HF Markets (HotForex) Review 2024

Rating 8/10

Max. Leverage

1:30

for Forex

Minimum Deposit

£0

EUR/USD Spread

1.3 pips

Benchmark

Visit HotForex

HF Markets is a forex and CFDs broker that offers Forex trading, stocks trading, and CFDs Trading on metals, energies, stocks, bonds, commodities, indices, ETFs, and stocks.

HF Markets was founded in 2010 and they are authorised in the UK and by other Top-Tier financial regulators, in Cyprus, Dubai, and South Africa.

Our review of HF Markets UK will assess their fees, leverage, available tradable instruments, account types, account opening process, deposit/withdrawal options, and customer support.

HF Markets can be trusted because they are licensed by tier-1 and tier-2 financial regulators, under rules that ensure they protect clients’ funds.

HotForex is the trading name of ‘HF Markets Group’. In 2022, the company announced it was changing the trading name from HotForex to HF Markets or HFM.

The multiple licenses of HF Markets make them score low on risk and are considered safe for traders in the UK. Find some of HF Markets regulations below:

1) Financial Conduct Authority (FCA): HF Markets is regulated by the FCA as ‘HF Markets (UK) Ltd’ and authorised to offer financial services in the UK, with reference number 801701, issued in 2018.

2) Cyprus Securities and Exchange Commission (CySEC): HF Markets is regulated in Europe by CySEC and licensed to offer investment services under the name ‘HF Markets (Europe) Ltd’, with license number 183/12, issued in 2012. HFM serves clients in the EU area through this license.

3) Dubai Financial Services Authority (DFSA): HF Markets is regulated in Dubai, UAE as ‘HF Markets (DIFC) Limited’, DFSA Reference Number: F004885, authorized to carry on financial services in 2018.

4) Financial Sector Conduct Authority (FSCA), South Africa: HF Markets is regulated in South Africa by FSCA as ‘HF Markets SA (PTY) Ltd’ and authorized to provide financial services, with FSP (Financial Services Provider) number 46632, issued in 2016.

5) Saint Vincent & The Grenadines Financial Services Authority (SVGFSA): HF Markets is regulated in Saint Vincent and The Grenadines by SVGFSA as ‘HF Markets (SV)) Ltd’ and authorized to operate as an international business company issuing derivatives. Their business number is 22747 and they hold an active license

6) Capital Markets Authority (CMA): Capital Markets Authority (CMA) Kenya has licensed HotForex as a non-dealing online foreign exchange broker under the name ‘HFM Investments Limited’ with CMA license number 155.

Negative balance protection is available for all of HFM’s retail clients

Leverage on HF Markets depends on the instrument you are trading and whether you are a retail or professional client.

The maximum leverage on HF Markets for retail clients is 1:30 for forex majors, 1:20 for forex minors, gold, and major indices, 1:10 for minor indices, energies, commodities, and metals, and 1:5 for shares and bonds.

With a leverage of 1:30, you open a trade worth 30 times the size of your deposit. For example, if you deposit £1,000, you can place a trade of £30,000.

The maximum leverage on HF Markets for Professional clients is 1:400, which is for major forex pairs, other instruments have lower leverages.

HF Markets has 3 main account types for traders to choose from, and a demo account, which features unlimited options and is risk-free for beginners to use and familiarise themselves with the trading platform before they open live accounts. You can also request an Islamic Account on HF Markets.

Here is an overview of the account types on HF Markets:

1) Premium Account: The HF Markets Premium Account is designed for retail clients who are experienced. This account allows you to trade forex and CFDs on metals, energies, stocks, bonds, commodities, indices, ETFs, and stocks DMA.

This account is spread only and you do not pay any commissions when you open or close trade positions. Spreads start from 1 pip and you pay swap fees whenever you keep a trade position open past the market’s closing time.

The Premium Account on HF Markets requires a minimum deposit of £0, with a minimum trade size is 0.01 and a maximum of 60 lots, 300 maximum open orders, and maximum leverage of 1:30.

You have negative balance protection with this account, which means you cannot lose more than the amount of money in your trading account. If a trade position is unsuccessful and you have a loss, any negative balance on your account will be reset to zero.

2) Zero Spread Account: The HF Markets Zero Spread Account is designed for retail clients who trade high volumes, use EAs, and want to pay lower spreads. This account allows you to trade forex and CFDs on metals, energies, stocks, bonds, commodities, indices, ETFs, and stocks DMA.

You pay commissions of £2.25 when you open a trade position and £2.25 when you close a position, making it £4.50 for a round turn. Spreads start from 0.0 pips and you pay swap fees whenever you keep a trade position open past the closing time of the market.

The Zero Spread Account on HF Markets requires a minimum deposit of £0, with a minimum trade size is 0.01 and a maximum of 60 lots, 500 maximum open orders, and maximum leverage of 1:30.

You have negative balance protection with this account, which means you cannot lose more than the amount of money in your trading account.

3) Premium Pro Account: The HF Markets Premium Pro Account is designed for professional clients who are experienced traders with higher risk assessments and want higher leverage limits. This account allows you to trade forex and CFDs on metals, energies, stocks, bonds, commodities, indices, ETFs, and stocks DMA.

The Premium Pro Account on HF Markets is also commission-free and you do not pay any commissions when you open or close trade positions. Spreads start from 1 pip and you pay swap fees whenever you keep a trade position open past the closing time of the market.

This account requires a minimum deposit of £5,000, with a minimum trade size is 0.01 and a maximum of 60 lots, 300 maximum open orders, and maximum leverage of 1:400.

You do not have negative balance protection with this account, which means you can lose more than the money in your account if you suffer a loss, and will be required to deposit more money to clear any negative balance.

To be classified as a professional client on HF Markets, you must satisfy at least 2 out of the following conditions.

1. You must have placed at least 40 trades of significant sizes over the last 1 year
2. You must have a financial instruments portfolio exceeding 500,000 EUR or GBP equivalent
3. You must have at least one year of working experience in the financial sector, in a professional role that requires knowledge of trading CFDs

If you meet the conditions, first open a retail account, then apply to customer support to upgrade your account to professional status. Note that you will be required to show proof of your claims.

4) Swap-free Islamic Account: HF Markets offers Islamic Accounts to Muslim traders that are in compliance with the sharia law of no-riba. These accounts are swap-free (interest-free), which means you do not pay any interest for keeping a trade position open past the market’s closing time.

You can convert your Premium or Zero Spread Accounts to Islamic status and the same features and fees will apply except for the swap fees.

Note that the Swap-fee Islamic Account HF Markets have a grace period of 7 days, during which no rollover fees are charged. If you keep a position open for more than 7 days, you will incur carry charges on some instruments.

To get a swap-free Islamic Account, first, create a retail account then contact the HF Markets customer support team to convert your account to a swap-free status.

HF Markets Base Account Currency

Your trades, deposits, profits, losses, and withdrawals on the platform are measured in your base account currency.

The available account base currencies on HF Markets UK are the British Pound sterling – GBP, Euros – EUR, and the United States Dollar – USD.

Fees on HF Markets depend on the instrument you are trading, your account type and the size of your trade. Find a summary of HF Markets’ trading and non-trading fees below:

1) Spread: Spreads are the difference between the ask (sell) and bid (buy) prices of financial instruments. Whenever you trade on the platform, you pay spreads, which is a markup added to the ask price by the broker. Spreads are measured in pips.

HF Markets operates a variable spreads system, which means that the spreads will fluctuate during the day to reflect market movements.

Typical spreads on HF Markets for some major instruments are shown below:

2) Commission fees: Whenever you open and close a trade position with the HF Markets Zero Spread Account, you pay a commission fee of £4.50 per round for every 1 lot, and this can be higher, depending on your trade size and the instrument.

Premium, Premium Pro, and Islamic Accounts are commission-free, so they do not pay any commissions on trades.

3) Swap Fees (Swap): If you keep a trade position open during the closing time of the market, the trade rolls over to the next day and you incur a rollover fee or overnight funding costs, also called swap fees.

Swap fees differ with traded instruments and pairs, account type, trade size, and whether your swap is long (buy) or short (sell).

Islamic Accounts do not pay swap fees, as they are swap-free.

It is important to note that HotForex uses a floating swap policy, which means swap rates change daily. You can use the swaps calculator on the HotForex website to determine your exact swap fees.

Non-trading fees

1) Deposit and Withdrawal fees: HF Markets offers free deposits and withdrawals. You do not pay any fees when you deposit funds to your account or withdraw from it. This applies to all account types and payment methods. Note that if you deposit less than $250 via bank transfers, you might incur some deposit fees.

2) Account Inactivity charges: HF Markets charges inactive account fees if you do not perform any trade on your account for 6 months. Any balance in your account will be charged a monthly fee of $5. If you do not have any funds in your account, no fees will be charged.

*For withdrawals, minimum withdrawal applies. If you wish to withdraw below the minimum withdrawal, you will have to cover the charges for the transaction. There are fees for deposits below $250 if you are funding your account via bank transfer.

HFcopy is HF Markets’ copy trading service. You can join HFcopy as a provider or follower. Strategy providers supply trades to followers. You can open an HFM account, set up your profile, and display your results as you trade. If your results are good, you gain followers and reward based on performance fees.

You will need to maintain positive results to get your reward.

If you join as a follower, you are free to sign up with any strategy provider. You will have access to your account so you can monitor your trades, close orders, and take your profits.

To start trading on the HF Markets platform, you need to open a live account. Follow the steps below to open your trading account.

Step 1) Go to the HF Markets website at www.hfmarkets.co.uk and click on the ‘Open Live Account’ button, highlighted in green.

Step 2) Choose if you want to open a corporate, joint or individual account, select your country of residence, and provide your full name, phone number, email, and date of birth. Set a password and check the terms and conditions box then click ‘Register’.

Step 3)Go to your email inbox and click the confirmation link sent, and then you will be redirected to your dashboard (an example is shown below). You will also get a confirmation email with your ‘myHF account ID’ after the account is activated.

Step 4) On your dashboard, you will be required to complete your registration/profile by supplying your address and answering questions about your financial and educational status and your experience level trading leveraged products.

Step 5) Next, you will be required to upload a valid ID to verify your identity and a proof of address to verify your address. Then wait for the approval.

Step 6) After your account is approved, you can make deposits, start trading, and make transfers and withdrawals.

*Note that you need to upload the required documents to access the full benefits of the platform. 

Payment methods accepted on HF Markets UK are cards (credit/debit), e-wallets (Skrill & Neteller), Trustly, and bank transfers. Find an overview of the deposit and withdrawal options available on HF Markets below.

What is the minimum deposit for HF Markets?

The minimum deposit on HF Markets depends on the account type you have and the payment method used. The Premium Pro Account has the highest minimum deposit at £5000.

Cards require a minimum deposit of $5, e-wallets (Skrill & Neteller) require $50, Trustly has a minimum deposit amount of $100 and bank transfers have no mandatory minimum deposit amount.

Cards and e-wallet deposits are credited within 10 minutes, while it takes about 2 days for Trustly, and within 2-10 days for bank transfers.

How do I deposit money into my HF Markets account?

Step 1) Log in to your dashboard by visiting the HF Markets website or via my.hfmarkets.co.uk/login.

Step 2) On your dashboard, click ‘Deposit’ on the left column menu (desktop view), then select your preferred deposit method.

Step 3) Enter the amount you want to deposit and follow the on-screen instructions to complete your deposit.

What is HF Markets’ minimum withdrawal?

The minimum withdrawal from HF Markets is $5 for cards and e-wallets, while bank transfers and Trustly require a minimum withdrawal amount of $100.

It takes 2-10 days to receive funds withdrawals to local banks and cards, while withdrawals to e-wallets are processed instantly or take 10 minutes.

How do I withdraw money from HF Markets to my bank account?

Step 1) Log in to your dashboard via my.hfmarkets.co.uk/login.

Step 2) On your dashboard, click ‘Withdraw’ on the menu, then select your preferred payment method.

Step 3) Enter the amount you want to withdraw and follow the on-screen instructions to complete your withdrawal request.

HF Markets offers over 1,000 trading instruments, find a breakdown of the financial instruments categories below:

1) MetaTrader 4 and MetaTrader 5: HF Markets supports the MT4 and MT5 trading applications for trading financial markets. The applications are available on the web, desktop, and mobile devices (Android & iOS). You can also use EAs as professional clients or other tools.

HF Markets takes all reasonable steps to ensure the best possible when executing your orders. Here are some of their best execution factors:

Price: The price for a given financial instrument is provided from HF Markets and it is updated as frequently as possible. Prices are not quoted outside of the broker’s operation times. With HF Markets, there is no guarantee that your orders will be executed at a favorable price. To ensure fairness, HF Markets ensures that their liquidity provider calculates the spread.

Costs: HF Markets charges commission and financing fees. They can be found on their website under contract specifications. These fees are not calculated with the bid/ask spread. They are charged explicitly to your trading account and deducted from your balance.

Speed of Execution: HF Markets strives to offer a high speed of execution within prevailing technological limits. If the reason for a delay in order transmission is due to a poor network connection from your end, your market order might become out of date. In this situation, such an order is declined.

Likelihood of execution: HF Markets reserves the right to decline any type of order. Especially if there is not enough liquidity to execute it. Stop Loss, Take Profit, Buy Limit, Buy Stop, Sell Limit, and Sell Stop Orders on financial instruments offered by the broker are executed at your requested price. In a situation where this is not possible, these orders are executed at the first available price.

Size of Order: You can place orders in lot sizes. In most cases, HF Markets does not have a size limit for the orders you can place. However, the company reserves the right to decline any order that cannot be filled because its too large.

Market Impact: Unusual market conditions may lead to rapid changes in price. This will also affect the factors listed above. In this case, HF Markets will take all reasonable steps to make sure your trades are executed at the best conditions.

Podcasts: HF Markets launched trading education podcasts in 2023. It is free and you can listen to it on multiple streaming platforms. According to our review, HFM’s podcast is available on 18 streaming platforms. Here are the platforms in one glance.

At the time of this writing, there are up to 26 different podcasts on HFM’s podcast list. Here are the latest ones.

How To Videos: If you need help downloading/installing any of HF Market’ mobile app, this is what you need. These videos guide you on how to download, HFM App, MT4, and MT5 on your phone (android or iPhone). The guide also covers PC installation.

Live Webinars: HF Markets holds live webinars that can improve your FX knowledge. It does not matter if you are a beginner, intermediate, or an expert trader. There is a webinar for every level. These webinars will improve your trading skills and increase your confidence in forex trading.

Since the webinars are live, you will need to register to book your slot. There are no extra charges for the webinar. On the webinar page, you will find the schedule for each month. You can also select your experience level so that only relevant webinars are recommended for you.

Finally, all webinars end with a Q&A session so you get the opportunity to get answers to your questions from industry expert.

HF Markets has responsive customer service support. Traders can reach HF Markets’ support via any of the means below during working days:

1) Live chat: HF Markets offers live chat support to clients which is available 24 hours from Monday to Friday. When our team tested the HF Markets live chat, the wait time was under 2 minutes and the answers to our questions were relevant.

Whether you are a registered user or not, you can access the live chat on their website. You will be required to submit your email and name to initiate a chat.

2) Phone number support: HF Markets has an active local phone number support, and the call centre agents responded in less than 1 minute when we tested it. The answers to questions were relevant.

The HF Markets phone number is +44-2035199898 and is active from 9:00 AM to 6:00 PM on working days.

3) Email Support is fair: You can reach HF Markets via email support at [email protected]. Once you send an enquiry email, you will receive an auto-generated response to show that a ticket has been created for your enquiry.

A representative replied in about 9 minutes, we sent another question and got a reply in less than 10 minutes. The answers to our questions were relevant and satisfactory.

Do we Recommend HF Markets UK?

HF Markets is FCA-authorized and regulated in multiple jurisdictions by other top-tier financial regulators. This makes them score low on the risk and is considered safe for trading. The broker also has different account types to choose from including Professional and Swap-free Accounts

The fees on HF Markets are moderate, as they offer commission-free trading on moderate spreads and also offer free deposits/withdrawals. Although the broker charges inactive fees after 6 months, you can avoid this if you withdraw all funds, leaving your balance at zero.

The customer support of HF Markets is fair as they respond promptly on all channels during business days, although they are not available 24/7. Their website is easy to navigate, although sometimes it redirects to www.hfeu.com, which is their EEA website.

We recommend that you try out HF Markets, you can visit their website to know more and chat with the support team if you have any further questions.

HF Markets UK FAQs