Intro
OlympTrade is an offshore broker that was established in 2014. Although it has been regulated by the Vanuatu Financial Services Commission (VFSC) since January 2023, in our opinion this is not a top-tier regulator. Its partner company providing crypto services, Saledo Global LLC is registered in St. Vincent & the Grenadines, widely considered an offshore tax haven. OlympTrade is a member of the International Financial Commission (FinaCom), which is a dispute resolution organization but not a financial regulatory body or an investor compensation scheme backed by a government guarantee.
We do not recommend trading with this broker.
We at BrokerChooser care about our users: we want to make sure you have a good understanding of how investing works, and we have reviewed over 100 brokers to help you decide which one fits your needs best. We also want to help you avoid bad experiences.In this article, we highlight a broker that we do not recommend based on the objective research of BrokerChooser's analysts. Read below to find out which brokers we do recommend!
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Regulation | VFSC |
Foundation date | 2014 |
Annual financial statements published | No |
S&P credit rating | No |
Big 4 auditor | No |
Listed on stock exchange | No |
Banking background | No |
Banking backgroundInvestor protectionNo |
Regulation
The legal entity behind Olymp Trade is called Aollikus Limited, which is registered in Vanuatu. It is regulated by the Vanuatu Financial Services Commission (VFSC). However, this authority not considered to be a top-tier regulator, so we at BrokerChooser do not recommend trading with this provider.
Saledo Global LLC, registered in Kingstown, the capital of St. Vincent & the Grenadines provides services to Olymp Trade clients trading in digital assets and to clients with accounts nominated in digital assets.
Saledo Global LLC and OlympTrade claim that they are 'category A' members of the International Financial Commission (FinaCom). However, FinaCom is not a regulatory body, but merely a dispute resolution organization.
Main issues
The main issues why we don't recommend OlympTrade are the following:
- The site suspiciously offers bonuses as a reward for trading. This is not a common practice at all at trusted broker companies.
- The company operates out of Vanuatu and St. Vincent & the Grenadines, countries with a reputation for lax regulatory environments.
- OlympTrade is not regulated by a top-tier and trusted regulator.
- It doesn't provide investor protection.
- Lack of transparency, as OlympTrade doesn't publish financial information/statements, making it impossible to judge its financial health.
- The broker has no banking background and provides no information about its auditor.
Most of these issues would not be a red flag in themselves. However, when they all add up like this, it should lead you to suspect that the broker is not legit.
How to get your money back
As a general rule, we recommend that you thoroughly check your broker before you deposit any money. If in doubt, document everything, make screenshots, save emails and chats, so you have as much proof as possible in case you need to turn to the authorities.
If you do get scammed by a broker, here are a few options you can try to get your money back:
- You can turn to your bank and file a chargeback request; this is a mechanism whereby the banks involved in the transaction return the disputed funds from the account of the seller of the service if the service was not provided.
- You can take legal action and issue a so-called Mareva (or freezing) injunction against the company.
How to spot if a broker is a scam?
There is a higher likelihood that a broker might be a scam if:
- it is not regulated at all
- it is regulated under jurisdictions widely seen as an offshore haven (e.g. Vanuatu or St. Lucia)
- it is featured on a warning list of a top-tier regulator (e.g. the UK's FCA or the SEC in the US)
If you would like to know more about scams, how to avoid them, and how to get your money back, read our Forex trading scams page.
Everything you find on BrokerChooser is based on reliable data and unbiased information. We combine our 10+ years finance experience with readers feedback. Read more about our methodology.