CM Trading Broker Review

Regulation: Ugandan clients of CM Trading will be trading with GCMT SA, which owns and runs the brand CM Trading, is a representative of Blackstone Marketing Pty Ltd and has been regulated by the South African Financial Services Conduct Authority (FSCA) since 2012.

Safety Features of CM Trading:

• CM Trading segregates client funds from its operating capital in top-tier South African banks.
• CM Trading is subject to frequent audits of its finances and client operations. 
• Unfortunately, Ugandan clients of CM Trading do not have negative balance protection, but stop-out levels are set at 50% making it very unlikely that trading accounts will fall into a negative balance.

The account opening process at CM Trading is user-friendly and our account was ready for trading within a matter of minutes. However, we were disappointed that you can only open a demo account once you have registered for a live account.

It took us about 5 minutes to open an account at CM Trading. Once we had registered an account we were immediately able to deposit funds and start trading. We were also pleased that customer service approved our documentation within a few hours.

All Ugandans are eligible to open a trading account at CM Trading but will have to meet the minimum deposit requirement of 100 USD. Demo accounts are also available but only after you have registered for a live account. This is unusual amongst brokers and not good for beginner traders who wish to trade risk-free before opening a real account.

How to open an account at CM Trading:

1. We clicked on the “Register” tab on CM Trading’s main page.
2. CM Trading’s registration page required us to fill in our name, email address, date of birth, country of residence, and phone number and choose either a personal or corporate account. This is more information than is usually required by a broker at this stage – but you will eventually need to provide all these details at any broker as part of the verification process.
3. Once our account was registered, we went through the KYC (Know Your Customer) verification process – this is required to prevent money laundering and meet regulatory standards.
   1. CM Trading requires proof of identity: This can either be a passport or a government-issued identity card or a driver’s license.
   2. And proof of residence: This can be any utility bill or bank statement that was issued in the last three months and must show your name and full residential address. PO Boxes are not accepted
4. Verification documents can be sent to CM Trading via two methods:
   1. By email to [email protected] with your trading account number as a reference in the subject of the email.
   2. By logging into your trading account and clicking on “My Account”. Select the type of document and click on “Browse” to upload your file. Files can be sent in JPEG/JPG/PDF/Word format.

Once all documents had been received, our accounts were ready for trading within a matter of minutes.

The range of assets available to trade is comparable to many other brokers and the number of cryptocurrencies available is more than is normally seen at other similar brokers.

It is difficult to find many advantages with CM Trading’s accounts. The entry-level account has both higher initial and ongoing costs than similar accounts at other brokers. CM Trading’s other accounts also request very high minimum deposits and don’t deliver the lower ongoing trading costs that more experienced traders would be looking for.

Spreads are wider than average at CM Trading. The average cost for trading one lot of EUR/USD among similar brokers is about 9 USD per lot. As you can see from the table above, this is only achievable with the Gold and Premium Accounts, which are prohibitively expensive to open for most traders – requiring minimum deposits of 10,000 USD and 100,000 USD respectively.

We opened and tested CM Trading‘s accounts:

Bronze Account

CM Trading’s entry-level account, the Bronze Account, requires a minimum deposit of 100 USD and spreads average at 1.50 pips on the EUR/USD. As mentioned, the minimum deposit on this account is higher than other brokers’ entry-level accounts and the ongoing trading costs are higher too. 

Silver Account

CM Trading’s most popular account, the Silver Account, requires a minimum deposit of 1000 USD. Spreads start at 1.2 pips, and traders are afforded one risk-free trade and the services of a personal assistant. Spreads on this account are still wider than one would expect for an entry-level account – despite the high minimum deposit. 

Gold Account/Gold ECN Account

Traders can open a Gold Account with a very high minimum deposit of 10,000 USD. Spreads are down to 0.9 pips on the EUR/USD – which is about average for entry-level accounts at other brokers. Traders are afforded 3 risk-free trades, the services of a personal assistant, and volume cashback. 

The Gold Account is also available as an ECN Account. Spreads start at 0.1 pips for the EUR/USD and a commission of 14 USD (round turn) per lot is charged per lot. While the spread of 0.1 pips is about average for an ECN account, the 14 USD round turn commission is very high when compared to other ECN brokers. Stop-out levels are at 50%, but no Islamic swap-free options are available on this account. 

Premium Account/Premium ECN Account

With an incredibly high deposit of 100,000 USD, traders can open a Premium Account. Like the Gold Account, spreads are 0.9 pips on the EUR/USD, but traders have access to a trading specialist, news and analyses, and other special offers. 

The Premium account is also available as an ECN Account. The ECN Platinum Account is a market execution account with spreads starting at 0.1 pips on the EUR/USD, and a commission of 10 USD (round turn) per lot traded. 

In line with Anti-Money Laundering policies, CM Trading does not accept payments from third parties and only accepts funds received directly from the named trading account holder. 

Base Currencies: The CM Trading client portal allows traders to deposit funds in EUR and USD. Clients that fund accounts in other currencies, such as Ugandan Shilling, will be charged a margin at a rate of exchange determined by CM Trading. We were disappointed that this rate is not published, as traders want to know the costs of funding their trading accounts before they register an account. 

Funds can be deposited using a wide range of payment methods, including credit cards, debit cards, payment wallets including Neteller and Fasapay, online banking, and bank wire transfer.

Once you have registered an account, you can deposit funds through the trading portal.

We tested deposits via credit card and found that our payment was processed instantly. However, it took 4 days for us to withdraw our money, which is exceptionally slow for the industry.

CM Trading may charge for incidental banking-related fees such as wire charges for deposits/withdrawals and returned cheque fees. 

CM Trading offers an average range of mobile trading apps when compared to other brokers

CM Trading App

CM Trading has only recently introduced its mobile trading app. We found that the app was easy to download and set up, but that it has very limited functionality compared to the apps we tested at other brokers. It allows basic trading on the charts, account management, and allows you to deposit and withdraw funds, but not much else. Traders can set take profit and stop loss levels, open and close positions, but there is no research available on the app.

Although the app is user-friendly, it did not sync with our MT4 account. Additionally, it is not customisable and does not have algorithmic trading functionality like MT4.

MT4

CM Trading offers support for the MT4 mobile trading app for Android and iOS. Traders should be aware that there is some loss in functionality when compared to the desktop trading platforms, including reduced time frames and fewer charting options, but traders can close and modify existing orders, calculate profit and loss, and trade on the charts.

CM Trading Web Trader

The CM Trading WebTrader is available in browsers on both Mac and PC and synchronises with the CM Trading app. Although the web browser has slightly more functionality than the mobile version, more experienced traders will find it limiting. It has a trader sentiment display, 6 chart types, 9 timeframes, and multiple indicators, but unfortunately, not much more:

The platform also lacks many of the features available on MT4 such as automated trading and does not cater for third-party tools.

 As a note, the CM Trading Web Trader allows traders to copy other traders’ trades on the CopyKat system. For more on CM Trading’s CopyKat copy trading system and other trading tools, click here.

MetaTrader 4

The benefit of CM Trading offering third-party platforms such as MT4 is that traders can take their own customised version of the platform with them should they choose to migrate to another broker. Additionally, there are thousands of plugins and tools available for both the MetaTrader platforms.

CopyKat

CM Trading clients who opt to use the CM WebTrader platform will also receive access to CopyKat, CM Trading’s copy trading tool.

CopyKat allows you to observe professional traders’ deals and copy them in real-time but also allows for automated copying. The system is easy to use and supports one-click trading.

Guardian Angel

CM Trading runs a Smart Communication System for its customers called Guardian Angel, which provides support and direct messages concerning market trends and provides automated feedback on how you trade, highlighting market volatility indications and a stop loss calculator.

CM Trading’s research and analysis is poor compared to other brokers.

The analysis material at CM Trading is basic compared to most other brokers operating in the Ugandan market. Analysis material includes a functional economic calendar, highlighting the day’s major events. It also highlights potential trading opportunities across the major financial markets for the coming day, but does not offer much else. All the video material is also available on CM Trading’s YouTube channel and is compiled by a team of in-house market analysts.

We were also disappointed that CM Trading’s demo account requires signing up for a real account first.

While most beginners will find the majority of CM Trading’s educational content useful, it does not cover many of the advanced topics that more experienced traders would find helpful. It includes regular webinars on a range of markets and live seminars – though these have been on pause since the beginning of the pandemic. 

Training Videos

The backbone of the education section is a generic library of animated training videos, with subjects covering common Forex terms, social trading, the MetaTrader 4 platform, trading strategies, and trading psychology. While most of the training videos are aimed at beginner traders, lessons in technical and fundamental analysis and trading plans support more advanced learning. Other more advanced videos cover EAs to use with the MT4 platform and other methods of automated trading.

The one downside to CM Trading’s video library is that all the videos are only accessible through CM Trading’s own player, which is dated and has very limited functionality. This is frustrating, especially for those of us accustomed to YouTube and other popular players.

Webinars

CM Trading hosts weekly webinars on a range of subjects, recent webinars include the Psychology of Trading and Trading Cryptocurrencies. These webinars are simple to register for and, once more, you do not have to be a CM Trading customer to access them.

Video Chart Analysis

The chart analysis section is accompanied by a brief, yet useful, analytical breakdown of the major currency pairs. The video chart analysis on offer is straightforward and detailed and is helpful to both novice and expert traders.

Ebooks

CM Trading, through a 3rd party, offers a collection of eBooks covering Forex terms, trading psychology, basic and advanced technical analysis, and basic and advanced trading strategies. These are also available to non-customers but unfortunately non-downloadable. Much like with the Training Videos, CM Trading’s player is not a particularly easy way to digest new information, even in written format.

Demo Account

We were disappointed that opening a demo account at CM Trading requires registering for a live account first. But, once signed up, you’ll receive your login credentials the same day. We were provided with a virtual starting balance of 10,000 USD, which can be topped up on request. We could view charts, news, and analysis, get access to the full-featured MT4 and MT5 platforms, and experience real-time prices and real forex market volatility.

Customer support is available 24/5 via live chat, WhatsApp, email, via 11 different international phone numbers (in South Africa, Canada, Malaysia, UK, China, France, Brazil, Mexico, Saudi Arabia, Russia, and Bahrain) with full language support for each region. Additionally, CM Trading provides MT4 support to help beginner traders get started and one-on-one training is available to larger depositors.