Pros & cons of Pacific Financial Derivatives broker

Pacific Financial Derivatives Fact sheet

New Zealand’s Financial Markets Authority, or FMA, is overseeing Pacific Financial Derivatives’ conduct and is known to be among the strictest regulators out there. This means all traders are protected and the Pacific Financial Derivatives is a legit broker with proper regulations in place. 

Since all orders are sent to liquidity providers there is no negative balance protection, but the broker is part of a compensation fund and is using segregated accounts for safeguarding client capital.

There are three account types offered by Pacific Financial Derivatives, namely PFDTrader (MT4), PFDPro (MT4), and PFDProPlus (MT4). All three accounts have many similarities including very low spreads and low or no commission for trading. The PFDTrader (MT4) has no commission for trading but has a slightly higher spread starting from 0.6 pips. This is one of the lowest spreads for standard accounts on the market and will probably be sufficient to trade with scalping strategies that rely on small profits. The leverage is 1:300 and the minimum lot size starts from 0.01. There is no minimum deposit requirement for the PFDTrader (MT4) account which makes it possible to start trading with an extremely low budget. This is great news for beginners as they will be able to start low and learn while increasing their capital slowly. With these terms, Pacific Financial Derivatives is one of the most beginner-friendly brokers out there. Their leverage system is dynamic and is 1:300 for accounts up to $5k, for accounts with more than a $5k balance the max leverage is reduced to 1:100. 

For the PFDPro (MT4) account type the terms are almost the same with spreads being even lower than with the previous account and there is a low commission of just $1 per side/standard size lot. This makes it a $2 round-turn which is super-competitive and is recommended for scalpers. Now, the spreads start from 0.3 pips which is very low. All other terms are the same including the leverage system. There is no minimum deposit requirement for this account either. 

Let’s now switch to the PFDProPlus (MT4) account which offers even lower spreads than the DFDPro account and has a minimum deposit requirement of 1,000 USD and maximum leverage up to 1:100. All other specs are similar to the other two account types. This last account is well-suited for experienced scalpers with a moderate budget and offers maximum flexibility. 

Pros & cons of Pacific Financial Derivatives account types

Comparing Pacific Financial Derivatives fees with other brokers

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*Inactivity fee was eliminated by IB in 2021, it used to be $20/m

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Pacific Financial Derivatives fees compared to Capital.com fees

The only trading platform offered by Pacific Financial Derivatives (PFD) is the MetaTrader 4 (MT4) platform. The software is an advanced trading platform and offers professional features to fully analyze the market and automate the trading process. The broker allows for all kinds and types of trading on their MT4 platform including third-party signals, indicators, and trading robots called Expert Advisors (EAs). In addition, the broker offers a user manual for beginners to familiarize themselves with the platform. There are also YouTube video tutorials offered to make the learning process of MT4 even easier. It is possible to install the platform on a Mac and PFD offers dedicated tutorials for this purpose. Multi Terminal (MT4) provides the ability to manage multiple trading accounts with a single MT4 instance. The key features of this platform include 

• Managing a set of client accounts
• Multiple order types: market, stop, and limit.
• All order types are accepted and executed
• Receiving news and quotes in the online mode
• Multilingual support

Multi Terminal also has low computer requirements and will run on low-end devices smoothly which is specifically mentioned by the broker on their website. 

Educational resources are not many and only a glossary and Forex trading basic introduction are provided. This introduction covers all the basic steps and processes of trading together with explaining how the Forex market operates, and how to open a position and analyze markets. The Forex glossary offers a quick explanation of all important Forex terms. As for market research tools, only an economic calendar is available. For experienced traders, the economic calendar with MT4’s advanced capabilities is more than enough to trade at max capacity, but for beginners, additional educational materials will be required. 

There are two options for live chat, namely the inbuilt live chat on their site and Skype. Live chat is a positive sign as it is generally the fastest and most comfortable way to connect with the broker to quickly resolve any issues that may arise during trading. This broker is also available on Facebook and Twitter. Other support forms include phone numbers, email, and an online form to leave a message. There are 4 languages supported in total by both the website and support. 

Pacific Financial Derivatives is a regulated Forex and CFDs broker that has been operating since 1999. The broker provides access to 60 instruments on the MT4 platform, with low spreads starting from 0.3 pips and commissions as low as $1 per side per lot, but the lack of stock CFDs may be a downside for some traders. The company is regulated by New Zealand’s Financial Markets Authority, which is among the strictest regulators globally. The broker is part of a compensation fund and uses segregated accounts for client capital. The three account types offered by Pacific Financial Derivatives are PFDTrader (MT4), PFDPro (MT4), and PFDProPlus (MT4) accounts, which all offer low spreads and low or no commission for trading. The leverage system is flexible and dynamic, going up to 1:300. Overall, Pacific Financial Derivatives is an excellent option for traders who are looking for low fees and low minimum deposits.