HF Markets formerly known as HotForex is a multi awarded CFD broker with an Excellent quality rating 9,4 out of 10. This HFM review has been written upon a numerous requests from our readers. During our in-depth expert review, we have analysed over 100 features including forex fees & spreads, regulation license and trading platforms with competition.
You can read real HFM user reviews at the bottom of this review article.
HFM Pros & Cons
- Trustworthy broker with high trust score
- Leverage up to 1:2000
- Minimum deposit $5
- Fast trade execution
- Low spreads from 0 Pips
- 50+ currency pairs
- MT4/MT5 Metatrader
- No price requotes
- Fantastic customer support
- Bonuses for new traders
- No dealing desk
- Regulated by FCA, CySEC, FSCA, DFSA etc.
- Negative balance protection for EU
- No bonuses for EU located traders
- Mostly focused only on forex
- Only USD or EUR as base currencies
Overall Rating of HF Markets: 9,4/10 Excellent
Key Information
| 💰 BONUS | yes (depends on entity) |
| 💳 Minimum deposit | $5 |
| 💰Number of currency pairs | 50 |
| 📉 Max leverage | 30:1 to 1000:1 |
| 📉 Forex spread | from 0,1 pip |
| 🖥 Minimum trade volume | 0.01 Lot |
| 📉 Metatrader 4 | yes |
| 📉 Metatrader 5 | yes |
| 📉 cTrader | no |
| 📉 TradingView | no |
| 📉 Mobile platform | HFM App |
| 📉 Copy trading | yes HFcopy |
| 📉 CFD on Stocks | yes |
| 📉 Real Stocks | 2000+ w/o commision |
| 📉 Fractional Shares | yes from $5 |
| 📉 Metals | Palladium Platinum Silver/Euro Silver/USD Gold/Euro Gold/USD |
| 📉 CFD ETFs | yes 34 |
| 📉 Agriculture commodities | Coffee Cocoa Sugar Cotton |
| 📉 Energies | UK Brent OIL US Crude OIL |
| 📉CFD Indices | yes |
| 📉 PAMM Account | yes |
| 💰 Account Types | Micro, Premium, VIP, Zero Spread, Fixed, Islamic account |
| 💰 Islamic account | Yes swap free islamic account |
| 💰 Negative Balance Protection | yes |
| 💰 Account currencies | USD or EUR |
| ☎ Regulation | FCA UK CySEC Cyprus FSCA (South Africa), DFSA Dubai UAE |
| 📚 Languages supported | 24 languages supported |
How we reviewed HFM
First of all, I’ve chosen PREMIUM ACCOUNT to start with.
I’ve started out by filling in an online questionnaire with basic personal information, indicating my previous trading experience (a few basic questions, honestly nothing difficult to do) and then finally depositing $100.
When filling in an online signup form, you must provide your actual phone number because the HFM representative will call you to verify your identity. I must say, they take the whole verification process really seriously.
Once the account was open, in the next step I have deposited $100 (it is actually the minimum deposit amount for Premium account type which I recommend to open) via VISA card and funds were credited to the trading account within 10 minutes, but for larger deposits.
In case you decide to deposit using a wire transfer, HFM broker will pay for bank transfer fees in case your deposit is greater than $250.
First of all, we need to alert you that HFM is a regulated broker, which means you must still verify your identity before you can activate your real HFM account to comply with the law on money laundering.
You can verify your identity online by submitting a scanned copy of your identity card OR passport + some sort of document that will verify your address of residence, energy bill or mobile bill, bank account statement – you can, of course, blur the amounts )
During the test I have placed several orders for the following major currency pairs: EURUSD, GBPUSD, EURGBP both long and short, especially during the peak business hours, and I can honestly say that trade execution time with HFM was one of the fastest that I have witnessed!
All our business orders for testing purposes were fulfilled on time. When I opened the contract, I placed the LIMIT (Take Profit) as well as STOP-LOSS. Although this broker is a Market Maker, during our test we noticed no price requotes , which means that the price we entered as the exit price was actually the price the broker had actually concluded the contract with (without any problems and without platform freezing).
STP Broker
HFM is 100% STP Broker, following a Market Execution policy with no dealing desk (which is good if you ask me). This means that all clients have their orders executed instantly under normal market conditions and at the real market price. All client’s orders are transmitted to and executed by HF Markets Ltd who obtains liquidity from multiple banking and financial institutions.
This information, along with all other relevant information regarding their execution standards, is clearly communicated through the Order Execution Policy legal documentation that can be found here.
Financial Instruments (Assets available)
- Forex: Over 50 currency pairs, including major, minor, and exotic pairs.
- Metals: Four precious metals: gold, silver, platinum, and palladium.
- Energies: Energy commodities like UK Brent Oil and US Crude Oil, available as spot or futures contracts.
- Indices: 11 global stock indices, such as the S&P 500, FTSE 100, and GER 40.
- Stocks: Over 100 global company shares, including BlackRock Inc, Google, NatWest, and Uber.
- Commodities: Five soft commodities: cocoa, coffee, copper, cotton, and sugar.
- Bonds: Three government bonds: Euro Bund, US 10-Year Treasury Note, and UK Gilt.
- ETFs: More than 15 exchange-traded funds across various sectors, markets, and currencies.
- Cryptocurrencies: At least 10 popular cryptocurrencies, including Bitcoin, Ethereum, Ripple, Litecoin, Cardano, Solana, BNB, Chainlink, Bitcoin Cash, and Polkadot.
HFM Account Types
This broker is currently offering 7 different account types:
- MICRO – recommended for small depositors
- ZERO – zero pips forex spreads, and deposits starting from $100
- PREMIUM – at least $500+ deposits
- FIXED spreads
- VIP – for professional traders who want super tight spreads but can afford to invest $20k+
- AUTO HF Copy Trading – Social Trading Account
- ISLAMIC ACCOUNT
Based on the vast array of trading accounts, HFM caters to all type of traders .
| Account Types for Worldwide clients | |
|---|---|
| Micro | $50 deposit, 1:500 leverage*, spreads from 1 pip |
| Premium | $500 deposit, 1:400 leverage*, spreads from 1 pip |
| ZERO | $100 deposit, 1:200 leverage*, spread from 0 pip |
| Fixed | $500 deposit, 1:400 leverage*, fixed spread |
| VIP | $20,000 deposit, 1:300 leverage*, spreads from 0.2 pips |
| Auto | $500 deposit, 1:400 leverage*, spread from 1 pip |
| Account Types fo European Union clients | |
| Micro | $5 deposit, 1:30 leverage*, spreads from 1 pip |
| Premium | $500 deposit, 1:30leverage*, spreads from 1 pip |
| ZERO | $100 deposit, 1:30 leverage*, spread from 0 pip |
| Fixed | $500 deposit, 1:30 leverage*, fixed spread |
| VIP | $20,000 deposit, 1:30 leverage*, spreads from 0.2 pips |
| Auto | $500 deposit, 1:30 leverage*, spread from 1 pip |
| PAMM | $250 deposit, 1:30 leverage*, spread from 1 pip |
| Notes: ** No BONUSES for EU Clients ** No PAMM account for EU Clients |
HFM Spreads & Trading Cost
Forex spreads
| SYMBOL | TYPICAL SPREAD |
|---|---|
| EURUSD | 0.1 |
| USDJPY | 0.1 |
| USDCHF | 0.4 |
| GBPUSD | 0.3 |
| AUDUSD | 0.4 |
| GBPJPY | 0.7 |
| EURGBP | 0.7 |
| ** Spreads are variable and heavily depend on your chosen Account type! |
Crypto spreads
| SYMBOL | TYPICAL SPREAD |
|---|---|
| BTCUSD | 48.49 |
| BTCEUR | 51.94 |
| ETHUSD | 4.78 |
| ETHEUR | 5.0 |
| LTCUSD | 3.79 |
| LTCEUR | 3.2 |
| ** Spreads are variable and heavily depend on your chosen Account type! |
Commodities spreads
| SYMBOL | TYPICAL SPREAD |
|---|---|
| OIL | 0.04 |
| GOLD | 0.21 |
| SILVER | 0.031 |
| COTTON | 0.3 |
| COFFEE | 0.3 |
| ** Spreads are variable and heavily depend on your chosen Account type! |
HFM demo account test
Like many other brokers, this will also allow you to begin with an unlimited virtual demo account where you have virtual $ 100,000 available. What we’re hoping for is that you can play in the game and enjoy unlimited time. This is very good because other brokers offer time-limited demo accounts within which you can try only limited features.
HFM withdrawals were fast
Once the testing was over, we had to withdraw the balance back to our card that was used to make an initial deposit. Since our account was already verified, there was absolutely no problem. The whole process of withdrawing the amount from requesting the payment until the money reached my card took in approx. 24 hours which is great if you ask me.
Is HFM a safe and trustworthy broker?
Yes HFM is a safe and 100% legit forex broker. It is regulated by Tier 1, Tier 2 and Tier 3 financial regulators.
HFM Licenses & Regulation
HFM broker is regulated by 5 different regulators across the world.
- Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) United Kingdom Nbr. 801701
- FSCA South Africa Nbr.46632
- FSA Seychelles SD015 for entity HF Markets (Seychelles) Ltd
- DFSA Dubai F004885 for Trading Point MENA Ltd.
- HF Markets (Europe) Ltd regulated by CySEC 183/12
Safety of your funds
Your funds are 100% safe with HFM:
- segregated bank accounts
- bullet proof insurance
- top tier finance regulation
- excellent reputation among fx traders
Segregated bank accounts
Segregated bank accounts where your money is safely held in Barlcay’s bank are now common in forex retail industry, but guaranteed protection against the negative balance is not yet common with all brokers! The broker looks like he takes very seriously the question of security when checking each client to avoid the fraudsters.
HFM is on the list of good and reliable brokers, which means that Cysec is registering only very few complaints filed by its former clients !
HFM’s market leading insurance
Company has made extra efforts to safeguard its liabilities against Clients and got an insurance program for a limit of €5,000,000, which includes market leading coverage against errors, omissions, negligence, fraud and various other risks that may lead to financial loss.
Is HFM a scam?
No HFM is not a scam. HF Markets Ltd. is regulated by market watchdogs like Financial Conduct Authority in the UK, Cysec and South Africa FSCA. HF Markets broker is a trusted brand with an outstanding reputation.
Final verdict
Based on our outstanding experience, we strongly recommend trading with HFM.
HFM is one of the brokers with an excellent reputation among demanding traders .
We have to say that in the flood of brokers who are now established around the globe and who we have been testing so far, HFM really stands out and exceeds the average and puts it among the top!
Here are the main three reasons for this outstanding rating:
- robust and stable trading platform
- safety
- low commisions and fees (actually one of the lowest in fx retail industry!!)
- excellent and knowledgeable customer support
Discuss your own experience with HF Markets
What is your experience with HF Markets broker ? How do you review HFM as a broker? Did you like it? Did they scam you? Please post your opinion and questions below in comments !
| RISK DISCLAIMER: CFDs are complex instruments and come with a high risk of losing money rapidly due to leverage. 71.61% of retail investor accounts lose money when trading CFDs with HF Markets (Europe) Ltd. You should consider whether you understand how CFDs work and whether you can afford to take the high risk of losing your money. |
About Author
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I have been trading with this broker for the last two years and it offers several different assets including digital commodities now like bitcoin which is pretty volatile. However i am trading majors coz they came with tight spreads and i can make good pips out of them consistent basis. I am on the other side also watching bitcoin closely and have plans to trade it in near future. But for now i am with the majors only. Hotforex trading exection is good overall. No hassles with the withdrawals too. I recommend them safe for now.
Do you mind to share your strategy you get successful with this broker?
Twelve months trading live with this broker, on their mt4. Also traded demo account for around six months before funding live account. The live account i started was small one but it is growing reasonably. Did some withdraws too usually small amounts and the withdrawal system is fine. Trading environment is also fair and recommended.
My to go to is mt4 as well, i guess i just got used to it. the broker over all is great, they do offer mt5 too. and crypto trading. though i opted to stick to eurusd mostly, scalps during ny open. or tokyo. great broker. great services.
This broker looks genuine, can I trade bitcoin with this broker? Anyone experienced with crypto trading/payment?
hey John, you can trade CFD on Bitcoin yes.
In case you are interested in trading/owning real Bitcoin that you can store in the ewallet you should try eToro instead:
https://www.bestonlineforexbroker.com/etoro1
they do offer bitpay if im not mistaken and another crypto payment, but your best option is to contact their support, its a good broker never the less.
well balanced broker over all, hotforex is pretty much popular and one of the oldest well updated brokers out there, well dont hotforex.
Hotforex is a pretty decent broker. I have traded and still trading with them. The overall trading tenure is two years so far, sticll counting. The trade execution is smooth. Spreads are low and leverage can be limit up to 1:1000. Funds withdrawal or deposits does not take much long. They are instant almost.
Superb trading experience with this broker i.e., 8 months trading live with this broker hotforex. Nice leverage, competitive tight spreads and withdrawals always in time. Cheers!
I experienced hotforex broker has a good number of tradable instruments along with competitive spreads and their support is also very responsive with a good reputation which is much appreciated.