Moneta Markets Review

Founded in 2019, Moneta Markets is a Forex and CFD broker that handles more than $200 billion in monthly trading volume and has 70,000+ clients. It is regulated by several regulatory bodies including, FCA (United Kingdom), FSCA (South Africa) and FSA (Seychelles). Client funds are held in segregated trust accounts and negative balance protection is in place.

It is a good-looking operation overall and has a broader offering than the average offshore forex broker. Moneta Markets offers access to more than 1,000 instruments across forex, metals, commodities, indices, share CFDs, ETFs, bonds and crypto, which gives it a wider overall choice of products than many brokers in this space. Platform choice is also decent, with MetaTrader 4, MetaTrader 5, AppTrader, the CopyTrader app and the ProTrader 2.0 web platform.

Moneta Markets gives clients the choice of three main account types:

• Direct STP Account - minimum deposit of $50, spreads from 1.2 pips, zero commission, leverage up to 1000:1.
• Prime ECN Account - minimum deposit of $50, spreads from 0.0 pips, commission of $3 per lot per side, leverage up to 1000:1.
• Ultra ECN Account - minimum deposit of $20,000, spreads from 0.0 pips, commission of $1 per lot per side, leverage up to 500:1.

All three accounts support the same base currencies, including AUD, USD, GBP, EUR, SGD, CAD, NZD, JPY, HKD and BRL, and all three can be opened as Islamic (swap-free) accounts.

One positive here is that the Ultra ECN account is genuinely competitive on cost, with spreads from 0.0 pips and a low $1 per side commission, although the $20,000 minimum deposit is obviously a barrier for most retail traders. The Prime ECN account is probably the more realistic sweet spot for active traders, while the Direct STP account gives newer traders a commission-free option with a lower entry point. Maximum leverage goes up to 1000:1, however as with most brokers this depends on the entity and jurisdiction you fall under, which is based on where you live.

Moneta Markets also offers swap-free trading, but it is not open-ended. This option is only available to clients from certain eligible Muslim countries, with a 10-day swap-free period on forex, XAUUSD, XAGUSD and oil before an administration fee or swap charge applies. A number of currency pairs are excluded from that grace period and incur charges from day one, so traders do need to read the details.

Opening an account is straightforward. The online application is quick, but ID and proof of address are required before a live account can be opened. That is pretty standard these days and should not be a problem for most traders.

Funding is one of their weaker areas. Moneta only allows deposits and withdrawals using wire transfer, debit and credit cards, FasaPay and Sticpay. Deposits are usually instant apart from wire transfers, which can take 2 to 5 business days. Withdrawals are generally processed within 24 hours on most methods, while wire withdrawals can take 2 to 7 business days. It is a workable setup, but the overall range still feels limited compared with many brokers that now offer more e-wallets, local payment solutions and crypto funding options.

Where Moneta Markets does score well is in the extra tools available to traders. It offers free VPS hosting for clients who deposit $500 or more and trade at least 5 FX lots per month, plus copy trading through an app with access to more than 6000 traders. It also provides a solid range of trading tools and educational content, including a premium economic calendar, technical views, Market News TV, Moneta TV, and the Market Masters education section. Support is available by live chat, email and phone, but only 24/5 rather than 24/7.

The main drawbacks are the fairly long restricted-country list and the limited funding choice. Moneta’s site specifically says its services are not intended for residents of Australia, Canada, Cyprus, France, Spain, Russia, Ukraine, Italy and the United States, among others.

Overall though, Moneta Markets offers a well-rounded trading setup with broad market coverage, good platform choice, useful trader tools, strong account protection features and competitive pricing on its ECN accounts. It is not perfect, but for traders in regions it accepts, it does come across as a serious and complete broker.