MultiBank Review 2020

MultiBank does not charge any withdrawal fees and has low stock index CFD fees. On the other hand, the stock CFD and inactivity fees are high.

How we ranked fees

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

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

MultiBank trading fees

MultiBank trading fees are average.

MultiBank offers three account types:

• ECN Pro
• MultiBank Pro
• Maximus

The fee structure differs from account type to account type. In this review, we tested the ECN Pro account and analysed its fees. ECN Pro charges a commission, but the spreads are tighter. If you choose MultiBank Pro or Maximus account types, you will be charged only by the spread costs.

The fee structure is not transparent at all. On the website, you can find only the spreads for each account types, but there is no information about the commissions. We had to collect this information by contacting the customer service.

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 is:

• 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 MultiBank fees.

CFD fees

MultiBank has low stock index CFD, but high stock CFD fees.

The commission for ECN Pro is $3 per share charged only for opening the position for stock CFDs, the closing is free.

Forex fees

MultiBank forex fees are average.

The commission charged for ECN Pro is $3 per lot per trade for forex.

Multibank is the most competitive among the compared brokers for AUDUSD and EURGBP pairs. On the flip side, trading the EURUSD and GPBUSD pairs is costly at Multibank.

Non-trading fees

MultiBank has average non-trading fees.

MultiBank does not charge account maintenance and withdrawal fees. Quarterly $60 fee will be applicable after 3 consecutive months of inactivity, which is quite high.

The account opening procedure with Multibank is easy and straightforward. The account is ready for trading within a day.

Can you open an account?

Visit broker
74-89% of retail CFD accounts lose money

MultiBank accepts customers from all over the world. There are only a few notable exceptions. For example, you can't open an account if you are from the US or Hong Kong.

Minimum deposit

The required minimum deposit ranges between $50 and $5,000 depending on the account you choose. 

Account Types

There are three account types available, the ECN Pro, the MultiBank Pro and Maximus. They differ in the pricing and the minimum deposit.

In this review, we tested the ECN Pro account.

MultiBank offers the following accounts based on account ownership:

• Individual account - account is owned by an individual
• Joint account - account is owned by two or more individuals
• Corporate account - account is owned by a legal entity

It's also great that MultiBank offers Islamic accounts that comply with the Shariah. 

How to open your account

MultiBank account opening is seamless and straightforward. You can fill out the forms, scan and submit all your documents within 20 minutes. The entire process is fully digital.

4 steps to open an account with MultiBank:

1. Select the regulator you wish to belong
2. Choose your account type
3. Add personal information, like your email address or country of residency
4. Verify your identity and your residency

It is not clear which documents are accepted for verification. We assume that the national ID / Passport / driver's license are accepted as proof of identity, while utility bills / bank statement are accepted for proof of residency. We used our passport and bank statement.

Deposit and withdrawal at MultiBank are great. You can use many deposit and withdrawal types and withdrawal is free.

Account base currencies

At MultiBank, you can choose from 8 base currencies. The available base currencies are USD, GBP, EUR, JPY, CHF, AUD, NZD, CAD. 

MultiBank is offering more account base currencies than their main competitors.

By default, your account will be set in USD. You can change this setup through Customer Service. It would be better if you could select your account base currency at the beginning of your account opening. 

It's great that you can open more sub-accounts and the sub-accounts can have different base currencies. 

A convenient way to save on the currency conversion fees is by opening a multi-currency bank account. Revolut or Transferwise both offer bank accounts in several currencies with great currency exchange rates as well as free or cheap international bank transfers. The account opening only takes few minutes on your phone.

Compare digital banks

Deposit fees and options

The deposit at MultiBank is free of charge. Besides bank transfer, you can use credit/debit cards and any of the following electronic wallets:

• Skrill
• Neteller
• PayTrust
• PerfectMoney
• Help2pay
• Ngang Luong
• Payment Asia

The bank transfer can take few business days, while payment with your credit/debit card is instant.

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

Withdrawal fees and options

The MultiBank withdrawal fee is free of charge. You can use the same options for withdrawal as for deposit. 

You can only withdraw money to accounts in your name.

How long does it take to withdraw money from MultiBank? We tested the bank transfer withdrawal and it took 1 business day.

How do you withdraw money from MultiBank? You can withdraw money from MultiBank by following these steps:

• Log into MyMultiBank
• Go to the Withdrawal
• Select your trading account
• Give the reason for the withdrawal
• Add the withdrawal amount
• Select your withdrawal method
• Initiate the withdrawal

Compare to other brokers

At Multibank you can use the MetaTrader4 trading platform. It is highly customizable, available in a lot of languages, and has a clear fee report. On the negative side, it lacks a two-step login and the design is outdated.

MultiBank doesn't have its own self-developed trading platform, it uses MetaTrader 4, a third-party platform.

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

Look and feel

The MultiBank 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 some time until we found how to add an asset to the watchlist.

Login and security

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

Search functions

The search functions are OK. You can find the assets in categories. However, we missed the usual search function when you can type in the asset's name manually.

Placing orders

You can use the basic order types. You will not find very sophisticated orders like the 'one cancels the other' order. The following order types are available:

• Market
• Limit
• Stop

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 MultiBank web trading platform. This feature is available only on the desktop trading platform.

Portfolio and fee reports

MultiBank has clear portfolio and fee reports. You can easily see your profit-loss balance and the commissions you paid. These reports can be found under the 'History' tab. We didn't find a way to download them.

Visit broker
74-89% of retail CFD accounts lose money

MultiBank has a great mobile trading platform, offered by MetaTrader 4. It is well designed and user-friendly. On the flip side, it lacks the safe login.

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

After you download the MT4 mobile trading platform, you have to access the MEXIntGroup-Real server. 

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

Look and feel

MultiBank 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, MultiBank provides only a one-step login. A two-step login would be safer.

You can't use fingerprint or Face ID authentication. Providing this feature would be 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 the ones on the web trading platform.

Alerts and notifications

You can set alerts and notifications, although you can do it only on the desktop trading platform. It would be much easier if you could set these notifications on the mobile trading platform.

Visit broker
74-89% of retail CFD accounts lose money

In design and functionality, MultiBank's MetaTrader 4 desktop platform is almost the same as the web trading platform. One major difference is that you can set price alerts on the desktop trading platform.

MultiBank offers MetaTrader 4 as a desktop trading platform.

It has the same design, is available in the same languages, offers the same order types, 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 in the form of mobile push and email notifications on the desktop trading platform. To set email or mobile notifications, you have to add your email address and mobile MetaQuotes ID (you can find it in the MT4 app's settings). You can add them if you go to 'Tools' and then 'Options.'

Visit broker
74-89% of retail CFD accounts lose money

At Multibank you can trade only with forex and CFDs. CFDs are provided in several forms, such as stock indexes and cryptos.

MultiBank is a CFD and forex broker. The number of currency pairs and stock index CFDs lag behind their competition. It has an average quantity of stock CFDs and cryptos in their product lineup.

Disclaimer: CFDs are complex instruments and come with a high risk of losing money rapidly due to leverage. 74-89% 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.

You cannot change leverage levels. This is a drawback.

Changing the leverage is a very useful feature when you want to lower the risk of your trade. For example, instead of trading with 5:1 leverage, only trade with 2:1 leverage in case of stock CFDs. Be careful with forex and CFD trading, as the preset leverage levels are high.

Another inconvenience was that some stock CFDs were not available by default and we had to ask the customer service to add them to the platform.

Multibank has a useful daily newsletter, but the research tools could be better. You can only use the research tools of the MetaTrader 4 platform, but trading ideas, fundamental data, and news are not available. As a plus, you can add research tools, although they are usually not free.

MultiBank doesn't have its own research team, you can only use the MetaTrader 4 trading platform's research tools. Just like the MetaTrader trading platform, the research tools are available in a lot of languages as well. In this review, we tested the research tools available for free, which cover the charting tools.

MultiBank research tools are provided via two channels:

• MT4 trading platform
• Daily newsletters

Trading ideas

MultiBank does not provide any trading ideas.

Fundamental data

MultiBank does not offer fundamental data.

Charting

MultiBank has OK charting tools.

You can use 31 technical indicators and other technical tools, such as trendlines and Fibonacci retracement.

On the other hand, the design is outdated and some features are hard to use. For example, we had difficulty finding how we could remove an indicator from the chart.

News feed

MultiBank doesn't offer news. 

Other research tools you will enjoy

MultiBank sends out daily newsletters with main focus on technical and fundamental analysis.

The fundamental analysis newsletter does support your trading activities with an up to date market briefing. The technical analysis newsletter helps to understand the current market trends in major forex pairs, commodities and indices.

Compare research pros and cons

MultiBank has great customer support. We got quick and relevant responses via email, chat, and phone. On the negative side, they are available only 24/5.

You can contact MultiBank via:

• live chat
• phone
• email

MultiBank's live chat works well. We got relevant and quick answers for most of our questions. The only negative experience is when we asked about the fees. For these tests, we received sometimes unclear and wrong answers.

MultiBank's phone support is great. The agent was connected within 1 minute and we experienced the helpful approach in solving our problem. For example, we got a clear guide on how to place an order on the platform.

The email support is superb. We received answers within 1 day for all our emails. The answers were helpful and relevant.  

It is also great that you can reach the customer support via local phone numbers.

We missed the 24/7 availability. It's not transparent what time and which time zone the customer service is available. 

Visit broker
74-89% of retail CFD accounts lose money

The only tool for education is the demo account.

You have to register through MultiBank's website and confirm your email address, phone number, and country of residence to start the practice trading with the demo account.

Visit broker
74-89% of retail CFD accounts lose money

MultiBank is a global broker regulated by more financial authorities, including the top-tier ASIC. On the negative side, you do not get any investor protection.

Is MultiBank regulated?

Yes, it is regulated by the Australian Securities and Investments Commission (ASIC), Ras Al Khaimah (RAK), B.V.I Financial Services Commission. The regulator depends on the regulation you choose at the account opening.

Is MultiBank 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

MultiBank provides negative balance protection.

Background

MultiBank was established in 2005. The longer track record a broker has, the more proof we have that it has successfully survived previous financial crises.

Find your safe broker

MultiBank is regulated by more financial authorities globally, including the top-tier ASIC.

The account opening is seamless and hassle-free. Multiple and free options are offered for deposit and withdrawal. The customer service is great.

MultiBank has some drawbacks though. The stock CFD and inactivity fees are high. Its product range is limited to FX, CFDs, and cryptos. The research and educational tools are also basic. 

Visit broker
74-89% of retail CFD accounts lose money