Experts’ Viewpoint
Our experts consider SquaredFinancial to be a reliable and safe online brokerage. The broker is fully regulated and licensed by the Cyprus Securities and Exchange Commission (CySEC) and the Financial Services Authority (FSA). ForexFraud.com does not list SquaredFinancial on its list of brokers to avoid or brokers under investigation. Several independent industry websites that have chosen to review SquaredFinancial have given the broker favourable reviews.
SquaredFinancial is a brokerage that follows all the regulations required of licensed online brokers. All necessary legal documents and disclosures are clearly displayed on the SquaredFinancial website. This broker’s legal documentation is easily found by going to the ‘About’ tab on the main website and selecting ‘Legal’ from the drop-down menu.
Rating Overview
| Overall rating | ⭐⭐⭐⭐ |
| Regulation | ⭐⭐⭐⭐ |
| Fees | ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ |
| Range of Markets | ⭐⭐⭐⭐ |
| Platforms | ⭐⭐⭐⭐ |
There, you will find a long list of published legal documents, including details of the firm’s Terms of Use, Investor Compensation Fund, and Risk Disclosure. You will also find information on important policies, such as its leverage policy, conflict of interest policy, and deposit and withdrawal policy, along with details of the complaints procedure and a customer complaint form, should you ever need it.
Our experts consider it important to check client protections when assessing a brokerage, and they were satisfied that SquaredFinancial has all the necessary protections in place. The broker is a member of the Investor Compensation Fund (ICF), which allows clients to claim compensation from the fund if the broker should become insolvent and be unable to fulfil its obligations to its clients.
As a brokerage based in Cyprus and operating under CySEC regulations, SquaredFinancial is also governed by the European Markets in Financial Instruments Directive (MiFID), which aims to ensure fairer, safer and more transparent market trading conditions across the EU.
Cyprus has transposed this directive into its domestic legislation, meaning that it now applies to all investment firms operating in the country. CySEC is also a member of the European Securities and Markets Authority (ESMA), and is considered to be one of the strictest and most robust financial regulatory bodies in Europe.
Broker Summary
SquaredFinancial has a range of features that will undoubtedly make it attractive to many online traders at all levels of experience. It offers a broad range of instruments and asset classes, allowing clients to trade futures, shares, metals, equities, stocks, commodities, oil, CFDs, energies, indices, forex and cryptocurrencies. It should be noted that trading digital currencies is only available under the FSA. The broker offers reasonable leverage and competitive spreads. There is a choice of account types, including an Islamic account option, a demo account, and the SquaredPro Account, which offers commission-free trading. Opening an account with SquaredFinancial is a quick and easy process, and there is a wide choice of options for funding your account. SquaredFinancial also offers an award-winning trading platform, namely the MetaTrader platform, available as both MetaTrader 4 (MT4) and MetaTrader 5 (MT5).
Some of the broker’s strengths include:
- Multi-asset class
- Superior quality of market execution
- Low latency connectivity and trading experience
- Free educational resources and daily market insights by a team of experts
Broker Introduction
SquaredFinancial is an online multi-asset broker based in Limassol, Cyprus. The firm was founded in 2016 and offers over 70 financial instruments and more than 50 forex pairs. Customers have a choice of a SquaredPro Account, which offers a zero-commission trading model and spreads from just 1.2 pips, or a SquaredElite Account, which provides a commission of $5 per lot on forex trading, with spreads from 0.0 pips. Both accounts have a 50% margin call level and a 30% stop out level and offer swaps, automated trading, leverage of up to 1:30, and a minimum trade volume of just 0.01 for forex traders. There is no minimum deposit on the SquaredPro Account, but the SquaredElite account has a minimum deposit of $5,000. SquaredFinancial also offers swap-free Islamic accounts to those who require them. This broker offers trading via contracts for difference (CFDs), allowing traders to speculate on the price movement of a range of financial assets and potentially profit from those price changes, without ever owning the underlying assets. It should always be remembered that CFD trading can be risky, especially for beginners, so it is vital to educate oneself and trade with appropriate levels of leverage. SquaredFinancial also offers a risk-free demo account, with $50,000 worth of virtual money, to allow new customers to practice online trading and get a feel for the platform. another broker that has a very similar offering is TradeMarkets.
Spreads & Leverage
The spreads and leverage that you are offered as a SquaredFinancial customer will depend on the type of account you open, as well as the financial instruments you choose to trade. SquaredFinancial offers competitive spreads, starting at just 1.2 pips on its commission-free accounts, and 0.0 pips on the accounts that also charge a commission fee for each trade. As with many online brokers, floating spreads are used, so traders should learn to monitor changes in spreads carefully to always be aware of the conditions under which their orders will be executed. Leverage also varies between instruments. On forex, leverage of up to 1:30 is available, which is the maximum allowed under ESMA regulations. This will vary according to the forex pair you are dealing with, of course. For example, the leverage offered on minor or exotic currency pairs is invariably lower than that provided on major pairs. Leverage on other instruments such as indices and metals will generally be lower than on forex, and the leverage offered will also vary within each category, depending on the instrument being traded.
Platform & Tools
SquaredFinancial offers the well-respected and consistently popular MetaTrader platform in both its versions – MT4 and MT5 – which offers a great deal of flexibility, and includes automated trading and mobile trading. As fans of MetaTrader will no doubt already know, MT4 and MT5 have a variety of very useful and intuitive features that enhance the online trading experience. The MetaTrader software is widely used and highly respected. It comes with a range of integrated technical indicators, plus the ability to integrate well with a wide range of third-party plugins, giving access to even more advanced tools, charts and indicators. The platform has a clean, intuitive and highly customisable interface, and allows for access to social trading, via tools such as ZuluTrade, and automated trading, using Expert Advisors.
Commissions & Fees
One of the many features that attract traders to this broker is the convenient zero-commission trading model on the SquaredPro account. Many traders find that the no-commission model makes it easier, or at least more straightforward, to work out trading costs, as the broker’s profit is coming directly from the spreads – so this is the main thing that traders need to take into account when calculating the direct cost of each trade. Traders will often find that the spreads on commission-free accounts are so high that they cancel out the benefits of commission-free trading.
However, this is not necessarily the case at SquaredFinancial, where the spreads are fairly competitive, starting at just 1.2 pips on major forex pairs, even on the commission-free account. Whether this suits your particular needs and requirements will depend on many factors, including your trading strategies, your individual preferences when it comes to calculating trading costs, and the assets you are trading.
Compare with other approved brokers
 |  |  |  | |
| Regulation | CySEC and FSA | FCA, CySEC, DFSA, BaFIN, SCB, CMA & ASIC | ASIC, MiFID, FSA, FSCA | FSPR |
| Customer Support | mail, phone, live chat | email, phone, live chat | email, phone, live chat | email, phone, live chat |
| Trading Platforms | MT4, MT5, WebTrader, Mobile Apps | MT4, MT5, cTrader, TradingView | MT4, MT5, Mobile App | MT4, MT5, WebTrader, Mobile Apps |
| Minimum Deposit | $100 | $200 | $100 | $200 |
| Leverage | Up to 1:30 for retail clients and up to 1:500 for professional clients | 1:30 | 400:1 | 1:500 |
| Total Markets | 10,000+ | 1200 | 1260 | 182 |
| Total Currency Pairs | 48 | 62 | 55 | 72 |
| Total Cryptocurrencies | 22 | 18 | 17 | 0 |
A multi-asset broker such as this can be a great idea for those who wish to trade multiple asset classes all in one place, including those who are primarily forex traders but who like to dabble in trading other assets alongside their forex trading.
However, you should keep in mind that you will need to check the spreads on all the different assets that you may wish to trade in order to ascertain if SquaredFinancial is the best broker for you.
Many online brokers have some ‘hidden’ fees, but at SquaredFinancial, we found only a few of these. There are no broker-levied deposit or withdrawal fees, for example. There are no financing fees, and there is currently no inactivity fee, though the broker does reserve the right to apply one in the future. Of course, there are swap fees on most accounts for positions held overnight, and currency conversion fees may apply if a client deposits fees in a currency other than the base currency assigned to their account. As with any online broker, fees and charges are subject to change, sometimes without notice. There may be other fees and charges that apply to your account that are not mentioned in this SquaredFinancial review.
Education
SquaredFinancial provides an excellent education portal for all of its clients in the form of the SquaredAcademy, which is easily accessible via the main website. There are video tutorials, trading guides, and eBooks available on a wide range of topics of interest to traders at all levels. Clients can access a range of educational articles, a useful trading glossary, and a searchable trading FAQ section.
The on-demand video tutorials include topics such as market analysis, technical indicators and trading psychology, and the handy trading guides cover issues such as understanding financial leverage, reading the economic calendar, and identifying chart patterns in forex trading. There is also a Market Insights section on the website, with live market news and commentary, along with useful tools such as trading calculators and a currency converter.
Customer Service
Customer service is, for many traders, one of the most important aspects of choosing a new brokerage. You want to feel like you can contact your broker at any time, and receive a prompt reply to any queries you may have. SquaredFinancial offers a choice of easily accessed customer service channels, including a dedicated email address for customer support queries, a customer support phone line, and a convenient web form that can be quickly filled in online. Details of support channels are available on the contact page of the website, and can be accessed by both new and existing clients.
The company also maintains active social media accounts on multiple channels, including Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn, and can be contacted any time via Facebook Messenger. Remember that there is an extensive FAQ list in the learning section, which covers many commonly asked questions. This list is searchable, and may well provide traders with many of the answers they are looking for, so consider checking this out before contacting customer support.
Final Thoughts
As our detailed SquaredFinancial broker review has demonstrated, this is a brokerage worth considering for various reasons. The broker offers a wide range of instruments and asset classes, with more than 70 financial instruments to choose from, and over 50 forex pairs. There is a choice of retail accounts, allowing traders to choose from a no-commission model or an account with a small commission and highly competitive spreads. SquaredFinancial accounts offer a 50% margin call level and a 30% stop out level, along with swaps, AutoTrade, leverage of up to 1:30, and a minimum trade volume of just 0.01 for forex traders. The MT4 and MT5 platforms are versatile and intuitive, and allow for mobile trading, automated trading and a high level of customisation.
Another advantage of this broker is the extensive education and training section, and daily market news and insights. The broker is fully licensed and regulated by CySEC and the FSA, is overseen by ESMA, and is a member of the ICF. All retail accounts have negative balance protection, and it is possible to open an account with a very small budget as there is no minimum deposit on the commission-free account. While one should always exercise caution when trading online, SquaredFinancial is certainly a respectable brokerage with a range of client protections and attractive features.
FAQ
Is SquaredFinancial a regulated broker?
Yes, SquaredFinancial is a fully regulated and licensed broker and is also a member of the European Securities and Markets Authority (ESMA). Squared Financial (Cyprus) Limited is authorised and regulated by CySEC under license no. 329/17. Squared Financial (Seychelles) Ltd is authorised and regulated by FSA under licence no. SD024.
What are the deposit options for SquaredFinancial?
There are a variety of ways to deposit funds into your account at SquaredFinancial. You can use a bank transfer, credit card, debit card, Skrill, Neteller, UnionPay or Alipay.
How do I withdraw money from SquaredFinancial?
To withdraw money, simply log into your account and make a request for withdrawal. Withdrawal requests are processed within five business days, though it may take longer for the funds to clear, depending on the method of withdrawal you are using.
How can I open a demo account with SquaredFinancial?
The process is very quick and easy.
RISK WARNING: CFDs are complex instruments and come with a high risk of losing money rapidly due to leverage. 79% of retail investor accounts lose money when trading CFDs with this broker. You should consider whether you understand how CFDs work and whether you can afford to take the high risk of losing your money. Please refer to the Risk Disclaimer.
‘SquaredFinancial’ and all associated names and logos are owned and operated by Squared Financial (CY) Limited, Cyprus or its affiliates, parent company and subsidiaries of the parent company.
Please be advised that certain products and/or multiplier levels may not be available for traders from EEA countries due to legal restrictions.
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