Pros & Cons of Startrader

Startrader Fact sheet

When selecting a broker, traders need to take into account various aspects, among which the most important one is safety. Traders should avoid opening live accounts with unregulated brokers. Regulations are in place to protect traders from scams and fraudulent behaviors. Startrader is a group of brokers regulated by reputable financial institutions and therefore can be trusted. The complete list of regulators and Startrader entities include: 

• STARTRADER LLC: regulated by Saint Vincent and Grenadines with number SVG - 228 LLC 2019
• STARTRADER LIMITED: regulated by the Financial Services Authority Seychelles with license number FSA - SD049
• STARTRADER PRO LIMITED: Financial Services Authority in the UK with license number FCA-FRN: 600837 

In addition, the broker is regulated in South Africa by FSCA, and in Australia by Australian Securities and Exchange Commission (ASIC)

Policies that Startrader follows

Startrader provides all clients with negative balance protection. This ensures that no matter the market conditions, traders can never lose more money than what’s on their account balance. Trading Forex and CFDs involves high leverage. Maximum available leverage at Startrader is 500:1. Leverage in simple words gives traders the ability to increase their purchasing power using borrowed funds from their broker. And when traders open oversized positions in highly volatile market conditions, their account balance can go negative. If this unlikely event happens and your account goes negative, you can contact the broker and the balance will be reverted to zero. 

Startrader is a member of the Financial Commission compensation fund. The Financial Commission provides dispute resolution service to traders and their clients. Each trader that meets the claim criteria may receive a maximum compensation of 20,000 Euros. 

Deposits made by traders are kept in segregated bank accounts, which ensures traders that their funds are safe, even if the company goes bankrupt and its assets are liquidated.

Forex trading on Startrader

There are around 50 currency pairs for trading at Startrader. The maximum available leverage is 500:1. The company offers access to major, minor, and exotic currency pairs. The major pairs such as EUR/USD, GBP/USD, USD/JPY and others have better liquidity and therefore tighter spreads than minors. And minors are more liquid than exotics. Spreads for major pairs on Standard accounts start from 1.3 pips, which is high compared to other brokers. And commissions on an ECN account, where there are no spread markups, is 7 USD per traded lot round turn. 

Commodities trading on Startrader

Commodities are raw materials that can be mined or grown. Startrader offers both: hard and soft commodities for trading. The hard commodities include precious metals such as gold, silver, platinum, and palladium. In addition, energies such as UK and US Oils are available for trading. 

The soft commodities offered include: Cocoa, copper, cotton, sugar, wheat, etc. Keep in mind that commodity prices are impacted by global supply and demand. 

Index trading on Startrader

Indices or share indexes play an important role in finances. They serve a dual purpose: traders can trade them as CFDs, and use indexes as indicators. Indices measure a basket of certain company shares. For example, FTSE 100 follows the performance of top 100 UK companies that are listed in the London Stock Exchange. The FTSE 100 is a great indicator of the health and fitness of Britain’s economy. Startrader offers access to 28 global indices including Dow Jones Index, S&P 500, GER40, INDIA50, etc. 

Cryptocurrency trading on Startrader

Startrader offers 44 crypto pairs for trading. The cryptos are paired with US Dollar, Euro, and other cryptocurrencies such as Litecoin, and Ethereum. Keep in mind that these products are CFDs (Contracts for Difference) and CFDs are great for market speculations, however, they do poorly for long term investment purposes. 

When trading crypto CFDs at Startrader, traders do not need to worry about crypto wallets and cashouts. Profits are added to the trading account balance automatically. In addition, CFDs have better liquidity and therefore tighter spreads, leverage is available for traders, and traders have the ability to go long or short. It should be noted that when investing in actual crypto coins at crypto exchanges, these benefits are not present. 

Stocks as CFD trading on Startrader

There are around 70 company shares as CFDs available for trading at Startrader. Available companies include: Tesla, Pfizer, NVIDIA, Oracle, etc. If you plan on trading these assets, it’s best to download a MetaTrader 5 platform, as MetaTrader 4 only supports CFDs and currency pairs. 

It should be noted that the Stock CFDs are great for short and medium term market speculations as traders are able to use leverage, go long/short, and enjoy high liquidity. However, due to overnight rollover fees that can accumulate overtime, CFDs do poorly as long term investment vehicles. In order to invest long term in company shares, investors purchase real, also referred to as physical stocks. 

It should be mentioned that while Startrader offers some of the most liquid companies for trading, the number of available instruments is limited compared to industry leaders. 

Every trader uses a different trading style and different trading strategy, and as a result, every trader has their own preferences. To meet the needs of active and less active traders, Startrader offers Standard and ECN account types. Let’s dive deeper and learn more about each. 

Pros & cons of Startrader account types

Traders are allowed to open live trading accounts in US Dollar, Euro, British Pound Sterling, and Canadian Dollar. Keep in mind that opening an account in a currency that you use the most can save you money on currency conversions when you make deposits and withdrawals.

Standard account

Maximum available leverage is 500:1. There are no commissions on this account type. Trading fees are integrated in spreads and start from 1.3 pips on EUR/USD. Trading environment is transparent and there’s no dealing desk trading. Negative balance protection is provided. The Standard account type is best suited for position traders, beginners, and swing traders. Minimum initial deposit required to open a live trading account is 50 USD. 

ECN account

The ECN account charges traders with commissions and there are no spread markups, which makes this account type ideal for active traders such as intraday traders, scalpers, arbitrage traders, high frequency traders, news traders, and algorithmic traders that automate trading processes. There is 7 USD commission charged per traded lot round turn. Negative balance protection is provided. Minimum initial deposit required to open the EC account is 50 USD, and maximum available leverage for trading currency pairs is 500:1. 

Getting started on Startrader – Main steps

Registration and account opening with Startrader is fully digital. The web page is user-friendly, and it takes a couple of steps to start trading. We’ll guide you through this process step-by-step. 

Step 1: Open an account

Go ahead and click the “OPEN A LIVE ACCOUNT” button from the broker’s main page. You will be transferred to a registration page. Fill in the registration form and press “Register”.

Step 2: Finish the registration process

Once you are transferred to the client area, click on the “Open Account Now” button and provide the broker with additional information. 

Step 3: Time to verify your account

Once the registration process is complete, it’s recommended that you verify your trading account. Traders are permitted to fund their accounts and trade without verification, however, only verified account holders are allowed to withdraw funds from their trading accounts. 

In order to verify your trading account, two documents are required: 

• Proof of identity: you can provide the broker with a digital copy of your driving license, passport, or government issued IC card
• Proof of residence: you can upload your bank statement that includes your address, or you can use a utility bill

You can scan your documents or take a digital photo straight from your smartphone. Just keep in mind that photos should be taken with no shadows or light reflections on them, and the information needs to be clearly visible. 

Step 4: Make your deposit and start trading

The next step is to fund your account and start trading. There are various funding options available for traders, including Bank wire transfer, credit/debit cars such as Visa, and MasterCard. In addition, traders can use crypto transfers, Skrill, Sticpay, Neteller, and more. While most deposit options are free and instant, bank wire transfers can take up to a couple of days. In addition, withdrawals made using bank wire may cost you. The broker doesn’t have fees from its end, however, charges are generally imposed by intermediary banks. 

Fees and commissions play an important role in the broker selection process. Let’s dive deeper and learn more about Startrader’s fees. 

Comparing Startrader fees with other brokers

Startrader offers two account types. In order to have a proper understanding of the broker’s fees, we need to compare them to its competitors. For the comparison, we picked Standard account fees, as these accounts typically charge zero commissions and trading fees are integrated into spreads. It’s worth mentioning that there are no funding fees, or account inactivity fees charged at Startrader. 

Startrader fees compared to Interactive Brokers fees

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

Startrader fees compared to CM Trading fees

Startrader fees compared to plus500 fees

Startrader fees compared to XM fees

Startrader fees compared to AvaTrade fees

Startrader fees compared to Capital.com fees

Startrader offers a full set of MetaTrader platforms to its customers. In addition, Copy Trade software is available for social trading. Main trading platforms are MetaTrader 4 (MT4) and MetaTrader 5 (MT5). 

Both platforms are highly reliable and have many things in common, however, there are multiple key differences. MT4 was developed in 2005 as a Forex trading software and quickly gained popularity. Both platforms remain highly popular even today, despite the fact that they have not changed much since their appearance. MT5 is an improved version of MT4, as it offers more capabilities and access to more asset classes. 

MT5 was released in 2010, and the main advantage of this platform is that it offers access to not only currency pairs, but also stocks, bonds, and futures. As a downside, MT5 is a bit more complex to use than MT4, which is why many traders that solely trade currency pairs, stick to MT4 instead. 

For more information, let’s check the platform comparison table. 

The broker offers MetaTrader versions for desktop, web, and mobile use. The mobile applications are available for both Android and iPhone users. The offered mobile apps are highly convenient. Traders can manage their orders on the go, and keep track of market developments from anywhere in the world. The MetaTrader mobile platforms provide traders with live charts and real-time market information. In addition, traders are free to use various order types. One clear downside of using mobile platforms is their screen size, which is why it’s best to use mobile apps in combination with desktop trading platforms. 

Quality education is key to success in financial trading. Traders need to be able to properly manage their emotions, trading risks, build and test strategies, and be efficient in strategy execution. Startrader provides traders with Knowledge Centre, Webinars, Newsroom, and economic calendar. The educational material is extensive and is aimed at all trader types, from beginners to more seasoned traders. 

Professional customer support is a backbone of every client oriented company. Startrader offers 24/5 live chat, and email support to its clients. Unfortunately, the phone call option is not available. The customer support agents are not professionally trained and do know many essential details such as minimum initial deposits required to open an account, and we had to wait as the agent was checking. In addition, we didn’t get clear answers from them regarding tradable instruments, and we had to check assets one by one. However, the overall experience was not bad. 

To sum it all up, Startrader is a group of internationally regulated Forex brokers that provide financial services globally. The broker offers various instrument classes for trading, and while the number of tradable currency pairs is impressive, overall tradable instruments are limited. Offering trading platforms are MT4, MT5, and social trading platforms. The broker offers two account types to choose from that can attract both active and less active market speculators. There are no inactivity fees or fees on account funding. Educational material offered is extensive, however, customer support could use some improvements. Overall, Startrader is an average Forex broker.