GFT Review
| Broker | GFT |
|---|---|
| US Traders Accepted | |
| Company Name | Global Futures & Forex, Ltd |
| Headquarters | United Kingdom |
| Regulation | UK FSA (#5394757) |
| Bonus Type | Deposit bonus |
| Bonus Size | £100 |
| Max Payout | Unlimited |
| Out-of-Money Reward | 0% |
| Trading Platform | DealBook |
| Deposit Options | Credit/debit cards, wire transfer, check |
| Deposit Currencies | AUD, CHF, USD, CAD, EUR, GBP, JPY, HUF, PLN, SGD, USD |
| Minimum Deposit | £150 |
| Minimum Trade | £1 |
| Maximum Trade | £200 |
| Online Since | 1997 |
| Trading Instruments | Currencies, commodities, indices |
| Number of Trading Instruments | 44 |
| Binary Option Types | Up/Down, Ladder Binary, One Touch |
| Customer Support Types | Email, toll-free phone number, live chat |
| Education Offered | Webinars, video tutorials, FAQ, how-to pages |
| Tools Offered | Stop and limit orders, advanced charting platform |
| Commission | £35 inactivity fee if no trades are placed within 60 days or more. |
| Awards |
|
| Languages | English. |
| Demo Account | Yes |
GFT binary trading business has been acquired by Forex.com. It no longer accepts new binary traders.
GFT is a Forex company based in the United Kingdom that offers binary options trading services to customers around the world. Unfortunately at this time GFT does not accept customers from the United States. The website is owned by a subsidiary of Global Futures & Forex, Ltd., and has an excellent reputation online.
GFT has been the recipient of numerous awards, including Best Online Trading Platform in the 2011 Shares Magazine Awards, and Best Mobile Platform in the 2012 Shares Magazine Awards. They have received a number of different accolades from IBTimes. With a history spanning back to 1997, GFT is a well-known site, and there is a lot of transparency surrounding their operations. They are regulated by the Financial Services Authority in the UK, #5394757. If you are trading outside of the United States, they are well worth looking into since they offer quality, trustworthy service.
Opening a Demo Account or Live Account with GFT
You may open an account with GFT using any major currency: US Dollars, Euros, British Pounds, Japanese Yen, Australian Dollars, or any of a number of other options. The minimum deposit is £150 or equivalent. One of the best things about GFT, aside from their strong reputation, is the fact that they allow customers to trade using a demo account first with virtual currency.
GFT actually goes out of their way to try to advise customers not to skip this step in their trading education, something which makes them very respectable. It is a simple fact that it is nearly impossible to become a profitable trader without going through a demo testing phase first. A lot of traders go into binary options without realistic expectations, or with the intent to gamble. While there is nothing wrong with trading for fun per se, there are many traders who actually would like to trade for a living and be professional.
GFT does not attempt to persuade new binary options traders to invest their money right away without knowing how to trade, but encourages them to make smart trading decisions by demo testing first. This is great for anyone who is really serious about binary options, and not just looking for a thrill. No limitations are mentioned on the website for the demo account, and considering this is a Forex company, there probably aren’t any.
GFT Trading Platform and Features
GFT allows traders to use proprietary software to trade; their DealBook platform has won awards and includes lots of great trading features like advanced charting tools and indicators. Once again, these are things which traders need to be successful in the long run. At the same time, the platform remains simple to use and understand. Traders can invest as little as £1. The maximum trade size varies depending on the currency in the trader’s account, but may go as high as £200 or equivalent for binary options. This is a bit restrictive, and may hinder traders with larger accounts.
Forty-four currencies, commodities and indices are available to trade, and types of trades include Up/Down, Ladder Binary, and One Touch. Stop and limit offers are offered, which is excellent. This helps customers to manage their risk and calculate possible rewards and losses in advance. There are a couple of other drawbacks, however. Rollover is not available, and the reason for this is that you cannot place a binary options trade which lasts longer than a day with GFT. So position traders may not be able to participate in the binary options markets on this website.
Educational Resources and Customer Service
Along with the stop and limit orders and advanced charting platform, this company offers other great features to help traders to become profitable. Their FAQ is very detailed, and there are other how-to pages on the site. Traders will also discover extensive video tutorials and live weekly webinars which they can attend to get some insight into trading with GFT.
Customer service was ultimately another plus. You can reach the team via email, live chat, or toll-free phone. Not too many binary options sites offer toll-free phone contact, so this is an outstanding feature. The live chat desk is staffed 24/7—and true to their word, there was an agent there when we logged on to ask for information. The agent was very slow, and this was a drawback, but he was committed to helping out, and answered as many questions as possible before hitting one he did not know the answer to. At this point, instead of directing us to send an email, he pointed out that the telephone service was available to us at no charge. So while faster responses (and perhaps a better understanding of the English language) would have been better, the agent still was committed to his job, and that was appreciated.
Conclusion
Does GFT have its flaws? It does indeed. Calculating the risks and rewards may be a bit confusing for newcomers, though the platform can handle these calculations once you learn how to use it, and the demo platform can help with that. The customer service agents do not all come from English-speaking countries, but they are dedicated in the service they provide, and a toll-free phone number makes up for deficiencies in the live chat service.
The lack of longer expiry times or rollover features may be a bit problematic for some traders, as might the cap on investment sizes being so low, but otherwise GFT has provided a great starting point for binary options beginners. They have an outstanding reputation for providing a great service to binary options and Forex traders alike, and are one of the biggest names out there in retail trading, period. So if you are not based in the US and are looking for your next binary options broker, definitely check into GFT. This website has a strong reputation for a good reason. They are transparent, communicative, and provide an array of excellent resources, tools, and features to binary options traders.