Among the many South African brokers in the forex trading industry, ACM Gold is among them. It is steadily rising in popularity thanks to its high-quality software and secure trading experience.
The site allows for the trade of Forex CFDs online, and it is the recipient of several awards, which include the Global Finance Magazine Best Broker in Africa (2014), the MENA Forex Prize for top African Broker (2012), and the Lagos top Beginner award in the Forex sector (2013). With all the accolades it gets, does it live up to its reputation? This article will find out whether it is worth a chance.
Who is behind ACM Gold?
The company has two co-founders, Hina Hassam and Irfan Pardesi, both in the UK. It goes back to 2004, and has major presence in the Middle East, Asia, parts of Eastern Europe and Africa.
The name is an abbreviation of Accentuate Capital Markets, and part of its reputation is tapping into emerging markets. Its offices are located in several countries including India, Kenya, South Africa (headquarters are in Johannesburg), United Arab Emirates, Nigeria, Malaysia, Nigeria, Croatia, Macedonia, Tanzania, and recently Botswana.
However, the platform does not accept clients from the US, New Zealand, Japan, the EU, and Australia.
Trading on the platform
The main trading platform is the MT4, which is available in all forms. MT4 is generally very popular due to its allowance for users to automate their trading through choosing EAs (Expert Advisors), and it allows thorough back-testing environment studies, technical analysis indicators, and advanced chart tools.
ACM Gold does not allow all trading method strategies, however. For instance, there are bans on scalping and latency arbitage from the site. In the case of scalping, the company closes the trade within three minutes if it is more than 10%.
Advantages of MT4
As the industry standard platform, MT4 lends itself to various traders as an easier alternative, thanks to the richness of its features. It places itself among the leading platforms in online trading due to its foreign exchange agency model implementation, unconventional organization of trading, as well as competitive assessments.
You can use algorithmic traders as well as Expert Advisors (EAs), which automate your exchange and make the process easier for you. MT4 allows you to see the marketplace you are dealing with, all within real time, highly accurate and impeccably judge all your exits and entrances.
You can use it in both Mac OS and desktop options, with its features including:
Full access to Market watch
User friendliness
You have options to choose on expert Advisors
Multiple access – as long as you sync your account, you can access it from any Apple device
You can download the software from the main website quickly
What is scalping?
Is a trade strategy that some traders use to make profits off small changes in prices, resulting in quick opening and closing of trades. The profits from each trade is small, resulting in carrying out many transactions to make significant amounts of money. Many forex brokers do not allow this practice, as they view it as an illegal way to make profits.
What is latency arbitage?
This trade strategy allows the trader to exploit price differences between two brokers, resulting in profits. Similar to scalping, you need to react very, very quickly to changes, and you require inefficiencies in quotes between two brokers.
Other platforms available include:
Webtrader
This is the leading web based platform for MT4 trading accounts for any computer. It therefore optimizes trading, while improving certain features and the layout, making it more user-friendly and have greater efficiency.
This method is ideal if you want to evade downloads that take up large memory space on your computer, as well as the ability to login to your account using any internet device. Some of its features in summary include:
It lends itself well to both demo and live accounts
No downloads to the mobile device
You can trade in both currencies and commodities
You can get it easily from the main website of the company
MT4 mobile trader
A mobile platform that gives ease of use, while retaining the impressive features of the MT4 platform on a mobile device (both Android and iOS).
You can trade the following instruments on the platform – metals, futures, CFDs, gold and silver. It also gives you other features such as:
The ability to trade on the move
Selling and buying financial instruments at any tome
Live rates that update in real-time
Accounts supported
The account variety on the site is very small, with the option of only one account. You have the choice to trade with variable and fixed spreads, as well as a leverage of 1:500.
Deposit and withdrawal options
The deposit amount that you need to open an account with the platform is R5000, or an equivalent amount in your currency. However, the amount balance that the trader holds determines the markets they can enter.
The broker accepts both credit and debit cards, as well as EFT payments. All these payments occur through the Gold Lounge secure payments portal. The approximate processing time for deposit transactions is about 24 hours, while withdrawals can take between 24 and 48 hours. Withdrawals go directly to the trader’s bank account through EFT, though the speed of individual banks will determine the time the trader will find the money in their account.
Commission, leverage and spreads
Commissions and spreads
The broker offers you trading on a commission-free basis, which may be good. However, both the variable and fixed spreads are above the average in the industry and makes them unprofitable.
The usual variable spreads on the MT4 platform are 2.3 pips on USD/EUR, while fixed spreads are at three pips for the same pair.
Leverage
The difference with other brokers is not much, as ACM Gold offers leverages of 1:500. However, many others offer leverages equal or exceeding this limit.
Note that the higher the leverage spread you are dealing with, the higher the risk is.
Bonuses, features
For new sign ups on the site, there is the Deposit Free Bonus. New members get free bonuses of $123 without initial deposits, and they can begin risk-free forex trade. The trade is valid for seven days, and in this period, you can withdraw as much profit as you get from the lots you trade within the month.
Customer support
The company takes pride in helping clients as much as possible. You can reach the company through phone call, email and their official website. Details are:
Phone – +27 011 784 0603
Email – [email protected]
Website – https://www.acmgold.com/helpdesk
In addition, you can write to their offices in South Africa. If possible, they encourage personal visits to their offices; and they have presence in social media platforms including Google+, LinkedIn, Twitter, YouTube and Facebook, where you can follow them.
Pros
The company is under regulation
Trading is free of commissions
Leverage levels are high
MT4 is available on the site
Cons
The spreads are too high and can interfere with profitability
There is no choice of trading platforms
You cannot use scalping on the platform
It lacks an ECN environment
Final thoughts
ACM Gold is among the oldest CFD brokers and forex trading platforms in South Africa that supports MT4. However, there are aspects that are not good with the broker, mainly to do with the very high leverage spreads, as well as the underlying suspicion that the site behaves like a market maker. In addition, it has insufficient information on the website and therefore, is not good particularly for newer traders.