HYCM Review 2023

How we ranked fees

We ranked HYCM'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 charged by HYCM for each asset class. For example, in the case of forex and stock index trading the most important fees are spreads, commissions and financing rates.

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

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

HYCM trading fees

HYCM's trading fees are low. There are different cost structures for the various account types. In this review, we tested the fees of the Classic account.

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. In terms of 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 HYCM fees.

CFD fees

HYCM has generally low CFD trading fees, they compare favorably to the fees charged by its main competitors.

Forex fees

HYCM forex fees are low average.

In the case of Classic and Fixed accounts, the broker only charges spread costs. The Raw account has low spreads, but there is a $4 per lot per trade commission. The Raw account is favorable if you trade a high volume.

Non-trading fees

HYCM has average non-trading fees.

It's great that no deposit or account fees are charged. 

Normally, HYCM does not charge withdrawal fees either. There are two exceptions:

• withdrawals of less than $300 via bank transfer carry a handling fee of $30. 
• withdrawals over $5,000 via Skrill or Neteller are subject to a 1% processing fee.

Less conveniently, there is a $10 inactivity fee charged each month after 90 days of inactivity. A bit underhand for our liking.

Can you open an account?

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73% of retail CFD accounts lose money

HYCM accepts customers from all over the world with some notable exceptions like residents of the US, Belgium, France, Hong Kong, Japan. Quebec and Saskatchewan in Canada are also excluded. Furthermore, the following citizens cannot open an account regardless of their residence: USA, Hong Kong, North Korea, Sudan.

What is the minimum deposit at HYCM?

The required minimum deposit is $100 for Classic and Fixed accounts, while Raw accounts require a $200 minimum deposit.

Account types

If you want to explore the possibilities offered by HYCM, we recommend opening a demo account.

There are 3 main types of trading accounts at HYCM (Fixed, Classic and Raw), which differ in their pricing structure and the required minimum deposit. The key differences are shown in the following table.

Besides, you can also open swap-free or Islamic accounts.  Instead of overnight interest, swap-free accounts have an administrative fee if you hold your leveraged position overnight.

How to open your account

Opening an account at HYCM is an easy and fast process, the client interface is very user friendly. Online registration takes only 5-10 minutes. Our account was verified within one business day. Follow these simple steps to open an account:

1. Click on the open account button.
2. Provide the required personal details, like your  name, email address, phone number, date of birth and physical address.
3. Select your desired trading platform (MetaTrader 4 or MetaTrader 5), account type (Fixed, Classic or Raw) and currency. Bear in mind that you can also open additional accounts later. So for example, you can have a MetaTrader 4 account both in USD and EUR. You can make transfers between accounts opened in the same currency.
4. Provide additional personal data required and answer a few questions on your financial status and trading experience.
5. Verify your ID and residency. You can upload a national ID, passport or driver's license for authentication. Utility bills and bank statements are accepted for residency verification. If you want to use a debit or credit card, you'll need to verify those as well.

Account base currencies

At HYCM, you can choose from 6 base currencies: USD, EUR, GBP, CAD, RUB, AED. This is an average selection in comparison with some of HYCM's competitors.

Under your HYCM profile, you can open more than one account with different account base currencies. For example, you can have both a EUR and USD account for MetaTrader 4 at the same time. Moving funds between accounts that have the same currency is free and instant. International users (not under the FCA or CySEC regulation) with USD accounts are able to fund their account using crypto.

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.

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Deposit fees and options

HYCM charges no deposit fees. In addition to bank transfers, clients can also deposit money using credit/debit cards, and via Skrill, Neteller, WebMoney However, WebMoney is not available for all countries. 

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

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

HYCM withdrawal fees and options

Generally speaking, HYCM charges no withdrawal fees. There are two exceptions:

• withdrawals under $300 via bank transfer carry a handling fee of $30.
• withdrawals over $5,000 via Skrill or Neteller are subject to a 1% processing fee.

How long does it take to withdraw money from HYCM? We tested the debit card withdrawal and it took more than 3 business days.

You can only withdraw money to accounts in your name.

How do you withdraw money from HYCM?

1. Log into your 'Personal Area'
2. Click on 'Funds Management,' then go to 'Withdrawal'
3. Select the account you wish to make the withdrawal from
4. Add the amount you wish to withdraw
5. Click 'Submit'

HYCM doesn't have its own self-developed trading platform. It provides MetaTrader 4 and MetaTrader 5 third-party trading platforms. We reviewed MetaTrader 4 because of its high popularity.

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

Look and feel

HYCM's web trading platform has great customizability. You can easily change the size and the position of the tabs.

However, 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

HYCM provides only a one-step login. A two-step authentication would be more secure.

Search functions

The search functions are OK. You can find assets grouped into various categories. However, we missed the usual search function where you can type the name of an asset manually.

Placing orders

You can use all the basic order types. However, you won't find more sophisticated order types 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 cannot set price alerts and notifications on the web trading platform. This feature is available only in the desktop version.

Portfolio and fee reports

HYCM has clear portfolio and fee reports. You can easily find your profit-loss balance and the commissions you paid under the 'History' tab.

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The mobile trading platform is available only in English.

Look and feel

The HYCM mobile trading platform is user-friendly.

Login and security

HYCM provides only a one-step login for its mobile platform.

You can't log in using biometric authentication. Providing this feature would be more convenient.

Search functions

The search functions are good.

Placing orders

You can use the following order types: Market, Limit, Stop.

There are also order time limits you can use: Good 'til canceled (GTC), Good 'til time (GTT).

Alerts and notifications

You can set alerts and notifications on the HYCM mobile platform.

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HYCM provides MetaTrader 4 and MetaTrader 5 as desktop trading platforms. Similarly to the web and mobile trading platforms, we reviewed MetaTrader 4 (MT4) in this category as well.

The platform has the same design, it 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. Similarly, two-step authentication - which would provide additional security - is not available.

The major difference is that here you can set alerts and notifications in the form of mobile push and email notifications. To set email or mobile notifications, you need to add your email address and mobile MetaQuotes ID (you can find this in the settings of the MT4 app). Select 'Options' under the 'Tools' menu item to add this data.

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73% of retail CFD accounts lose money

HYCM is essentially a forex and CFD broker. To learn more about CFDs read our CFD trading tips.

Disclaimer: CFDs are complex instruments and come with a high risk of losing money rapidly due to leverage. 73% 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.

HYCM has an above-average forex selection but the stock CFD lineup is minimal compared to its main competitors. Stock CFDs include some large companies listed in the UK, US, German and Spanish markets. Some stock CFDs and exotic FX pairs are only available on the MetaTrader5 platform. 

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

The asset classes and the number of products within each category available to any particular client depend on the client's country of residence. For example, clients from the EU have access only to a few US-listed share CFDs, like Apple and Tesla. We highlighted the major differences here:

At HYCM, clients cannot change leverage levels, which is a drawback. For example, the leverage for EU and UK clients is fixed at 1:20 for US stock indices and at 1:30 for major forex pairs.

Changing the leverage is a very useful feature when you want to lower the risk of your trade.

HYCM's research tools are available in various channels:

• MetaTrader trading platform
• Personal Area, under 'Tools'
• HYCM website, under 'Tools'

Trading ideas

HYCM provides trading ideas through Trading Central, a third-party research provider. The ideas are based purely on technical analysis and cover certain commodities, stock indices as well as most FX pairs.

We liked that you can filter for timeframe and that sub-indices are also included (e.g. the Stoxx600 Oil&Gas index).

Once logged into the Personal Area, you can access the Trading Central platform under the 'Tools' menu.

Fundamental data

HYCM offers some fundamental data through an economic calendar. You can filter for countries, categories of data and importance.

While this is useful for forex traders, we would appreciate it if HYCM also provided fundamental data for stocks.

Charting

HYCM has OK charting tools. You can use 31 technical indicators and other editing tools, such as trendlines and Fibonacci retracement. These charting tools can be found on the MetaTrader trading platform.

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

Unfortunately, HYCM has a poor newsfeed. It's unstructured and finding relevant news items is cumbersome. We missed tags and visual elements. You'll be better off using a 3rd party newsfeed. 

Compare research pros and cons

You can contact HYCM via:

• live chat
• telephone
• email

The live chat at HYCM is usually fast and manned from 5 am GMT until 6 pm GMT on weekdays. When they're offline, you can leave a message. Additionally, you can chat with customer support on Telegram, Skype, Viber, Whatsapp, and Facebook Messenger as well. The relevance of the answers was OK although some questions were not properly addressed at first and we had to ask the same questions again to get an answer.

The phone support at HYCM was average-speed, we received relevant answers and customer service representatives were helpful.

Customer emails are typically answered within 24 hours and this was where we missed relevant answers the most. Some questions were left unanswered, in other cases the response was irrelevant.

We also missed the 24/7 availability. You can contact them Monday to Friday during UK business hours.

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At HYCM, you can learn in the following ways:

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

Webinars and workshops are scheduled weekly at HYCM. Registered users can access past webinars as well. We liked the videos; the presenter, Giles Coghan has good insights and an easily understandable accent. On the negative side, we think these videos should feature tags or be organized into categories for better searchability.

A MetaTrader video guide and general educational videos for beginners are available on the HYCM website, under 'Education' > 'Forex Education'. The quality of these videos is OK.

For a more detailed guide on how to use technical analysis, we recommend you visit Trading Central (under the 'Tools' menu item in the Personal Area area) and consult the help section (see picture below).

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Is HYCM regulated?

Yes, it is regulated by several financial authorities globally, including the top-tier FCA.

Here is the full list of regulators:

• Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) for UK clients
• Cyprus Securities and Exchange Commission (CySEC) for European clients (EU + European Economic Area)
• Customers from other countries are onboarded via HYCM's legal entity registered in St. Vincent & the Grenadines
• Dubai Financial Services Authority (DFSA) & Cayman Islands Monetary Authority (CIMA) licenses currently not used

Is HYCM 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

Depending on your country of residence, you can open an account at one or more of HYCM's legal entities.

This can be important because the investor protection amount, the maximum leverage allowed and the regulator differ from entity to entity. Unfortunately, only the clients of HYCM's EU and UK entities are covered by investor protection.

HYCM provides negative balance protection. If the balance on your account goes into negative, you will be protected.

Background

HYCM is part of the Henyep Capital Markets Group, an international conglomerate specializing in financial services, property, education, and charity.

HYCM's parent company, Henyep was established in 1977. Henyep received its license from the UK’s FCA in 1998. The longer a broker's track record, the more proof that it has successfully survived previous financial crises.

Find your safe broker

We recommend HYCM for forex and cfd traders who prefer the metatrader platform.

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

Lower fees, lower costs?

We detailed this in our HYCM fees article.

What about the minimum deposit?

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

How to start your HYCM account?

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

How's their trading app?

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

Is the quality of customer service satisfactory?

All you need to know about the HYCM customer service.

Legit or scam?

Is HYCM 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 HYCM is really free.

Is this broker good for beginners?

We checked it in Is HYCM good for beginners.

Should you buy your silver bullets on HYCM?

Research for silver bugs in the Silver buy on HYCM guide

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

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

What is the minimum account balance at HYCM?

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

Looking for commission and fees data for HYCM?

We collected them in HYCM commission and fees.

How do you withdraw money from HYCM?

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