S.A.M. Trade Forex broker review - A well-regulated broker from Australia

samtradefx.com
nika
Written by:
Av
konstantinrabin
Calendar
Written on:
4 June 2023
Date
Last edit:
17 July 2023
Our rating:
6.12

6.12

S.A.M. Trade Forex broker review - A well-regulated broker from Australia

samtradefx.com
nika
Written by:
Calendar
Written on:
4 June 2023
Date
Last edit:
17 July 2023
Our rating
6.12

6.12

Trading Foreign Exchange (Forex) and Contracts for Differences (CFD) is speculative and carries a level of risk that may not be suitable for all persons interested in trading online. You may sustain a loss of some or all of your invested capital, therefore, you should not speculate with capital that you cannot afford to lose. You should be aware of all the risks associated with Forex and CFD trading online, and seek advice from an independent financial advisor if you have any doubts.
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Main summary

Regulated by two decent authorities and being part of the Financial Commission, S.A.M. Trade is a reliable brokerage firm. The company was established back in 2015 and has been operating as a broker ever since. Additionally, the broker is an STP/ ECN broker meaning it redirects trading requests to its liquidity providers making its services fast and free of any conflict of interest. While all services and terms are excellent, safe, and of a high quality the spreads are a bit high starting from 1.7 pips which makes the broker unattractive for short-term traders. 

Let’s review S.A.M. Trade in more detail below and define how competitive its fees, commissions, assets, and other critical metrics are. We will also provide a final rank score that will tell us in which categories the broker is strongest and in which it is weak. 

Pros & cons of S.A.M. Trade broker

  • Well-regulated by two reputable authorities
  • Offers access to demo and Islamic accounts
  • Offers access to MetaTrader 4
  • Fast and digital account opening/verification
  • Offers 30 Forex pairs and 20 cryptos
  • Very low minimum deposit requirements of 20 USD, and 50 USDT when depositing via Tether
  • A limited number of supported payment methods
  • Withdrawal and deposit fees from payment providers are paid by clients
  • No shares as CFDs are offered for trading
  • Very low leverage of 1:30 for Australian retail clients

S.A.M. Trade Fact sheet

Main features
Regulations Australia, St. Vincent and the Grenadines
Fees on deposits 0 USD
Fees on withdrawal 0 USD
Inactivity fees 50 USD after three consecutive months of inactivity
Minimum deposit 20 USD or 50 USDT
Minimum account activation 20 USD
Number of available assets 72
Leverage up to 1:1000. 1:30 for Australians
Available trading markets CFDs, Commodities, Cryptocurrencies, Forex, Futures, Indices
Account currencies USD, AUD
Demo account Yes
Live account types Standard, VIP, ECN, Islamic
Islamic account Yes
Security
Negative balance protection Yes
Part of compensation fund Yes
Keeps funds on segregated bank account Yes
Assets
Forex 30
Shares 0
Cryptocurrencies 20
Indices 17
Commodities 5
Total 72
Fees & spread
Forex From 1.7 pips
Shares N/A
Cryptocurrencies From 0%
Indices From 3
Commodities From 3.0 - 3.5 cents
Software
Platforms MetaTrader 4
Mobile trading support Yes
Mac device support Yes
Commodities Yes
Payment systems
Payment methods Bank Transfer, Credit/Debit Card, Crypto
Minimum deposit Bank Transfer, Credit/Debit Card, Crypto
Minimum withdrawal Bank Transfer, Credit/Debit Card, Crypto
Withdrawal processing time Instant
Time to open an account -
Show all

Safety & Security of S.A.M. Trade

S.A.M. Trade is a well-regulated broker that has two independent supervisors overseeing its conduct that are highly reputable. The regulators overseeing the broker include

  • Australian Securities & Investments Commission - ASIC
  • St. Vincent and the Grenadines Financial Services Authority - SVGFSA

Because of these regulators the broker follows strict policies that prevent it from misusing user funds or mistreating their clients. Segregated accounts are provided for client funds, the broker is part of the compensation fund in case of insolvency, and all account types are protected with negative balance protection. 

s.a.m. trade main page for international.png

Account types available for traders on S.A.M. Trade

S.A.M. Trade provides four account types for their customers: Standard, VIP, ECN, and Islamic. 

All account types offered by the broker are under negative balance protection, meaning that traders can not lose more than their trading account balance. The minimum trading lot size is 0.01 which creates a micro account-like trading environment with 1:1000 leverage. This allows international traders to control considerable firepower when trading financial assets. Leverage is limited to up to 1:30 for Australian clients though, as the regulations prohibit offering more than 30:1 leverage. Australian traders with 1:30 leverage will need to have at least 35 USD to open a trading position with 0.01 lots, but it is recommended that traders possess more than that in order not to get margin calls. All accounts except ECN are without trading commissions and Islamic accounts come without swaps. The commission is 5 USD round turn per 100k traded on an ECN account and spreads are lower than other types of accounts. 

Pros & cons of S.A.M. Trade account types

ProsCons
There is a very low minimum deposit of $20There are no accounts without spread markups
Enables traders to use demo and Islamic account typesHigh spreads on Standard accounts from 1.7 pips
Negative balance protection for all account types prevent minus balance or debt 

Fees & commissions review of S.A.M. Trade

Comparing S.A.M. Trade fees with other brokers

S.A.M. Trade fees compared to Interactive Brokers fees

Type of FeeS.A.M. TradeInteractive Brokers
EUR/USD SpreadFrom 1.7 pipsFrom 0.6 pips
Fees on Deposits0 USD1%
Inactivity fee50 USD after three consecutive months of inactivityNo*

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

S.A.M. Trade fees compared to CM Trading fees

Type of FeeS.A.M. TradeCM Trading
EUR/USD SpreadFrom 1.7 pipsFrom 0.9 pips
Fees on Deposits0 USDNo
Inactivity fee50 USD after three consecutive months of inactivityYes, 15 EUR/USD per month after 60 days of inactivity

S.A.M. Trade fees compared to plus500 fees

Type of FeeS.A.M. Tradeplus500
EUR/USD SpreadFrom 1.7 pipsFrom 0.8 pips
Fees on Deposits0 USDNo
Inactivity fee50 USD after three consecutive months of inactivityYes, 10 USD per month after 3 months of inactivity

S.A.M. Trade fees compared to XM fees

Type of FeeS.A.M. TradeXM
EUR/USD SpreadFrom 1.7 pipsFrom 0.6
Fees on Deposits0 USDNo
Inactivity fee50 USD after three consecutive months of inactivityYes, 15 USD after 12 months, +5 USD/m

S.A.M. Trade fees compared to AvaTrade fees

Type of FeeS.A.M. TradeAvaTrade
EUR/USD SpreadFrom 1.7 pipsFrom 0.9
Fees on Deposits0 USDNo
Inactivity fee50 USD after three consecutive months of inactivityYes, 50 USD after 3 months, 100 USD administration fee after a year

S.A.M. Trade fees compared to Capital.com fees

Type of FeeS.A.M. TradeCapital.com
EUR/USD SpreadFrom 1.7 pipsFrom 0.9
Fees on Deposits0 USDNo
Inactivity fee50 USD after three consecutive months of inactivityYes, 50 USD after 3 months, 100 USD administration fee after a year

Trading platforms and mobile trading reviewed at S.A.M. Trade

The main trading platform provided by the broker is MetaTrader 4 (MT4), an advanced trading platform with numerous unbuilt technical tools. MT4 will enable traders to fully automate the trading process with its support of trading robots called Expert Advisors or EAs. MT4 is available for mobile devices and offers a decent amount of technical analysis tools that can be used to analyze and trade markets on the go.

Education and research tools offered by S.A.M. Trade

On their site there are sections labeled “Learn to Trade” and “Traders Club”, which are great educational resources for beginners to learn to understand financial market basics and connect with other traders. Unfortunately, the membership fee for the Traders Club is 10,000 USD which is expensive. But it offers professional guidance and assistance to newbie traders. CopySam is a great tool that allows traders to copy other traders' positions and this is done in almost real-time. Other useful tools include SamTrack and SamAide. SamTrack is a trading portfolio monitoring system that can track traders’ accounts and their performance allowing them to improve upon their mistakes. SamAide is a bunch of real-time tools monitoring clients' trading and payment activities and helps to ensure their safety. They notify clients whenever transactions happen to make them more aware of their trading activities. 

Customer support of S.A.M. Trade

The only downside of S.A.M. Trade support is that there is no option for live chat to contact the broker. There are all other general forms of communication supported though, including an online form, mobile number, and email address. Both the website and support are multilingual with 9 different languages. The lack of a live chat makes it a time-consuming effort to contact the broker and phone calls are not cheap, so, we hope the broker adds live chat soon. 

Conclusion

S.A.M. Trade is a reliable brokerage firm that is regulated by two reputable authorities and is a member of the Financial Commission. The broker provides safe and quality services, but its spreads are relatively high, starting from 1.7 pips, which may make it unattractive for short-term traders. S.A.M. Trade offers four account types, including an Islamic account, with negative balance protection and very low minimum deposit requirements. The broker provides a limited number of payment methods and all transaction fees are covered by clients, the broker itself imposes zero fees on all transactions. The broker is more suited for medium-term and long-term traders who value safety and reliability. 

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FAQs about S.A.M. Trade

Is S.A.M. Trade a trustworthy broker?

Yes. S.A.M. Trade is regulated by the Australian ASIC and FSA of St. Vincent and the Grenadines making it a reliable and secure broker. User funds are in safe hands when trading on the S.A.M. Trade MT4 platform. Negative balance protection prevents traders from getting into debt. The only downside is the broker’s high spreads on currency pairs from 1.7 pips for standard accounts. But the ECN account type offers much lower spreads from 0.0 pips and requires low commissions of 5 USD round turn. 

What else can I trade on S.A.M. Trade?

In addition to Forex, indices, commodities, and cryptos, there are 10 futures with spreads starting from 4 pips. The futures are provided on indices and commodities and can be used to speculate on their prices as all futures, just like other instruments, are CFDs.