ATFX Review 2023

How we ranked fees

We ranked ATFX's fee levels as low, average or high based on how they compare to those of all reviewed brokers.

To get things rolling, let's go over some lingo related to broker fees. What you need to keep an eye on are trading fees, and non-trading fees.

• Trading fees occur when you trade. These can be commissions, spreads, financing rates and conversion fees.
• Non-trading fees include charges not directly related to trading, like withdrawal fees or inactivity fees.

In the sections below, you will find the most relevant fees of ATFX for each asset class. For example, in the case of forex and stock index trading, spreads, commissions and financing rates are the most important fees.

We also compared ATFX's fees with those of two similar brokers we selected, XM and ETX Capital. This selection is based on objective factors such as products offered, client profile, fee structure, etc. See a more detailed rundown of ATFX alternatives.

To have a clear overview of ATFX, let's start with the trading fees.

ATFX trading fees

ATFX trading fees are low. Fee structures differ according to account types. We tested the fees for the Standard account, which charges no commission but spreads are higher.

We know it's hard to compare trading fees for CFD brokers. So how did we approach the problem of making their fees clear and comparable? We compare brokers by calculating all the fees of a typical trade for selected products.

We have chosen popular instruments within each asset class:

• Stock index CFDs: SPX and EUSTX50
• Stock CFDs: Apple and Vodafone
• Forex: EURUSD, GBPUSD, AUDUSD, EURCHF and EURGBP

A typical trade means buying a leveraged position, holding it for one week and then selling. For the volume, we chose a $2,000 position for the stock index and stock CFDs and $20,000 for the forex transactions. The leverage we used was:

• 20:1 for stock index CFDs
• 5:1 for stock CFDs
• 30:1 for forex

These catch-all benchmark fees include spreads, commissions and financing costs for all brokers. Let's see the verdict for ATFX fees.

CFD fees

ATFX has low CFD trading fees.

The costs for both stock index CFDs and stock CFDs are built into the spreads.

Forex fees

ATFX forex fees are low, beating those of its closest competitors for all currency pairs.

Similarly to stock index and stock CFDs, the fees are built into the spreads.

Non-trading fees

ATFX has low non-trading fees. It charges no account, inactivity, deposit, or withdrawal fees.

Can you open an account?

Visit broker
59.38% of retail CFD accounts lose money

ATFX accepts clients from all over the world. There are a few notable exceptions though, such as Japan, France or Canada.

What is the minimum deposit at ATFX?

The required minimum deposit is $500. for the Standard account, but higher for other account types.

Account types

ATFX offers four account types, which differ in the required minimum deposit, pricing, leverage, and the availability of additional services. In our review, we tested the Standard account.

*To choose this account, you must meet certain criteria, such as holding a min. €500,000 portfolio or having a working experience in the financial sector.

How to open your account

ATFX's account opening process is straightforward and fully digital.

The five steps of ATFX account opening:

1. Enter your personal details.
2. Verify your identity by uploading a copy of your ID card, passport or driver's license. Your proof of residency can be a utility bill or a bank statement.
3. Add information about your financial situation.
4. Answer questions about your trading experience.
5. Fill out a test assessing your financial knowledge. 

This initial registration takes 15-20 minutes, and in most cases, accounts are verified within 1-2 business days. When we tested the process, our account was verified on the same day.

During our test, we had to re-send our documentation to customer service. In the process, they reached out to us immediately, and after sending our documents, our account got validated almost instantly. However, our validation email was sent in Italian, which was surprising as our earlier discussion was in English.

Account base currencies

ATFX has 3 account base currencies: EUR, GBP and USD. This selection is not the best on the market, lagging behind that of competitors including XM.

Why does this matter? For two reasons. If you fund your trading account in the same currency as your bank account or you trade assets in the same currency as your trading account base currency, you don't have to pay a conversion fee.

A convenient way to save on currency conversion fees is by opening a multi-currency bank account at a digital bank. These usually offer bank accounts in several currencies with great currency exchange rates as well as free or cheap international bank transfers. Opening an account only takes a few minutes on your phone.

Compare digital banks

Deposit fees and options

ATFX charges no deposit fees. Besides bank transfer, you can deposit money via credit/debit cards, and electronic wallets such as PayPal, Skrill, Neteller or SafeCharge. For non-UK clients, alternative e-wallets like Trustly are also available.

A bank transfer can take several business days, while payment with a credit/debit card is instant. We tested credit card payment.

You can only deposit money from accounts that are in your name.

ATFX withdrawal fees and options

ATFX doesn't charge a fee for withdrawals equal to or over €/$/£100, or for the full balance of the account (in case it is lower than €/$/£100). You can use the same methods for withdrawal as for deposits.

How long does it take to withdraw money from ATFX? We tested credit card withdrawal and it took 2 business days.

You can only withdraw money to accounts that are in your name.

How do you withdraw money from ATFX?

• Log in to 'Member Center'
• Click 'Withdrawal'
• Add the amount and the reason for withdrawal
• Initiate the withdrawal

ATFX doesn't have its own trading platform, so it uses MetaTrader 4, a third-party platform.

MetaTrader 4 is available in an exceptionally large number of languages.

Look and feel

ATFX's web platform is highly customizable. You can easily change the size and the position of the tabs.

On the flip side, the platform feels outdated and some features are hard to find. For example, it took us a while to figure out how to add an asset to the watchlist.

Login and security

ATFX provides only one-step login. Two-step authentication would be more secure.

Search functions

The platform's search functions are OK. You can find assets grouped into categories. At the same time, we missed the usual search function where you can type in an asset's name manually.

Placing orders

You can use only the most basic order types. You will not find more sophisticated ones such as 'one cancels the other'. The following order types are available:

• Market
• Limit
• Stop
• Trailing Stop

Trailing Stop is available only in the MT4 desktop platform.

If you are not familiar with order types, read this overview.

There are also order time limits you can use:

• Good 'til canceled (GTC)
• Good 'til time (GTT)

Alerts and notifications

You can't set alerts and notifications on the ATFX web platform. This feature is available only on the desktop trading platform.

Portfolio and fee reports

ATFX has clear portfolio and fee reports. You can easily view your profit/loss balance and the commissions you have paid. These reports can be found under the 'History' tab. We couldn't find a way to download them.

Visit broker
59.38% of retail CFD accounts lose money

Similarly to the web trading platform, ATFX offers MetaTrader 4 as its mobile trading platform. MetaTrader 4 is available for both iOS and Android. We tested it on Android.

After you have downloaded the MT4 mobile trading platform, you must access the ATFXGM2-Live server. 

Just like on the web trading platform, you can choose from many languages on the mobile trading platform as well. Changing the language is a bit tricky on Android devices, though. You can do it only if you change the default language of your mobile.

Look and feel

ATFX has a great mobile trading platform, we really liked its design and user-friendliness. You will easily find all the features.

Login and security

Similarly to the web trading platform, ATFX provides only one-step login. A two-step login process would be safer.

You can't use fingerprint or Face ID authentication. Providing this feature would make the login process more convenient.

Search functions

The search functions are good. You can search by typing the name of the product or by navigating the category folders.

Placing orders

You can use the same order types and order time limits as on the web trading platform. However, order confirmation is not provided.

Alerts and notifications

You can set up alerts and notifications for your mobile, although you can do it only on the desktop trading platform. It would be much more convenient if you could set these notifications on the mobile trading platform itself.

Visit broker
59.38% of retail CFD accounts lose money

ATFX offers MetaTrader 4 as a desktop trading platform.

It has the same design, is available in the same languages, offers the same order types plus Trailing Stop, has the same search functions, and offers the same portfolio and fee reports as the web trading platform.

The major difference is that you can set alerts and notifications on the desktop trading platform, in the form of mobile push and email notifications. To set these notifications, you need to add your email address and mobile MetaQuotes ID (which you can find in the MT4 app's settings). You can add them by going to 'Tools' and then 'Options'.

Visit broker
59.38% of retail CFD accounts lose money

ATFX is a CFD and forex broker. If you're not familiar with CFDs, read our article.

Disclaimer: CFDs are complex instruments and come with a high risk of losing money rapidly due to leverage. 59.38% of retail investor accounts lose money when trading CFDs with this provider. You should consider whether you understand how CFDs work and whether you can afford to take the high risk of losing your money.  To learn more about CFDs read our CFD trading tips.

ATFX has a competitive selection of forex pairs, but its CFD product offering is smaller than that of its closest competitors, and unfortunately, you can't trade ETFs or bonds.

FCA bans the sale of crypto-derivatives to UK retail consumers from 6 January 2021.

You can't change the default leverage level of the products.

Changing the leverage manually is a very useful feature when you want to lower the risk of your trade. Be careful with forex and CFD trading, since the preset leverage levels may be high.

Social Trading

ATFX provides a social trading service through the MT4 desktop trading platform. First, you have to register your account by clicking 'Auto Trading'. After registration, you can start copying fellow traders, although this is usually not free of charge.

Social trading is also good opportunity for seeking out new ideas. You can find nice research materials and charts in this section.

ATFX's research tools can be found on the MT4 trading platform, at the ATFX Member Center, and on ATFX's website.

The bulk of research material is from third-party research feed providers such as Trading Central. ATFX also has its own research team, providing quarterly market outlook reports, among others.

Trading ideas

ATFX provides trading ideas, based on technical indicators. You can find these trading ideas if you log in to the Member Center, then click 'Research Platform' or 'Featured Ideas'. The 'Featured Ideas' section covers only the major currency pairs.

Fundamental data

ATFX doesn't offer fundamental data.

Charting

ATFX has OK charting tools. You can use 31 technical indicators and other technical tools, such as trendlines or Fibonacci retracement.

On the negative side, the design is outdated and some features are hard to use. For example, we had difficulty figuring out how to remove an indicator from the chart.

News feed

The news feeds are OK, focusing mainly on the movements of technical indicators. On the flip side, more complex news items, such as those covering major economic events, are missing.

You can also use a great economic calendar. We liked that the calendar has a filter function where you can filter for countries, data type and importance.

Compare research pros and cons

You can contact ATFX via:

• telephone
• email
• live chat

When we tested the phone service, we couldn't reach any operators on the day before a UK banking holiday. But after the holiday, we were immediately put first in queue. The operator was helpful and provided lots of insights to our questions.

The live chat service gives relevant answers. We had mixed experiences about its speed, though; on one occasion, we had to wait 30 minutes for an agent to be connected, while in another test, the response time was excellent.

On the other hand, we haven't received answers to any of the emails that we have sent to ATFX.

We missed 24/7 availability. You can reach customer service from Monday to Friday between 9 am and 5 pm, London time.

Visit broker
59.38% of retail CFD accounts lose money

ATFX provides many ways to improve your knowledge:

• Demo account
• Platform tutorial videos
• General educational videos
• Webinars
• Quality educational articles
• Platform tutorial video

Once your account is approved, the confirmation email includes a platform tutorial video. It's very helpful if you want to familiarize yourself with the MT4 platform quickly.

Most educational tools can be found under the 'Education' menu on the website.

Webinars

You can also sign up for different types of webinars. There are usually three sessions scheduled every week. Webinars are available in several languages including English, German, Italian or Spanish, but we found it a bit confusing that some webinars are only available in one language.

Forex Education Center

We strongly recommend that you visit the Forex Education Center. You can watch high-quality videos and browse in-depth courses and ebooks; the length and complexity of your studies will depend only on your appetite.

Financial Events

We were impressed by how ATFX provides a clear view about the impact of major financial and economic events. For example, we received an email note about the possible implications of Brexit.

Visit broker
59.38% of retail CFD accounts lose money

Is ATFX regulated?

Yes, it operates under four legal entities, regulated by the following financial authorities:

• Financial Conduct Authority (FCA)
• Cyprus Securities and Exchange Commission (CySEC)
• Financial Services Authority of St. Vincent and the Grenadines
• Financial Services Commission of Mauritius

Is ATFX safe?

To be certain, we highly advise that you check two facts:

• how you are protected if something goes wrong
• what the background of the broker is

How you are protected

There are four legal entities to choose from, and each comes with different regulations and services. We recommend the FCA-regulated entity, because it has the highest investor protection amount at £85,000, while the FCA is one of the best financial regulators.

ATFX provides negative balance protection for forex spot and CFD trading, but only for retail clients from the European Union. Professional and non-EU clients are not covered by any negative balance protection.

Background

AT Group is an international financial group, and ATFX is the brand name of its divisions that provide CFD and forex trading.

AT Group was founded in 2014, but ATFX itself launched in 2017. The longer track record a broker has, the more proof we have that it has successfully survived previous financial crises.

The company doesn't disclose financial information and isn't listed on any exchanges. These would both increase transparency.

Find your safe broker

We recommend ATFX for forex and cfd traders familiar with the metatrader 4 trading platform.

Below you can find links to all aspects of ATFX in this comprehensive collection.

Lower fees, lower costs?

We detailed this in our ATFX fees article.

What about the minimum deposit?

Our ultimate guide to the ATFX minimum deposit is updated regularly.

How to start your ATFX account?

Look no further than our evaluation of the ATFX account opening.

How's their trading app?

Here's our expert view after checking the ATFX trading app.

Is the quality of customer service satisfactory?

All you need to know about the ATFX customer service.

Legit or scam?

Is ATFX legit features all the key aspects you need to look at to see if a broker is safe and legit.

Free or premium? Or both?

A glance at actual costs and whether ATFX is really free.

Is this broker good for beginners?

We checked it in Is ATFX good for beginners.

Should you buy your silver bullets on ATFX?

Research for silver bugs in the Silver buy on ATFX guide

I want to trade options, are they available at ATFX?

We explored the topic in Can you trade options on ATFX?

What is the minimum account balance at ATFX?

Check out the current account balance requirements at ATFX in our What is the minimum account balance at ATFX article.

Looking for commission and fees data for ATFX?

We collected them in ATFX commission and fees.

How do you withdraw money from ATFX?

We tested it and collected the options and costs in How to withdraw money on ATFX.