LiteFinance

LiteFinance was founded in 2005, is headquartered in the Marshall Islands.  It is authorised and regulated in Cyprus by the Cyprus Securities and Exchange Commission, acts in accordance with Marshall Islands Business Corporation Act, and is incorporated in St Vincent and the Grenadines.

Italians will be trading under the subsidiary, Litefinance Global LLC, authorised and regulated by the Financial Services Authority of St. Vincent and the Grenadines (SVGFSA).  

For all intents and purposes, the SVGFSA is not considered a forex broker regulator and applies no supervision of any CFD trading-related activities.  Italian clients must rely solely on the reputation of LiteFinance, as no additional measures exist to ensure client protection. However, in a show of good faith, LiteFinance segregates all funds from the company’s operating capital at top-tier banks, and it offers negative balance protection to all its clients.  

Overall, because of its history of responsible behaviour, the fact that LiteFinance segregates all client funds, and provides negative balance protection, we deem LiteFinance a safe broker for Italians to trade with. 

The account-opening process at LiteFinance requires only registration of an email address and password.

Italian traders are eligible to open an account at LiteFinance as long as they meet the following minimum deposit requirements:

• Classic Account: 50 USD
• ECN Account: 50 USD

Unlike other brokers that require extensive KYC (Know Your Customer) documents due to strict regulatory oversight, LiteFinance simply asks for an email address and password.  

However, traders are required to submit an electronic form of identification to make withdrawals in line with Anti Money Laundering rules.

Overall, this is strange behaviour from an international broker, especially in an industry often accused of an irresponsible approach to consumer protection.

LiteFinance offers CFD trading on Forex, indices, commodities, shares, and cryptocurrencies.

Unlike other brokers that offer a range of account types with lower spreads linked to higher minimum deposits, LiteFinance offers two market-execution accounts with low minimum deposits. The Classic Account has trading costs included in the spread, while the ECN Account offers tighter spreads and a small commission per trade.

Trading costs on the ECN Account are significantly lower than those on the Classic Account. However, these costs are still above those of other good brokers, which have trading costs of 9 USD per lot traded. Additionally, spreads are variable, which means they get tighter or wider depending on trade volume and market volatility.

We opened and tested LiteFinance’s accounts:

Classic Account

The Classic Account was designed for experienced traders.  Its variable spreads average at 2.0 pips, which is significantly wider than other brokers.  Classic Accounts only allow base currencies to be denominated in USD, EUR, and MBT.  The minimum deposit on this account is 50 USD, and transactions start at 0.01 lots.  Support is offered for both the MT4 and MT5 trading platforms, Stop Out levels are at 20%, and no interest is charged on surplus funds.  Commissions only apply to cryptocurrency trading, at 12 USD per lot. 

ECN Account

LiteFinance offers an ECN Account, which means there is no dealing desk or conflict of interest. The account offers an interest rate of 2.5% on surplus funds and unlimited transactions. The trading account provides access to the best prices on the market, and variable spreads start at 1.90 pips with no re-quotes.  Leverage is up to 500:1, the minimum deposit is 50 USD, and LiteFinance charges 10 USD per lot on major Forex pairs, and 30 USD  per lot on minor pairs, which is much higher than the commissions at other brokers. 

Demo Account

LiteFinance demo accounts provide the opportunity for traders to trade virtual money under real market conditions.  Demo accounts are free of charge and allow beginner traders to refine trading strategies using MetaTrader platforms.  Traders receive real quotes from liquidity providers and have access to all trading instruments.  

LiteFinance’s mobile trading platforms are average compared to other similar brokers.  It offers mobile versions of MT4 and MT5, but no proprietary mobile trading solutions.  

MetaTrader is freely available on both Android and IOS mobile phones and tablets.  The advantage of using the MetaTrader platform is the cross-device and multi-broker functionality, making it easier to change broker or use multiple brokers.  All applications and their contents are supported in more than eight languages and are regularly updated.

Traders should be aware that there is some loss in functionality when compared to the desktop trading platforms, including reduced time frames and fewer charting options, but traders can close and modify existing orders, calculate profit and loss, and trade on the charts.

LiteFinance offers support for the MetaTrader platforms – MT4 and MT5.  Developed in 2005 and 2010 respectively, these systems have become the leading platforms for online forex and CFD trading. They come with multiple chart types, including line, candlestick, and bars. Other popular features include Expert Advisors, automated trading support, strategy backtesting, customisable charting, indicators, and copy trading functionality.

MetaTrader 4

MT4 is still the most popular platform on the market. Its beginner-friendly elements, such as a copy trading system and automated Expert Advisor apps, come in handy for less-experienced traders. Advanced traders can take advantage of complex analytics and charting tools. Moreover, they can design their own trading indicators using the proprietary MQL4 programming language.  Other features of MT4 include:

• A built-in library of more than 50 indicators and tools to streamline the analysis process.
• An impressive array of analytical tools, available in nine timeframes for each financial instrument.
• Live price streaming on live accounts and demo accounts 128-bits encryption for secure trading
• Algorithmic trading, which allows any trading strategy to be formalised and implemented as an Expert Advisor. 
• Customisable alerts
• Access to MetaTrader market and MQL4 community

MetaTrader 5

LiteFinance offers support for the MT5 platform, the latest iteration of the industry-standard MetaTrader.  It offers 30 technical indicators, 24 analytical objects, 21 timeframes, and an unlimited number of charts.  The application also supports both netting and hedging systems and includes all the tools and features necessary for trading: Market Depth, trading operations, and history monitoring. 

Overall, although LiteFinance only offers the Metatrader suite of platforms, which are not as beginner-friendly as the proprietary platforms offered at other brokerages, MT4 and MT5 are considered some of the best third-party platforms in the industry.

In line with the Anti-Money Laundering Directive, LiteFinance operates a “return to source” policy, meaning that withdrawals must be made via the same method and into the same account as the original deposit. 

LiteFinance does not charge fees for deposits, and as a bonus, it covers deposit fees imposed by the provider. Withdrawal fees are dependent on the method.

LiteFinance offers an automatic withdrawal feature that enables traders to withdraw funds up to 100 USD per day within 24 hours, which is available on Skrill, Perfect Money, and Neteller. Withdrawal charges are specific to the provider.  Note that withdrawal requests are processed manually by the Financial Department during its working hours and are processed within one working day of the date of submission.  Bank wire transfers can take up to five working days to be processed, depending on the sender’s and beneficiary’s banks’ operation speed.

Compared to other brokers, LiteFinance offers a limited range of base currencies.

Accounts can be denominated in the following base currencies: USD, EUR, and MBT.

While most Italians will want to have their trading accounts denominated in TZS, some traders may want to have multiple accounts with different base currencies so as not to pay conversion fees when trading, but this is not possible at LiteFinance.

LiteFinance offers access to a VPS service at an extra cost, analytical materials from Claws&Horns, a social trading platform, and various trading calculators:

VPS

LiteFinance offers a discounted VPS (Virtual Private Server) service on the MT4 and MT5 platforms. VPS hosting allows traders to run automated algorithmic strategies, including expert advisors 24 hours a day 7 days a week on a virtual machine. Traders are charged a fee of 15 USD per month to use the service.  

The LiteFinance VPS service has dedicated 24/5 customer support teams that can help new users get set up and install EAs and indicators directly to the virtual machines. VPS services have the advantage of never suffering connectivity issues and have extremely low latency due to their proximity to major international exchanges.

Forex Social Trading

LiteFinance has created its own proprietary social trading platform.  The automated copy-trading system will allow you to duplicate the best trades, trade independently, share information, and communicate with other traders. LiteFinance provides a list of the most profitable traders, with their performance profiles from which followers can choose. 

Claws & Horns Analytics

Traders receive independent market news and analysis from third-party provider, Claws & Horns.  Available for free to all LiteFinance clients, Claws & Horns provides fundamental and technical analysis, video reviews, and various signals.  It also provides recommendations for trade opening with entry/exit points that are updated throughout the day, which are intended for medium-term trading strategies. 

Calculators

LiteFinance provides a host of trading calculators, including a trader’s calculator to calculate trading costs and required margin, a Fibonacci calculator, and a currency rates calculator.

LiteFinance’s market analysis materials are in-depth, comprehensive, and frequently updated.  

LiteFinance provides up-to-date reviews and forecasts for all market instruments.  Its fundamental analysis consists of daily news on significant political and economic events that impact the world markets. In-house analysts and traders produce all forex fundamental analytical reports.  LiteFinance also provides its clients with a free high-quality analysis prepared by an independent Company, Claws&Horns.

LiteFinance’s educational suite includes archived webinars, a glossary of terms, a set of books written by professional traders, and an extensive blog with topics for beginners and experienced traders alike.

Webinars: Webinars are run on a weekly basis, and traders can access archived webinars on the website.  Topics include Technical Analysis, Trader Psychology, Testing Strategies, Money Management, and Trading Basics.

Forex Books: LiteFinance lists a set of books for suggested reading.  Written by professional traders, these books provide beginners with the fundamentals of successful trading.  Traders should note that they will have to purchase these books separately – they are not available through the website.  

Blog: LiteFinance’s blog is written by its team of in-house analysts.  The blog is updated on a daily basis and provides materials for beginners, professionals, investors, and partners.  

Overall, LiteFinance provides a comprehensive education section that is frequently updated.

LiteFinance offers customer support 24/5 via email, telephone, and live chat. However, one has to register an account to access the live chat service.