Admirals Review

Is Admirals (Admiral Markets) a Trusted Forex Broker?

In this review, we will be delving into detail about the Admirals broker and evaluating its trustworthiness through examination of a number of factors, including fund safety, fees, trading platforms, customer support and more. Admirals is a well-established broker, having enjoyed steady growth over the course of the past two decades since it began operating in the financial markets. Before making a final decision over whether to trade with this broker, it’s important to take the time to read this review carefully.

Introduction to Admirals: A Brief Overview

Admirals, formerly known as Admiral Markets until 2021, is an established online brokerage specialising in forex and CFD trading to clients worldwide. Since its launch in 2001, the broker has expanded its operations into new regions, adding new regulatory licences along the way.

Admirals features a vast back catalogue of educational articles and tutorials, with a wide range of topics being covered. Having said that, there are some major limitations that traders must be aware of, in particular the lack of 24/7 support, which is a major downside for those who require round-the-clock assistance.

Is Admirals safe?

Licensing and Regulation

Admirals is subject to regulatory oversight by a number of authorities, tailored to the specific regions in which it provides trading services to clients. The broker is officially licensed by the FCA, ASIC, CySEC, EFSA JSA and the FSCA, meaning that a strict set of criteria must be met in order to avoid sanctions from these regulatory bodies. Despite this, it should be noted that traders must conduct proper due diligence on the broker prior to opening an account.

Security of Funds & Protection

As is to be expected of a broker that holds licences from numerous regulatory bodies worldwide, Admirals ensures the safety of clients’ funds through negative balance protection, segregated accounts and other compliance-related measures. While such precautions are designed to maintain fund safety, they do not fully guarantee complete protection and security to clients.

The Admirals Trading Platforms

Admirals offers the popular MetaTrader platforms of MT4 and MT5, which users can access via desktop or through mobile and tablet devices on Android and iOS. The broker also has its own mobile app, while also recently adding a proprietary platform, which it describes as a beginner-friendly web-based trading and investing platform. For traders seeking an alternative web-based approach, there is also a MetaTrader WebTrader option.

Admirals’ Trading Assets

Admirals offers access to more than 80 currency pairs across its available trading platforms, but the number of CFDs depends on the specific account type used. For example, traders with an Invest.MT5 account can trade more than 4,000 CFDs on currencies, indices, metals, energies, stocks, ETFs and cryptocurrencies, while Trade.MT4 account holders can trade on around 260 CFDs from the same asset class list.

Trading Conditions at Admirals

Spreads & Commissions

Admirals is fairly transparent about trading fees. The spreads charged by the broker is dependent on the account type selected, with spreads from 0.0 pips on the Zero.MT4, Zero.MT5 and Invest.MT5 accounts, and fixed commission charged on forex, metals, cash indices and energies. Spreads start from 0.5 pips on the Trade.MT4 and Trade MT5 accounts, with commission-free trading on selected assets.

Leverage

Admirals’ leverage rate for currency pairs and other CFDs is based on notional position value according to specific margin requirements. The precise leverage amount varies between instruments, but it is up to 1;30 FOR major currency pairs such as EURUSD, GBPUSD, USDJPY, USDCHF, USDCAD and selected major cross rates. There is leverage of up to 1:20 for all other forex pairs and on GOLD and XAUAUD, while CFDs on stocks, ETFs and bonds feature leverage up to 1:5.

Admirals’ Customer Support

Traders with Admirals can get in touch with a 24/5 customer support team through phone, email and live chat by navigating to a specific contact page on the broker’s website. The lack of 24/7 support may come as a disappointment to traders who require urgent or immediate support outside of the stipulated hours, particularly over the weekend. Admirals does have an FAQs section covering a few general topics, but for more specific support, traders would need to contact the broker during customer service opening times.

The FXTS Verdict: Is Admirals a Trusted Broker?

In conclusion, Admirals is a well-established broker that has steadily grown its client base and product offering since its foundation in 2001. It possesses licences from multiple top-tier regulators, including the FCA and ASIC, and is fairly transparent when it comes to displaying the associated fees and charges across its trading platforms.

While its educational section stands out from the crowd in terms of depth and insight, Admirals may not be suited to beginner traders, due to the overwhelming volume of information available. Novice traders looking to learn about the basics of forex and CFD trading are advised to research the educational resources on offer at other regulated brokers to see if there are better organised and more suitable alternatives.