MultiBank

Founded in 2005, and headquartered in Hong Kong, MultiBank is regulated by numerous top-tier authorities worldwide, including the Australian Securities and investments Commission (ASIC), the German Federal Financial Supervisory Authority (BaFin), the National Securities Market Commission (CNMV) of Spain, the BVI FSC of the British Islands, CIMA of the Cayman Islands, and the Dubai Financial Services Authority (DFSA).

South Africans will be trading under the Multibank subsidiary regulated in the Cayman Islands (CIMA).  

Under this subsidiary, Multibank deposits all client funds in segregated bank accounts and uses tier-1 banks (the safest and most secure) for this purpose. MultiBank also offers negative balance protection, which means that clients can lose all, but not more than, the balance of their Trading Account.

Overall, because of its long history of responsible behaviour and strong international regulation, we consider Multibank a safe broker for South Africans to trade with.  

The account opening process at Multibank is user-friendly and fully digital, and accounts are ready for trading immediately.

All South African residents are eligible to open an account at Multibank but have to meet the following minimum deposit requirements:

• Standard Account: 50 USD
• Pro Account: 1000 USD
• ECN Account: 5000 USD

Creating an account is straightforward and fully digital, and accounts are usually ready immediately. Multibank offers individual and corporate accounts, but we will focus on opening an individual account:

1. New traders must click on the “Live Account” button at the top of the page, where they will be directed to fill in their email address and create a password.
2. Traders must then fill in their details, including name, surname, telephone number, country of residence, and expected deposit amount.  A verification PIN will be sent to the registered telephone number.
3. Next traders must fill in their trading account settings, including preferred platform, account tier, level of leverage, base currency, employment information, and source of funds.
4. Once this step is complete, clients are required to fill out a questionnaire that helps Multibank assess the trader’s investment knowledge, experience, and expertise to deem the suitability and relevance of the services on offer. While most brokers don’t include this step in the account-opening process, it is a responsible move in an industry that is often accused of an irresponsible approach to consumer protection.  
5. Traders will then have to upload the following documents:
   1. Proof of Identification – Multibank accepts all government-issued identification documents such as Passports, national ID cards, driving licenses, or other government-issued IDs. 
   2. Proof of Address – Proof of residence/address document must be issued in the name of the account holder within the last 6 months and must contain a trader’s full name, current residential address, issue date, and issuing authority.
6. Once this step is complete, traders must agree to Multibank’s Terms and Conditions.  

After the application is approved, traders can log in and fund their accounts  

Overall, Multibank’s account-opening process is fully digital and hassle-free and accounts are generally ready for trading immediately.  

Multibank offers trading on Forex, over 20,000 share CFDs, indices, commodities, metals, and cryptocurrencies.

Multibank offers three live accounts on the MT4 and MT5 platforms. Two accounts have trading costs included in the variable spreads, while its Pro Account offers raw spreads in exchange for a commission per lot traded.

Unfortunately, Multibank is not transparent about all the costs associated with each account.  While the spreads are published, there is no information about the commissions. We had to collect this information by contacting customer service and discovered that a commission of 3 USD per lot per trade is charged on the ECN account.

Multibank’s entry-level account requires a minimum deposit of 50 USD, making it suitable for beginner traders.  Experienced traders often prefer paying a higher minimum deposit for tighter spreads.  Multibank’s Pro Account requires a minimum starting deposit of 1,000 USD but offers tighter spreads than the Standard Account.  Multibank also offers an ECN account, with raw spread pricing and a commission per lot traded.

Standard Account

Standard accounts are commission-free accounts, with a minimum deposit requirement of 50 USD.  Spreads average at 1.50 pips (EUR/USD) on this account, which is wider than the spreads on most other brokers’ entry-level accounts. Most brokers will offer an average spread of 1 pip (EUR/USD) and a minimum deposit of 100 USD or less on their entry-level accounts. The minimum transaction level is at 0.01 lots, Stop Out levels are at 50%, and trading is available on over 55 FX pairs.

Pro Account

With a minimum deposit requirement of 1000 USD, the Pro account is ideal for MultiBank traders looking for an ECN experience. A commission-free account, fees are included in the spreads, which start at 0.80 pips on the EUR/USD, which is average compared to other similar brokers, but still wider than those on similar accounts at other brokers.  

ECN Pro

As the name implies, this account is an ECN type with no dealing desk intervention. ECN Pro accounts are professional trading accounts with floating spreads starting at 0.1 pips on the EUR/USD and a round-turn commission of 3 USD, making them one of the lowest-cost trading accounts in the industry.   

Demo Account

Those afraid to risk real money on trading will be glad to learn that MultiBank Group offers a Demo Account. The Demo account comes preloaded with 100,000 USD in virtual funds, and it provides access to all the above-listed platforms and financial products. However, demo accounts expire after 90 days. 

Multibank’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.  

Multibank offers support for MT4 and MT5 mobile trading apps for Android and iOS. 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. Still, traders can close and modify existing orders, calculate profit and loss, and trade on the charts. 

MultiBank offers forex trading on MetaTrader4 (MT4) and MetaTrader5 (MT5), two of the industry’s leading platforms.   Both provide automated trading systems with expert advisors (EAs) and are simple to navigate yet offer a powerful range of features, charts, and analysis tools.

MetaTrader 4

MetaTrader 4 is one of the world’s most popular and versatile platforms, offering powerful features to help you make educated trading decisions. Though it is now showing its age, MT4 is still popular for its auto-trading features that enable algorithmic trading and strategy backtesting with expert advisors (trading robots). 

Other features of the 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

Developed in 2010, the MT5 platform offers all the features provided by MT4, in addition to improved trading functionalities and enhanced scripting tools for custom indicators. It incorporates all of the key features of MT4 and an optimised environment for algorithmic trading using Expert Advisors (EAs). Features include:

• 38+ preinstalled technical indicators
• 44 analytical charting tools
• 3 chart types
• 21 timeframes
• Additional pending order types
• Detachable charts
• Trailing stop
• Depth of Market
• An integrated Economic Calendar.

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

As a well-regulated broker, MultiBank ensures that all Anti-Money Laundering rules and regulations are followed. 

Multibank offers six trading account currencies, which is average compared to other brokers: USD, AUD, GBP, EUR, CAD, and CHF. However, Multibank does not offer ZAR trading accounts, which is a disadvantage for South Africans who will likely have bank accounts denominated in ZAR and who will have to pay currency conversion fees on deposits and withdrawals.

Multibank offers payment via bank transfer, credit and debit cards, and e-wallets.  Deposits and withdrawals are free, and deposits are processed within 24 hours. In order to withdraw funds from an account, one has to submit a withdrawal request online using the MyMultiBank account area. 

Multibank offers several useful trading tools, including free VPS hosting, Expert Advisors, MAMM/PAMM Accounts, and FIX API. It also offers a social trading platform.  

VPS Hosting

MultiBank Group offers all its customers free Virtual Private Servers (VPS) through reliable third-party hosting vendors. 

VPS services ensure that trades are never disrupted by technological or connectivity issues, such as load-shedding or internet service failure, which benefits algorithmic traders who need to be connected to a server 24/7 to maximise uptime.  Other benefits of the VPS service include:

• 24/6 VPS email support
• 24/7 Redundant power to your VPS
• 24/7 Redundant internet connectivity to your VPS
• Low latency connectivity to FP Markets trading servers for precision trading
• Uninterrupted EA trading
• Expert Advisors

Expert Advisors (EAs) can be integrated into any MultiBank Group MetaTrader 4 & 5 platform without restrictions to perform automated trades and place orders at any time. EA can monitor everything from indicators, support and resistance levels to multiple timeframes and, in turn, maximize your gains. 

MAM/PAMM Accounts

Multibank offers its clients an account management service that allows account managers to trade on their behalf. To perform this service, bespoke technology or software, also known as MAM/PAMM, is required.  

MAM stands for Multi-Account Manager, which permits a range of customisable ways to sub-allocate trades.  PAMM stands for Percentage Allocation Module Manager, which means investors can be part of a set of sub-accounts that are traded together by a money manager or trader who has permission from clients to trade on their accounts.  Account Managers take a portion of the profits generated by the trades.  

Managed accounts are great for beginner traders who have limited experience with trading.

FIX API

MultiBank Group’s FIX API is a turnkey solution for institutional and high-volume clients looking for direct access to market, providing the best prices and conditions. The API trading toolset is a way for traders to build their own applications and use the APIs offered by Multibank to connect those applications to different data sources. These connections are required to build smarter algorithmic trading applications.  

Social Trading

Multibank offers a powerful auto-execution system that duplicates the trades of other successful traders.  

• MultiBank Group ranks traders based on trading performance.
• Copy traders select the best traders to copy based on their capital and risk appetite.
• The fees for using social copy trading vary depending on the signal provider you wish to follow. Before subscribing to a provider, you will be able to see the details of the offer and the fees.

Overall, Multibank offers a range of useful trading tools, but it doesn’t offer the technical and fundamental analysis tools that are available at other brokers.

According to the support team, MultiBank does not provide any education because it is against regulation. Many brokers with the same regulation as MultiBank offer excellent educational services, so it is hard to understand this argument.

MultiBank offers support in eight different languages, and help is available 24/5 via telephone, email, WhatsApp, and live chat.