Axi – online trading company review
About Axi
Axi provides market access to various financial instruments including Forex, Indices, Commodities and Cryptocurrencies. Primarily AXI operates as a forex broker company based in Australia that provides traders with access to one or more platforms that will allow them to buy and sell foreign currencies. Retail currency traders often use broker companies to gain access to the 24-hour currency market for speculation purposes. Forex broker services can also be provided for institutional clients and large companies such as investment banks.
AxiTrader is the trading name of AxiTrader LTD, a wholly-owned subsidiary of AxiCorp Financial Services Pty LTD, based in Australia. The company is authorised and regulated in St. Vincent and the Grenadines by the Financial Services Authority (FSA).
AxiTrader LTD was founded in 2007 and also has offices in London, which were opened in 2012. The company focuses predominantly on the provision of financial products for retail investors.
In October 2020, AxiTrader announced a rebranding of its company from AxiTrader to Axi. The broker also at the same time announced that they will be sponsoring the British football team Manchester City FC for a year. This, the company hoped would lead to brand awareness for the company’s new name.
Axi Accounts & Features
Axi offers a choice between two account types, a Standard and a Pro Account, with the choice of opening a demo account on each. These demo accounts have the same features as the live accounts, but with virtual funding with which trading can be explored without the risk of losing actual funds.
There are three more options when opening an account with Axi since an account can either be used by an individual, as a joint account between two or more parties or a corporate account which will be owned by a legal entity.
The MT4 Standard Account has the following features:
- No deposit fee charged
- Spreads start from 0.4 pips
- Zero commission fees are charged
- Minimum trade size of 0.01 lots is allowed
- Access to 140+ FX pairs and metals CFDs, and many more instruments.
The MT4 Pro Account has all the same features of the Standard Account, but differs in the following ways:
- Spreads start from 0.0 pips
- Commission is $7 per round trip.
Deposits & Withdrawals
Axi has an easy way of depositing and withdrawing funds by providing several payment methods.
Axi makes provision for the following payment and withdrawal methods, each with their own supported currencies:
Credit/Debit Card – AED, CAD, EUR, GBP, JPY, NZD, PLN, SGD, USD
POLi – AUD, NZD
Bpay – AUD
Bank Transfers – AUD, CAD, CHF, EUR, GBP, HKD, JPY, NZD, SGD, USD
FasaPay – IDR, USD
Sofort – EUR
Neteller – AUD, CAD, CHF, EUR, GBP, JPY, PLN, SGD, USD
Skrill – AED, CAD, CHF, EUR, GBP, HKD, INR, JPY, PLN, SGD, NZD, SAR, SGD, USD, ZAR
Giropay – EUR
iDEAL – EUR
AliPay – CNY USD
Bitcoin – BTC
There is no minimum deposit required with either of the accounts.
Although Axi does not charge withdrawal fees, there may be fees incurred by your bank or payment provider.
Costs, Fees, Commissions & Spreads
Cost of trading depends on different factors like commissions, spread and margins.
The spread of a currency pair is the difference between the bid and the ask rate. A pip represents the smallest increment that an exchange rate can move. One pip is 0.01 for currency pairs with JPY as the term currency and 0.0001 for all other pairs.
The amount of money required in your account to open a position is called the margin and is calculated according to the current price of the base currency against USD, the size (volume) of the position and the leverage applied to your account.
Commissions are the charges imposed by an investment broker on a trader for making trades on the trader’s behalf. The level of commissions depends on the asset being traded and the type of service offered by the broker.
Execution-only brokers, which do not involve in personal investment advice and give traders complete control over how they trade the markets, usually charge lower commissions.
While contract for differences (CFDs) trading is a form of derivative trading that enables traders to speculate on the rising or falling prices of fast-moving global financial markets, its trading on shares will incur commission. CFD trades on other markets has no commission but do wrap a spread around the market price of a certain instrument.
Axi charges the following fees:
Spreads – The MT4 Standard account has spreads from 0.4 pips and the MT4 Pro Account has spreads which start from 0.0 pips.
Deposit and withdrawal fees – Axi does not charge fees on either deposits or withdrawals and there is no minimum deposit required with either of the accounts.
Inactivity fees – Axi does not charge for inactivity on their accounts, but there are swap-fees or rollover fees. These are charged on a long position and Axi pays swap-fees on short positions.
Commission – The MT4 Standard Account does not have commission. The MT4 Pro Account has a $7 commission charge per round.
Leverage
Leveraged product trading magnifies a trader’s potential profit – but of course also increases the potential loss. This facility that enables traders to get a larger exposure to the market than the amount they deposited to open a trade, is called leverage.
The amount of leverage is expressed as a ratio, for instance 50:1, 100:1, or 500:1. Assuming that a trader has $1000 in a trading account and is trading ticket sizes of 100000 USD/JPY, that leverage will equate to 100:1.
Traders should always keep in mind that, although a high leverage offered may be a plus point for the brokerage, trading at high leverage should only be attempted by experienced traders that know how to mitigate big losses.
Axi allows its traders to use a maximum leverage ratio of up to 1:400.
Bonuses
Forex brokers often lure new traders with offers of deposit bonuses. This can be useful, but it is essential to discern what the conditions are to really benefit from a bonus.
The bonus usually compensates traders for choosing a certain broker, since once the account is active, the trader will have the same expenses as any other. The bonus usually only starts giving some expenses back to the trader once they have proved to be an active trader.
Hence, although no deposit bonuses are a great way to help you start trading, the terms to benefit from it often require trading with such a high volume before you can withdraw profits, which may not be worthwhile.
The European Securities and Markets Authority (ESMA) has also recently placed investor protection measures on the marketing, distribution, or sale of CFDs which prevent brokers to provide the retail client with a payment, monetary or excluded non-monetary benefit in relation to the marketing, distribution or sale of a CFD, thus ruling out the offering of such bonuses.
Axi does not currently offer any bonuses or promotions.
Trading Platforms & Software Features
The forex trading software, also called the platform, provided by a broker company to its clients to carry out their trades can be a multi-asset one that allows clients to trade forex as well as other asset classes like CFDs on stocks, stock indices, precious metals, and cryptocurrencies.
Some companies provide an own proprietary platform, which may benefit traders due to specific characteristics developed by specialists employed by the broker, while others prefer to provide the better-known platforms that were tried and tested through time. If there is a choice, the trader should keep in mind what they would like to trade and find the platform that best suits their needs.
Axi provides MetaTrader 4, the most popular and widely used platform in the trading community. MetaTrader 4 caters for both beginner traders and traders who are at a more professional level.
You can access the MT4 account from anywhere, since it is available on mobile devices using Android and iOS, PC and Web as well as Mac.
It gives access to more than 150 trading products, allows multi-account management and order execution at fast speeds.
Markets, Products & Instruments
Most brokers offer all or some of the following market instruments for trading:
Forex:
Forex trading, or currency or FX trading, involves the currency exchange market where individuals, companies and financial institutions exchange currencies for one another at floating rates.
Commodities:
As with currency exchange markets, commodity markets offer trading in contract-based tradable goods.
Indices:
Equity or stock indices can represent a specific set of the largest companies of a nation or they can represent a specific stock market. It is actual stock market indexes which measures the value of a specific section of a stock market.
Precious metals:
This involves the trading of gold, silver and other precious metals as hard commodities that are contract-based tradable.
Energy:
The high volatility of energy prices due to political, environmental and several other factors, is a typical feature of this product, making it a popular trading choice.
Cryptocurrencies:
Tradable cryptocurrencies include the following:
Bitcoin (BTC) is the digital currency with the largest market capitalisation and price levels and dominates 50% of the total crypto market cap.
Litecoin (LTC) is similar to Bitcoin but differs in terms of scalability.
Ethereum (ETH) is the second largest cryptocurrency after Bitcoin and allows developers to create smart contracts on a platform.
Ripple (XRP) is popular among big banks with the Ripple network a next generation real-time gross settlement system.
Bitcoin Cash (BCH) was created as a new version of the blockchain with different rules.
Axi clients have access to more than 140 Forex pairs and other instruments such as:
- Commodities
- Gold and Silver
- Metal Crosses
- Oil
- Indices
- Cryptocurrencies
Safety & Regulation
Before deciding to join a brokerage company to start trading, a potential trader needs to establish whether a broker like Axi is safe and secure to trade with. One of the most reliable benchmarks to measure the safety of a brokerage is to establish which regulating authorities are watching and overseeing its actions and whether the company complies with those regulations.
In general, a so-called “offshore” broker tends to have a less favourable reputation and potential traders should think carefully before investing with them.
Secondly, the safety or clients’ funds should be guaranteed and in the case of the company defaulting or going bankrupts, a safety net of some sorts would come in handy to prevent customers of taking more losses.
Axi is regulated and authorised by the ASIC (Australian Securities and Investments Commission) along with the FCA in the UK, which are two of the strictest and most demanding authorization institutions. Added to this, Axi is also regulated and authorized by the DFSA in the Middle East. AXI is transparent and clients’ funds are kept in segregated accounts with top-tier banks. This is also secured by compensation funds.
Customer Support
Potential traders need to be assured that the broker company they chose can offer the necessary support and help whenever they may need it. The ease with which such support teams can be contacted, may also play a role when choosing a broker.
The customer support team of Axi can be reached telephonically or via email. Alternatively, an online request form can be completed, allowing the customer services support team to contact the client.
Axi provides a Live Chat option which can be found on the website for assistance which is provided 24/7.
Education & Training
Before starting to trade, potential Axi clients should equip themselves with all possible information and trading skills needed to be successful in the world of forex and commodity trading. If Axi’s website itself does not provide enough means, a trader should explore other informative sources to obtain that skills and knowledge.
Axi provides a variety of educational tools starting from the demo account, which can make beginner traders used to a trading environment by using virtual money and by having access to the same functionality as the live accounts.
The website makes provision for basics in both Forex and CFD Trading to get beginners started.
The broker’s educational centre has a large variety of videos which cover different topics related to trading. The videos also have instructional information that teaches the trader to use the MT4 platform.
Research
Potential traders need to be enabled to do as much as possible research about speculative trading before commencing to do it and while trading with a specific brokerage. Trading successfully relies heavily on knowledge and understanding of the markets and the platforms offered by a broker, therefore research options offered by brokers form an integral part of its features when choosing the right company to trade with.
Axi offers research options like charting tools, a news feed and an economic calendar which can be accessed through the MetaTrader 4 platform to ensure that traders are up to date with market news and movements.
Summary
Axi is an overall well-regulated broker and offers beginners and experts a transparent option to trading. The corporate office is established in Australia, but international traders will be served from the office out of St. Vincent and the Grenadines.
Axi was formerly known as AxiTrader and has been in operation for over ten years.
Not only do they cater for the beginners but their offering and competitive pricing along with trading conditions caters for professional traders who trade at high volumes.
Axi uses the widely popular and well-known trading platform MetaTrader 4. There is also added support from third party plugins that add to the trading experience and providing traders with the best service suited to their trading needs.
As traders do not have to pay a minimum deposit and there is zero commission, Axi allows deposits and withdrawals to take place easily.
Disclaimer
Axi warns potential traders that trading always carries a high level of risk, therefore may not be suitable for all investors.
Before clients decide to trade the products offered by Axi, they are advised to contemplate their investment objectives, financial situation, needs and level of experience carefully before investing money that they cannot afford to lose.
Especially when traders use Axi’s leveraged accounts, they should make sure to maintain a sufficient level of margin to sustain their positions, since trading Forex/CFD and Options on margin and using a higher than necessary leverage can be either beneficial or detrimental to a trader. It is always possible to sustain a loss of some or all of an initial investment.
While Axi promises to make all efforts to fill a trade at the requested price, trading on-line does not necessarily reduce risks associated with currency trading, therefore quotes and trades are usually subject to the terms and conditions of a Client Agreement, which is accessible through the broker’s website.
Potential traders should first acquaint themselves with all these associated risks and seek advice from an independent financial advisor.
| Axi At A Glance | |
| Broker’s name | Axi formerly known as AXI Trader |
| Headquarters | Australia |
| Year founded | 2007 |
| Regulating authorities | FCA, ASIC, DFSA |
| Countries not accepted for trade | US and others |
| Customer contact numbers | +61 2 9965 5830 |
| Email address for support | service@Axi.com |
| Website | www.Axi.com |
| Demo account | Yes |
| Islamic account (swap free) | No |
| Institutional accounts | Yes |
| Managed accounts | No |
| MAximum leverage | 1:400 |
| Minimum deposit | No minimum deposit |
| Deposit options |
Credit/Debit Card – AED, CAD, EUR, GBP, JPY, NZD, PLN, SGD, USD POLi – AUD, NZD Bpay – AUD Bank Transfers – AUD, CAD, CHF, EUR, GBP, HKD, JPY, NZD, SGD, USD FasaPay – IDR, USD Sofort – EUR Neteller – AUD, CAD, CHF, EUR, GBP, JPY, PLN, SGD, USD Skrill – AED, CAD, CHF, EUR, GBP, HKD, INR, JPY, PLN, SGD, NZD, SAR, SGD, USD, ZAR Giropay – EUR iDEAL – EUR AliPay – CNY USD Bitcoin – BTC |
| Withdrawal options |
Credit/Debit Card – AED, CAD, EUR, GBP, JPY, NZD, PLN, SGD, USD POLi – AUD, NZD Bpay – AUD Bank Transfers – AUD, CAD, CHF, EUR, GBP, HKD, JPY, NZD, SGD, USD FasaPay – IDR, USDSofort – EUR Neteller – AUD, CAD, CHF, EUR, GBP, JPY, PLN, SGD, USD Skrill – AED, CAD, CHF, EUR, GBP, HKD, INR, JPY, PLN, SGD, NZD, SAR, SGD, USD, ZAR Giropay – EUR iDEAL – EUR AliPay – CNY USD Bitcoin – BTC |
| Platform(s) provided | MetaTrader 4 |
| OS compatibility | Mac, Windows, Linux, Web, Mobile Android, iPhone, iPad. |
| Tradable assets offered | More than 140 Forex pairs, CommoditiesGold and SilverMetal CrossesOilIndicesCryptocurrencies |
| Languages supported on website | English Spanish Arabic Japanese Chinese Russian Thai Bahasa and other |
| Customer support languages | English Spanish Arabic Japanese Chinese Russian Thai Bahasa and other |
| Customer service hours | 24/5 |
