SquaredFinancial

Although clients from Italy will be trading through the Seychelles-based subsidiary, which has less regulatory supervision than SquaredFinancial’s Company based in Cyprus, it segregates its client funds from company funds and provides all traders with negative balance protection. Additionally, should the Company become insolvent, clients are covered by the Lloyd’s of London up to a maximum of 1,000 000 USD per client. On this basis, we consider SquaredFinancial a safe broker for Italian clients to trade with.

The account opening process is swift compared to other similar brokers

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

• SquaredPro Account: 0 USD

• SquaredElite Account: 5000 USD

SquaredFinancial offers corporate and individual accounts. For the purposes of this review, we will outline the process for opening an individual account:

1. From the SquaredFinancial homepage, you will have to click on the ‘Register’ tab, where you will be directed to register an account with a name, email address, country of residence, and you will have to create a password.  

2. You will then be required to fill in your personal information, including date of birth, nationality, and physical address.

3. Next, traders must fill in their financial details, employment status, trading experience and submit their tax information.

4. Traders will then have to choose their preferred trading platform (MT4 or MT5), account type, level of leverage, and base currency (USD, EUR, GBP, ZAR, CHF, and HKD).

5. Verification usually takes less than 24 hours, and SquaredFinancial will need:

   1. Proof of Identification – SquaredFinancial accepts all government-issued identification documents such as Passport, national ID card, driving license, or other government-issued ID. 

   2. Proof of Address – Proof of residence/address document must be issued in the name of the account holder within the last six months. It must contain a trader’s full name, current residential address, issue date, and issuing authority. 

Overall, SquaredFinancial’s account-opening process is fully digital and hassle-free, and accounts are ready for trading within 24 hours. However, traders can deposit funds before having submitted their verification documents.

SquaredFinancial provides an enormous range of tradable assets, which should satisfy most traders.

SquaredFinancial offers two market-execution account types with lower trading fees linked to higher minimum deposits. The SquaredPro Account has the trading costs included in the spread, while the SquaredElite Account offers exceptionally tight spreads and a small commission per trade.

The trading costs on the SquaredPro Account are built into the spread and are higher overall than the costs on the SquaredElite Account, which has a small commission per lot traded. However, although there is no minimum deposit requirement to open a SquaredPro Account, the minimum deposit requirement on the SquaredElite Account is 5,000 USD, putting it out of the reach of beginner traders.  

SquaredFinancial has two simple account types – one suited to beginners and the other for more experienced traders. Beginner traders are inexperienced traders who have never traded before or who have been trading for less than a year. Beginner traders often do not want to risk trading large sums of money and generally will not be able to trade full-time during the workweek. 

We opened and tested several of SquaredFinancial’s accounts:

Demo Account

SquaredFinancial offers a demo account with a virtual balance that can be topped up. Demo accounts do not expire and are an opportunity to experience SquaredFinancial’s services and platforms.

SquaredPro Account

A commission-free trading account, the Pro account has no minimum deposit requirement. Still, due to the margins required when making leverage trades, a minimum starting balance of 200 USD is recommended. Fees are included in the institutional-grade spreads, which average at 1.20 pips on the EUR/USD. This account is better suited to beginner traders who do not want to spend time calculating commissions costs. 

SquaredElite Account

The SquaredElite Account is SquaredFinancial’s raw spread account. Spreads start at 0 pips on the EUR/USD – some of the lowest average spreads we have found at ANY broker – and a low commission of 5 USD is charged per lot traded. With a minimum deposit of 5000 USD, the Elite Account is designed specifically for experienced traders as there is also the added challenge of integrating commissions when calculating trading costs. 

Swap Free Accounts

SquaredFinancial offers SwapFree trading accounts to clients who cannot earn or pay interest due to their religious beliefs. Forex Islamic accounts, also known as swap-free accounts, imply no swap or rollover interest on overnight positions. Islamic accounts have exactly the same trading conditions and terms as SquaredFinancial’s regular trading account types and is available on both SquaredPro and SquaredElite account types, but only on the MT4 platform. Traders should note that there are some restrictions on these accounts: Swap-free positions are only available on FX majors for up to 14 days, FX exotics for up to10 days, metals for up to 5 days, and indices for up to 3 days. After these periods, the SWAP will be charged as usual.  

MT4/MT5 Mobile Applications

Both trading platforms are available on both Android and iOS mobile devices and tablets. Beginner traders should be aware that there is some loss in functionality when compared to the desktop trading platforms, including reduced timeframes and fewer charting options. In addition, spotty connections can reduce the overall trading experience. Generally, it is better to be at your desktop to conduct day-to-day trading and use a mobile device to keep an eye on the markets or close open positions.

The SquaredFinancial MT4 and MT5 apps allow traders to work from anywhere, with functionality to close and modify existing orders, calculate profit/loss in real-time, and tick chart trading to further assists traders while on the move.

SquaredFinancial offers full support for Metatrader 4 (MT4) and Metatrader 5 (MT5) available on PC or Mac. 

The advantage of brokers offering third-party platforms such as MT4 and MT5 is that traders can take their own customised versions with them should they decide to migrate to another broker. However, these platforms are not as beginner-friendly as the proprietary platforms on offer at other brokers. See below for more details.  

MetaTrader 4

MetaTrader 4 (MT4) is still undoubtedly the world’s most popular trading platform for forex traders due to its ease of use, feature-rich environment, and automated trading ability. MT4 is available in over 31 languages.

 Features of MT4 include: 

• A built-in library of more than 50 indicators and tools to streamline the analysis process
• An impressive array of 24 analytical tools, available in nine timeframes for each financial instrument.
• Three chart types
• One-click 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. 

While MT4 has great customizability, the platform feels outdated, and some of the features may be hard to find. In addition, only the basic orders are available, including Market, Limit, Stop, and Trailing Stop. MT4 is available on PC and Mac.

MetaTrader 5

The MT5 trading platform is being adopted by more Forex brokers all the time. It has a more modern interface, allows for an unlimited number of charts to be used, shows Depth of Market, and has a built-in Economic Calendar. It also has a larger number of pending order types than MT4 and features an embedded chat system. The MQL5 scripting language is more efficient than its precursor, and MT5 has more advanced charting tools than MT4. 

Features include:

• 38+ preinstalled technical indicators
• 44 analytical charting tools
• 21 timeframes
• Additional pending order types
• Detachable charts

A well-regulated broker, SquaredFinancial ensures that all Anti-Money Laundering rules and regulations are followed, and as such, all non-profit withdrawals are returned to the deposit source. No matter your deposit method, the withdrawal of all profits must be made by bank transfer to a bank account in your name.

SquaredFinancial offers a range of fee-free deposit and withdrawal options; however, a fee of 2% of the amount is charged if a deposit is made and a trader withdraws the full amount without having traded.   

SquaredFinancial also charges a currency conversion fee for transfers in currencies other than its accepted base currencies. 

Withdrawals can take between 3 – 5 days to reach client accounts.

In other countries, other methods may be available. But these methods are not available to view (nor the fees involved) until you have opened a live account and logged in. This is unusual and not consumer-friendly, as most brokers publish all their deposit and withdrawal fees on their websites.

Compared to other brokers, SquaredFinancial offers an average range of base currencies.

Accounts can be denominated in the following base currencies: USD, EUR, GBP, ZAR, CHF, and HKD. 

While most traders will want to have their trading accounts denominated in USD, some traders may want to have multiple accounts with different base currencies so as not to pay conversion fees when trading. The range of base currencies available at Squaredfinancial allows for traders to do this and is welcomed. 

Trading Central: Trading Central is available to clients who register a live account. A third-party tool, Trading Central’s professional analysts use the most advanced technical analysis tools in the industry to curate relevant information. This tool essentially supports traders without the technical know-how in making trading decisions. Trading Central is one of the most popular trading tools available and provides excellent market analysis, and SquaredFinancial does well to offer this service to its clients.

Economic Calendar: Squaredfinancial offers an economic calendar highlighting various events that will impact market movements. 

Trading Calculators: SquaredFinancial offers a number of trading calculators, including a Profit/Loss Calculator, a Margin Calculator, a Pip Calculator, a Swap Calculator, an Investment Calculator, and a Currency Converter. 

SquaredFinancial offers a daily market insights blog that has detailed information but is not updated frequently. It has also partnered with Trading Central to provide excellent market research.

Market commentary can be found on SquaredFinancial’s Youtube channel, but it only has 80 subscribers.

Overall, SquaredFinancial’s research ranks below that of its competitors, but Trading Central is a trusted third-party source.

Beginner traders have access to various educational articles, but these are all curated by third-party providers. Additionally, they are updated infrequently.

There is also a section of trading guides, which provides excellent learning material, and the Trading Central on-demand videos, which provide a good introduction to online trading. There are 31 videos and 23 quizzes.

SquaredFinancial offers 24/5 multi-lingual customer support via email, live chat, web form, messenger services, or phone. SquaredFinancial also provides a dedicated Trading FAQs section explaining its services. 

For the purposes of this review, we found the customer service responsive, polite, and knowledgeable.