a registered international business company headquartered in St. Vincent & the Grenadines (registration number: 22747 IBC 2015). It does not have a parent bank or banking license, and is not publicly listed.

Overall, Hotforex is considered a safe CFD broker for depositing funds due to their multiple top-tier regulatory licenses and a reputed track record.

Fees

The fee structure at Hotforex is slightly complicated as they offer 5 different account types.

Almost every account type has different spreads and commissions. We have extensively reviewed all the costs incurred to the traders in Philippines and divided them into trading and non-trading fees.

Hotforex has an average trading fees

The trading includes spreads and commission as they are charged only when a trade order gets executed on the trading platform. Hotforex offers 5 different account types and the trading fees for all the account types are described below:

1. Micro: The Micro account is the most basic account type with a minimum initial deposit requirement. The spreads start from 1 pip on currency pairs with no commission involved. For EUR/USD, the average floating spread is 1.3 pips.
2. Premium: The fees, as well as a commission with the premium account, are the same as the Micro account.
3. Auto: The trading charges with the auto account are also the same as the micro account.
4. Zero Spread: As per the name, the zero spread account offers forex and CFD trading with spreads as low as 0 pip. A commission of 3$ is charged for each side of the trade on 1 lot. For a round trade of a standard lot of EUR/USD, a total of 7$ would be charged that includes 3$ commission for each side of a trade and spread of 1 pip.
5. HFcopy: This account type is specifically designed for copy trading. The spreads are similar to the micro account with no trading commission involved. The followers need to pay a performance fee while withdrawing. The performance fee is set by the strategy provider and can range from 0 to 50%.

Non-Trading Fees is also average

At Hotforex, no fee is charged for account opening and maintenance.

Although, they have an inactivity fee of $5/month if no trades are placed for 6 consecutive months. Inactive accounts with 0 balance are automatically closed after 6 months of inactivity.

The deposits and withdrawals for most of the available methods do not include any commission. The third-party payment gateways can charge the traders on their side but HF does not charge any transaction fees.

All in all, Hotforex has attractive spread. The spreads and commission are not the lowest but are better than many other forex brokers that accept traders in the Philippines.

Trading Platform

A complete suite of Metatrader 4 and Metatrader 5 is offered at Hotforex with the Micro, Premium, and Zero spread account. Traders can choose between the most widely used Metatrader 4 and the advanced customizable Metatrader 5 trading platform. The Auto, PAMM, and Copy account are only available with the Metatrader 4 platform.

Both the trading platforms are available in windows, macOS, Android, and iOS devices. The web trading terminal can be accessed through any of the devices to place trade orders.

A majority of CFD brokers in Philippines offer MT4 and MT5 trading platforms on various devices. The availability of an MT5 trading platform with a micro account is an advantage at Hotforex and most brokers only offer MT4 with the basic account.

But Hotforex does not offer cTrader. If you want to use cTrader trading platform, then it is a downside in the section of trading platforms.

Customer Support

The customer support service at Hotforex is fairly impressive as the support executives are resourceful and diligent. We tried connecting with the support staff through different methods and the following was our experience with them:

• English Live Chat support is very good & available 24 hours during week: The live chat at Hotforex can be accessed by any registered trader or even new clients at any time of the day on 5 working days. We tried to connect with them multiple times and got a helpful reply within few seconds. The average time to connect was 30 seconds while the average response time was 10 seconds. Most of the queries can be resolved through a live chat window at Hotforex’s official website.

• Email response time is fair (not the fastest): The email support is decent at Hotforex , and we got a response in 2-3 hours to revert if a query is raised on the same working day. The email support can be accessed by filling out the contact form on their website in case if you are unable to resolve the query through live chat.



• Phone Support: There is no local phone support for traders in Philippines as Hotforex does not have a local office in Philippines. Traders can however contact support staff through their international number +44-2030978571, but it will incur international calling charges. A call back can also be requested.

Overall, support service is impressive at Hotforex and far better than most of the regulated CFD brokers in Philippines.

Account Types

Traders in Philippines can choose to trade from 6 trading account types depending on the suitability. Every account type at HF Markets comes with different features, conditions, and fees. It is essential to learn about each account type before choosing any at HF in Philippines. We have reviewed every account type in detail to assist the traders in choosing the most suitable account for themselves.

1. Micro Account: This is the first account type with a minimum deposit of $5. The account gives access to all the available trading instruments with variable spreads starting from 1 pip (higher than other account types). The Micro account also offers the highest max leverage of up to 1:1000. This account is ideal for small volume traders as the maximum lot size that can be traded are 7.
2. Premium Account: This account requires a minimum deposit of 100$ but the fee structure is very similar to the Micro account. It allows trading on a maximum of 60 standard lots and traders can open up to 300 positions simultaneously. The maximum available leverage on a Premium account is 1:500.
3. Auto: This account allows traders to trade on free as well as paid calls made by the MQL5 trading community. This MT4 only account can be opened with a minimum deposit of 200$ and maximum leverage of 1:500. The fee structure is the same as the micro account.
4. Zero Spread Account: This account type at HF allows trading on various instruments with spreads as low as 0 pips. There is a commission of $3/standard lot for each side of the trade i.e. $6/lot total for majors ($7/lot for minors) with a maximum leverage of up to 1:500. This account is suited for traders that trade higher number of lots every month. The minimum deposit requirement is 200$ with the Zero account.
5. PAMM Account: This account type at HF allows copying the trading calls by the ‘fund manager’. HF allows traders to choose from the fee structure of Premium and Premium Plus. The Premium Plus account has spreads as low as 0.3 pips and a commission of 5$ for each side of the trade of standard lot. The minimum deposit requirement is 250$ with a maximum leverage of up to 1:300.
6. HFcopy Account Type: Copy trade account is designed for copy-trading at Hotforex. Traders can choose to become a strategy provider (minimum deposit 500$) or a follower (minimum deposit 100$). The spreads are the same as the Micro account type with a maximum leverage of 1:400. The followers also need to pay the performance fee that is set by each strategy provider that ranges from 0 to 50% of the gains.

Traders must note that all the account types can be opened with USD, EUR, or NGN as the base currency. Hotforex does not support the Philippine peso or any other currency as the base currency of the account.

The variation in the trading account is advantageous to the traders as they have the freedom to choose the most suitable account. Most forex brokers do not provide this many types of account and for the same reason, we have given Hotforex excellent ratings in the segment of account types offered.

Trading Instruments

Any of the chosen account types allow clients to trade on all of the following trading instruments at Hotforex.

• Forex: A total of 53 currency pairs are available to trade at Hotforex including 15 major and 38 minor currency pairs.

• CFDs: A wide range of CFDs can also be traded with any of the chosen account types. The table below describes the specific number of CFDs for each instrument segment. A total of 1044 CFDs are available at Hotforex.

Hotforex offers a wider range of trading instruments than other CFD brokers. A wider range of instruments gives more opportunities to traders to choose the most ideal and efficient capital market.

Withdrawal and Deposit

Hotforex allows clients to deposit and withdraw through multiple methods without additional commission. Traders can transact through bank wire transfer, credit/debit cards, e-wallets like Skrill, Neteller, and selected cryptocurrencies.

The minimum deposit amount for most of the available methods is $5 but depends on the account type chosen by the trader. There might be additional charges incurred if a third-party transaction method incurs it. No transaction fee is charged by Hotforex for any of the methods.

We tried to deposit and withdraw through multiple methods at Hotforex. In most cases, the transaction completes instantly. The bank wire transfer can take up to 2 to 7 business days while all the other methods reflect the transaction amount almost instantly.

Research and Education

Hotforex has basic research material on their website for traders in terms of research and analysis tools. They regularly publish educational videos, exclusive analysis, how-to videos, and organize webinars to educate and train every kind of trader.

Hotforex also offers various research and analysis tools on their website as well as their mobile application. The research and analysis tools include VPS Hosting, Autochartist, Advanced Insights, Auto Trading-MQL5, etc.

Compared to other regulated forex brokers in Philippines, we found Hotforex to be very helpful in assisting the traders with enhancing their abilities. They make efforts to train beginners and enhance the skills of experienced traders through various tools on their website.

Hotforex Bonus

Hotforex constantly provides new and attractive bonus offerings to traders for promotion and increased participation. At the time of the review, they offer a 100% Super Charged bonus in which they offer a 100% bonus on the initial deposit of more than 250$. It is a non-withdrawable bonus.

We also found the 100% credit bonus in which traders receive a bonus on deposit amount but need to execute trade orders with a lot of size of 50% of the deposited amount. For eg, to withdraw a credit bonus of 100$, the trader needs to execute trade orders of size 100*50% = 50 standard lot.

Do we Recommend Hotforex?

Yes, Hotforex is a well-regulated forex & CFD broker with low spreads and multiple account types offering a wide range of trading instruments. The research and analysis tools are helpful while the support staff is helpful and diligent.

Unavailability of local phone support or local office in Philippines is a drawdown according to us for traders in Philippines. But we do recommend Hotforex as they are a reputed broker & accept clients from Philippines.