Broker risk warnings
Each file checks who actually holds a broker’s licence, what the regulator’s own register says, and what happens to your money if something goes wrong. A warning is not an accusation of fraud unless a court or regulator has said so.
Is Exness a scam? Six scam signs checked, and the real risks
Exness is not a platform that runs off with client money, but “not a scam” is different from “no risk”.
9 min read
Is Exness banned in Vietnam? What the law actually says
No Vietnamese document bans Exness by name, and no forex broker is licensed in Vietnam. That gap is where you stand in a dispute.
7 min read
Is GTCFX legit? Each licence covers one company only
GTCFX lists six companies in six countries. Before you deposit, what matters is which company signs your contract and which licence covers that company.
6 min read
Is Vantage legit? The ASIC licence and the entity you sign with
Vantage holds ASIC and FCA licences you can check. What to verify before depositing is which entity holds your account.
9 min read
Can your introducing broker see your trading history?
Your introducer can read every trade you make, your account balance, and even the times a deposit of yours failed. Straight from the broker’s own partner documentation, and what you get in the other direction.
8 min read
Is VT Markets legit? The ASIC claim and the real contract
The broker is promoted across Vietnamese trader groups as an ASIC broker, but read the contract carefully and your account does not sit under ASIC.
15 min read
Is Superfin legit? Three licences that do not check out
A 30% deposit bonus, 1:500 leverage, withdrawals in fifteen minutes. Everything you can see runs smoothly. The question is the day it stops running smoothly: whose door do you knock on then?
9 min read
Introducers who skim your rebate: 5 signs and how to reconcile it yourself
A rebate passes through the introducer before it reaches you. That is why this money is easier to trim than any other, and how you check it yourself.
9 min read
Is a forex rebate a scam? Three different things share the name
The sharpest dividing line fits in one sentence: a genuine rebate never asks you to send money to an individual.
7 min read
Is DBG a scam? Real ASIC licence, domains are the problem
I set out to check only the ASIC licence number, because close to ten Vietnamese pages call it suspicious. The licence turned out to be real. The worrying part was something I only stumbled on while looking for the official website.
7 min read
Is HFM (HotForex) a scam? Licences and real risks (2026)
The rename from HotForex makes many people suspicious, but it was a change of brand, not a disappearing act.
10 min read
Is IC Markets a scam? ASIC licence and the real risks
IC Markets is an ECN broker operating since 2007 with an ASIC licence, not a scam. But there are a few points Vietnamese clients need to understand correctly.
9 min read
Is OctaFX legit? Which entity holds Vietnamese accounts
The controlling shareholder of OctaFX has been arrested, assets worth more than 26.81 billion rupees have been attached, and CySEC took measures against the Cyprus entity. Vietnamese clients, however, do not sit under that entity.
7 min read
Is Tickmill legit? The FCA licence is real, but not yours
Tickmill is not among the brokers people have filed complaints about. The issue lies elsewhere: four entities, four levels of protection, and Vietnamese clients land on the lowest.
7 min read
Is Ultima Markets trustworthy? Judging a young broker
A young broker with a good licence: how do you judge it properly? A way of thinking that applies to any new broker.
7 min read
Is XM a scam? Licences and the real risks (2026)
XM is not a broker that takes your money and disappears, but “not a scam” is different from “no risk”. This is the part to get right.
7 min read
Is Dupoin legit? Three legal entities in three countries
One profile card, three flags, three different companies, and the legal entity that would actually sign your contract is not behind any of the badges.
15 min read
Forex brokers that rename after complaints: how to spot it
A broker accused of fraud disappears, and its clients get “moved” to a new name with the same servers and the same people. How to check before you trust it.
4 min read
Letting someone trade for you: 41 offers under one post
Someone who lost 560,000 USD asked whether to hand their account to another person. The comment section answered for them, and I counted it.
9 min read
FX Trading Markets (Lion Group) scam: the 40,000-person case
A promise of 1% a day, 40,000 investors, repeated police warnings, and a collapse that followed the usual script. A large “multi-level forex” case in Vietnam.
8 min read
What is a prop firm account? Three European regulators warn
The deciding question is not “is this fund reputable?” but this: does its revenue come from challenge fees or from trading profits?
6 min read
Does an FCA or ASIC licence protect clients in Vietnam?
Of the 20 brokers we track, 15 hold a Tier-1 licence and an offshore entity at once. Which entity you belong to is what decides everything.
11 min read
Is CPT Markets legit? A real FCA licence and its clones
CPT Markets holds an FCA licence that is entirely real, and the FCA itself has named at least four websites impersonating it. For Vietnamese traders, the biggest risk is mistaking a copy for the real firm.
8 min read
Is DBG Markets legit? A real ASIC licence and its clones
DBG Markets has the strongest set of licences among the brokers we flag as “proceed with caution”: ASIC, FCA and real MT4/MT5. The paradox is that this is exactly why its risk sits where it is hardest to see.
8 min read
Is Decode Global legit? Decoding a Vanuatu licence
The name is “Decode”. So let us decode the broker’s own marketing: behind the awards and the glossy interface, which licence does your account actually sit under?
8 min read
Is Deriv legit? Synthetic indices and offshore entities
Deriv sells something that sounds very attractive: a market open 24/7, no weekend break, steady volatility. The problem is that this market exists nowhere except on Deriv’s own servers.
8 min read
Is JustMarkets legit? Ex-JustForex, 1:3000 and Seychelles
One number on the JustMarkets site says more than any of its advertising: 1:3000. It is not a perk. It is a sign telling you which entity you are standing under.
7 min read
Is Mitrade legit? The Cayman entity and the VCF MiTrade fake
Two things on the Vietnamese internet share the name Mitrade: a CFD broker with real licences, and an impersonation ring that the Mercantile Exchange of Vietnam has reported to the authorities.
12 min read
Is Neotech legit? Its only licence cannot be checked today
A very new broker, freshly renamed, with a single licence, and that licence carries a warning flag. On top of it sits a copy-trade marketing machine aimed squarely at Vietnamese traders.
12 min read
Busstrade scam: the “100% capital insurance” trick
A promise of 20–30% a month plus “100% capital insurance”, then one day in May 2021 the platform went into maintenance and its Zalo and Telegram groups vanished.
7 min read
Coolcat scam: 700 complaints and a fake 100% insurance rule
About 700 complaints, more than 200 billion dong gone, and a “gamified” capital insurance trick even more polished than Busstrade’s.
7 min read
Hitoption: a binary option platform on the police blacklist
One name on the Ministry of Public Security blacklist, and the reference specimen for a whole generation of binary option platforms built in Vietnam and dressed as international.
12 min read
Is RoboForex legit? 1:2000 leverage on a Belize licence
Leverage of 1:2000, layers of bonuses, deposits from 10 USD: it sounds like a trader’s paradise. The only question is why Tier-1 brokers DO NOT DARE offer any of it.
7 min read
Is Wefinex a scam? A binary option network named by police
The name at the top of the Ministry of Public Security list of binary option platforms, and an ecosystem that has “changed clothes” many times to stay alive.
7 min read
Is Weltrade legit? 20 years, never under Tier-1 oversight
Close to 20 years in business is usually a plus, unless for all 20 of those years the broker has steadily chosen to stay out of strict supervision.
9 min read
Are binary options a scam? Why Europe banned them
Binary options are a bet on “up or down in a few minutes”. Why did Europe ban them outright for retail investors, and why does Vietnam’s Ministry of Public Security keep issuing warnings?
5 min read
Cloned forex brokers: the name is real, the website is not
The most dangerous trick in use right now is not building a new broker. It is copying the name of a real one, and the police have named the sites.
9 min read
Is Binomo a scam? Four regulators have warned
It once blanketed YouTube with ads promising “earn 1,000 USD a day from home”. How does Binomo actually work, and where does it stand legally?
11 min read
Is IQ Option legit? The company you actually sign with
IQ Option is more complicated than Binomo: it has a European entity with a real licence, but that is not the entity serving Vietnamese clients.
8 min read
Is Olymp Trade a scam? No state licence, only a private body
Marketed as an “international investment platform”, Olymp Trade has one regulator among four entities. Where does it stand legally, and why have several countries blocked it?
7 min read
Is forex a scam? The market is real. Much around it is not
The word is doing two jobs. One of them is the largest financial market on earth. The other is a Zalo group asking you to deposit.
9 min readTrading forex and CFDs on margin carries a high risk of losing money quickly. Nothing on this site is investment advice.