GFC Investment Review
Why GFC Investment Sucks In 50 Words
Why it sucks?!? Because there’s a high chance that you will be scammed by this broker! I don’t really know what else to say here because a broker may have the BEST trading conditions in the world, but if there’s scam suspicion, then why risk it? We don’t know for sure they are a scam, but so far they certainly look like a broker ThatSucks!
Why GFC Investment Doesn’t Suck In 50 Words
*cricket noises* Umm, I don’t know. The platform is pretty user-friendly and the color palette for the website is alright but other than that I cannot come up with anything to praise them for.
Is GFC Investment A Scam?
GFC Investment is an unregulated, unlicensed broker, with an unspecified launch date and a terribly bad reputation online. We’ve located several complaints against GFC Investment and we couldn’t find any form of supervision from a financial regulator.
The Financial Services Authority of St. Vincent and the Grenadines mentioned they don’t “Regulate, Monitor, Supervise or License” any companies that engage in the business of “FOREX Trading or Brokerage or Binary Options Trading” (see alert here). In other words, clients will not benefit from this financial watchdog’s protection although GFC Investment is located in St. Vincent and the Grenadines.
Furthermore, the British FCA has issued a warning against Dartalon (owning company of GFC Investments), saying the firm is not allowed to offer financial services in the UK, yet continues to do so. The FCA continues by mentioning that some firms that act without authorization “knowingly run investment scams”. Does that make them a scam? As always, you’ll be the judge of that.
The broker can be contacted at phone +4932229990128 and email [email protected].
Should I Open An Account With GFC Investment?
GFC Investment is an unlicensed online CFD and Forex broker that also offers a variety of cryptocurrencies. The website/brand is owned and operated by DARTALON LTD, a company, with an address at Kingstown, St. Vincent, and the Grenadines.
According to some online sources, the broker was owned/operated by both DARTALON LTD and GFCInvestment group KINTEKA OU, the latter being based in Estonia. At the time of writing this review, we couldn’t locate any reference to KINTEKA OU on their website or in the Terms And Conditions.
The short answer is No, but who knows, maybe you will find a reason to open an account there, so let’s get on with our review. GFC’s trading platform is provided by TraderSoft and is available as a web version only (no download required). The education section is relatively okay, with the highlight being the e-books they provide. You will learn some of the basic stuff, but don’t expect to be a master trader after reading them.
Accounts start at EUR 250 (named Self Manage), which is average-to-high for the industry but the next tiers require massive investments: EUR 10,000 for the Gold account and EUR 50,000 for Platinum. There’s also a VIP account but the minimum deposit is not specified. These amounts are huge for any regulated and well-respected broker but let’s not forget GFC Investment is neither of those, so if you feel like risking 10 thousand euros, maybe think twice.
For all the reasons stated so far, we don’t recommend opening an account with this broker, at least for the time being. However, a lot of things should change for us to recommend GFC Investment in the future but you know… never say never.
GFC Investment Complaints
Complaints against this broker range from “GFC is 100% scam” to “GFC is an online robber” to “this company is total fraud”. Pick your poison! People said they weren’t able to withdraw and also mentioned high-pressure phone sales tactics. Sure, we cannot verify these online complaints and claims, but at this point, I don’t think we need to.
GFC Investment Regulatory Warnings And Announcements
23/10/2018: The British Financial Conduct Authority has warned against Dartalon Ltd t/a Greenfields Capital and GFCInvestment saying: “We believe this firm has been providing financial services or products in the UK without our authorization” and also warned that such firms may be running a scam. Read Full FCA Warning.
GFC Investment Bonus
Gold (min EUR10,000) and Platinum (min EUR50,000) accounts show that a Bonus will be offered. However, there is no other information regarding percentages or required trading volume before a withdrawal can be made. We recommend asking for written clarification from GFC representatives or better yet, pass on any bonus or huge investments like the ones required by the Gold and Platinum accounts.
GFC Investment Withdrawal
According to their FAQ page, withdrawals have an “examination” period of 2 days, followed by another 5 to 7 business days until the money is released. The methods are credit cards, wire transfers and e-wallets (Skrill, EFT). Wire transfer minimums may change at the company’s discretion and a $25 commission is added to each transfer.
GFC Investment Extras
Leverage on Demo is 1:50 BTC but when you switch to a real account the leverage changes to 1:1 BTC and 1:0.5 for Dash, Ethereum, and Litecoin, which means you will have to come up with an initial margin of 200%. In other words, if you want to trade 1 ETH against the US Dollar, you need to have 2 ETH!!! This is unheard of before.
GFC Investment Ratings
User Friendliness 13/20
The website is relatively easy to navigate but it’s only available in English; the platform is well built (but that’s TraderSoft’s merit) and demo accounts are available. We couldn’t locate a download location for mobile platforms so we assume they are not available.
Range Of Markets, Spreads And Leverage 10/20
At GFC Investment you can trade Forex, CFD on commodities, stocks, and indices but also everybody’s darling: cryptocurrencies. The available coins are Bitcoin, Ethereum, Dash, Ripple and Litecoin, all tradable against the US Dollar. Spreads are on the high side, with 4 pips fixed for EUR/USD and about $75 for BTC/USD. Leverage goes up to 1:50 for Forex majors and 1:10 for CFD on indices.
We’ve opened Demo and Real accounts for the purpose of this review and we can tell you that spreads are very different. For example, on Demo, you will get 1:50 leverage for Crypto, but on Real accounts, the leverage for BTC is 1:1 (no leverage) and 1:0.5 for the other cryptos (which means an initial margin of 200%). Leverage for FX and CFD also changes depending on what type of account you have (Demo or Real).
Deposits And Withdrawals 10/20
Deposits can be made via cards, wires, and Skrill according to their FAQ. However, when logging into the platform, in the Deposit section we found Bitcoin and Ethereum addresses – you can simply send your crypto to that address and your account will be credited (or at least that’s how it’s supposed to happen).
Apart from this, we found the option to deposit via Bitxplace, which is a crypto exchange or broker or something else, it’s not clear. They say that you can deposit here for the “fastest account credit, in the most favorable terms” but then continue saying that Bitxplace is not connected in any way with GFC Investments. So, what will happen to the money that I send there? Will it be stuck on another broker (or exchange or whatever Bitxplace is)? Is GFC acting as an affiliate for Bitxplace? Very weird to say the least, and very unclear.
Withdrawals need a 2 day period of examination and additional 5-7 days to be released (or to reach you – again, unclear) and can be performed via the same methods as deposits. The minimum withdrawal is $100.
Fees And Support 12/20
There’s a $25 fee attached to every wire withdrawal but besides that, they don’t specify other fees, which doesn’t mean they don’t exist. There are no fees to open an account, just like everywhere else. Live chat was not available at the time of our visit so support is available via email, or phone only but using those methods means you will give them your contact information.
GFC Investment Extras 4/20
Leverage structure which requires you to risk more money than your trade (1: 0.5), huge deposits for anything but the lowest account, and weird deposit methods which require you to open an account and send money to a broker or exchange that has nothing to do with GFC Investment. On top of all this, sprinkle multiple scam allegations from online users and the FCA warning and you have a broker ThatSucks Extra!