TradeOTC Review: Over-the-Counter Trading or a SCAM?

“Unlock the financial world” – an enticing offer from the brokerage company TradeOTC. For unknown reasons, the firm claims to offer over-the-counter trading, even though it offers CFDs, which are definitely not related to OTC trading. Additionally, the broker mentions STP technology and the storage of client deposits in segregated accounts but lacks licenses from regulators. The legal address is hidden, but the user agreement mentions the jurisdiction of Saint Vincent and the Grenadines. The platform appears very inconsistent and resembles a scam. Furthermore, there are too few online reviews. It is essential to investigate further.

TradeOTC General Information

Website	https://tradeotc.io/
Phone Number	+61489927745
Email	supportotc@tradeotc.io
Address	Saint Vincent and the Grenadines
License	–
Minimum Deposit	$250
Assets	CFD
Leverage	1:500
Trading Platform	–

Registration and Client Portal Review

TradeOTC’s official website is uninspiring, lacking any professional or decent graphic design. At the top, you can find information about the company and its terms through several sections:

• About us.
• Markets.
• Support.

Complete tastelessness, lack of style and design – all of this can be said about TradeOTC. The broker could have provided quality and comprehensive information about itself, but instead decided to inundate users with tons of meaningless text and cliché phrases. In general, nothing interesting or unique.

To assess what the interface of the personal account looks like, you need to register, but there’s a catch. You cannot simply register with TradeOTC. The client must first submit an application and then wait for the company’s managers to contact them. Such a practice is very rare among brokerage firms and is never found among regulated and trusted intermediaries.

Even on a demo account, you cannot try it because this option is absent. Well, the review starts with the identification of serious shortcomings.

TradeOTC Trading Conditions

After reading the company’s name, one might think of over-the-counter trading, but that’s not the case. There is no over-the-counter trading here because it’s a typical CFD broker offering trading in stocks, metals, indices, commodities, currency pairs, and cryptocurrencies. Spot markets and futures assets are not represented.

Account Types Review

The broker operates on the well-known fraudulent principle of “if you want better terms and more services, pay more money”. Therefore, clients have a choice of six types of accounts. By default, TradeOTC offers a minimum deposit of $2,500, spreads from 0.12 pips, leverage up to 1:100-1:500, assistance from a personal manager, educational sessions, and signals.

The higher the account type, the more favorable the conditions and additional services. Spreads decrease, discounts on swaps are 10% or more, leverage is wider, the number of signals increases, as well as educational sessions. Additionally, TradeOTC provides SMS notifications to account holders with deposits of $100,000, or more, direct WhatsApp support 24/7, and VIP services for deposits of $250,000, and above.

The minimum size of $2,500 is staggering, and the lack of a demo account is worth noting. So, testing the platform is only possible with a substantial deposit, without any risk-free options. The leverage of 1:100-1:500 suggests a lack of a license, as regulators typically prohibit offering such high leverage. There is no Islamic account option at TradeOTC.

Trading Platform

Unfortunately, due to the inability to register freely and test the platform to see how it looks and what features it offers, we cannot provide further information. It’s also worth noting that TradeOTC doesn’t provide any information about its trading platform. There is even no section on the website dedicated to the trading platform.

TradeOTC — Deposit and Withdrawal of Funds

Clients can transfer money using credit/debit cards and bank wire transfers. Money transactions are carried out without commissions; however, TradeOTC charges 1% for clearing and also imposes a fixed quarterly maintenance fee of $75.

The minimum withdrawal amount is $100 for card withdrawals and $1,000 for bank wire transfers. It’s worth noting the long processing time, which takes up to 7-10 business days, while other brokerage companies typically complete this process in no more than 2-3 days.

Verification

Every trader must undergo verification after registering an account. This needs to be completed within the first 90 days before making the first withdrawal request. TradeOTC requires clients to provide colored photos/scans of several types of documents:

1. Proof of identity, such as your passport.
2. Proof of address, which can be a utility bill or bank statement.
3. A bank card, with the first 12 digits and CVV hidden for security purposes.

Additional Options

All additional options offered by TradeOTC are described in the tariff plans: signals, a personal account manager, and educational sessions. Also, traders can use an economic calendar and view live quotes on the website’s homepage. The additional services are quite limited, and popular features like PAMM or auto-trading are not provided.

Is TradeOTC a Scam?

The closed registration, high leverage, and lack of a description of the trading platform all raise doubts about the company’s reliability. The broker doesn’t resemble a secure and reputable platform. Although it’s reasonable to suspect TradeOTC of fraudulent activity, we will still check its legitimacy and operating history to find more substantial evidence.

Legal Information and License

There is no specific legal address provided on the website. In the Terms of Use agreement at TradeOTC, we found a mention of the jurisdiction of St. Vincent and the Grenadines (SVG). Let’s try to find this firm in the SVGFSA registry.

There is no record of the broker in the SVGFSA registry. We can also try checking the ASIC registry, the regulator of Australia, as TradeOTC mentions a phone number from Australia, suggesting the possibility of having a presence there. However, ASIC has no information about this company either.

Where is the firm actually registered? It’s unknown. It could potentially be an unregistered entity, just an ordinary website. Therefore, there is no legality associated with TradeOTC.

Tradeotc.io Domain Info

The company is secretive and anonymous, revealing almost no information about itself. The founding date is ignored. Checking the registries has yielded no results, so the only way to determine when TradeOTC was launched is by examining the registration of the official website’s domain. The domain was registered on September 21, 2023, indicating a very short operating period for the broker. Additionally, there is almost a complete absence of online reviews.

Contacts Review

We already mentioned the Australian phone number, which is highly unlikely to be genuine since TradeOTC is not authorized in that jurisdiction and is not allowed to conduct activities there. Besides the phone, there is an email address, which turned out to be real, so users can contact the managers through it. Users can also submit a request for feedback, including during the account registration process. However, there is no online chat, nor are there any social media accounts.

More Details

Is it really an STP broker? Definitely not. The broker has started quite recently, lacks licenses, and thus cannot implement STP technology. TradeOTC falsely mentions sections on STP and over-the-counter trading, although neither of these features is present. The company is being deceptive and misleading users while operating under a dealing desk business model with a conflict of interest.

Pros and Cons

 

Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ)