Exness Broker Review

Is Exness Safe?

Exness’ exit from the UK/EU retail market following the regulators’ restrictions intended to safeguard traders does not speak highly of the group. However, Exness is regulated by multiple second-tier authorities including the South African FSCA.

Founded in Russia in 2008, Exness Group is a relatively new Forex and CFD broker. It has grown rapidly since its inception and now has over 145,000 clients worldwide and is regulated by seven national authorities.

In 2012 Exness obtained a licence from the Cyprus Securities and Exchange Commission (CySEC) and moved its headquarters to Cyprus. In 2018, Exness shut down its retail business in the EU and UK in response to tighter restrictions on retail CFD brokers – though it does retain a business-to-business (B2B) service in both regions. 

Exness’s main focus for retail trading is now Africa, Asia and Latin America and it acquired a licence from the South African Financial Services Conduct Authority (FSCA) in December 2020. The Exness Group has multiple subsidiaries operating under different names and is regulated by different national authorities:

• Nymstar Limited is a Securities Dealer authorized and regulated by the Seychelles Financial Services Authority (FSA) with license number SD025.
• Vlerizo (Pty) Ltd is authorized by the Financial Sector Conduct Authority (FSCA) in South Africa as a Financial Service Provider (FSP) with FSP number 51024.
• Exness B.V. is a Securities Intermediary authorised and regulated by the Central Bank of Curaçao and Sint Maarten with license number 0003LSI.
• Venico Capital Limited is authorised by the Financial Services Commission (FSC) in BVI with registration number 2032226 and investment business licence number SIBA/L/20/1133. 
• Tortelo Limited is authorised by the Financial Services Commission (FSC) in Mauritius with registration number 176967 and Investment Dealer (Full Service Dealer, Excluding Underwriting) licence number GB20025294.
• B2B Only: Exness (Cy) Ltd is a Cyprus Investment Firm, authorized and regulated by the Cyprus Securities and Exchange Commission (CySEC) with license number 178/12.
• B2B Only: Exness (UK) Ltd is an Investment Firm, authorized and regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) in the United Kingdom under the Financial Services Register number 730729.

Nigerian traders will be trading with Nymstar Ltd, which is authorised and regulated by the FSA in Seychelles. 

The Seychelles FSA provides less regulatory oversight than those of the EU and Australia, and while it requires brokers to keep client funds in segregated accounts and issue monthly statements to their clients, it does not require brokers to offer negative balance protection or restrict leverage to protect their traders.  

While Exness is not a member of any government compensation scheme, it is a member of the Investor Compensation Fund, a private organisation that serves to protect and secure the claims of covered clients and provide them with compensation in instances where the member of the Fund cannot meet its financial obligations.

Exness regularly receives industry awards and recently won Best Global Forex Customer Service 2019, Best Global Forex Trading Experience 2019 and Most Trusted Global Forex Broker 2019 at the Global Forex Awards.

Overall, we consider Exness a safe broker to trade with, though with some misgivings. Its retreat from the EU/UK market in the wake of tougher regulation is a concern, but it is regulated in multiple regions and has a long history of responsible behaviour.  

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Exness Trading Costs

Exness’s trading costs are generally lower than other brokers, but the lowest trading costs are found on the professional accounts which require a high minimum deposit.

Exness is unusual amongst brokers in that it offers nine different account types, where most brokers will offer three or fewer. Trading costs will vary depending on the account type chosen by a trader (for more detail on Exness’s account types, click here).

Despite the variation, overall trading costs are lower than average across all nine accounts, though the accounts themselves are distinguished by minimum deposit, trading platform, and execution type.

Exness’s accounts were assessed to compare the costs to those of other brokers.  The costs were evaluated based on the trading fees on one lot (100,000 USD) of the EUR/USD, including the spread and commission:

Trading Cost Formula: Spread x Trade Size + Commission = Total Cost in USD

As you can see from the table above, Exness offers three Standard Accounts on MT4 and MT5, including an MT4 Cent Account. These are all entry-level accounts and have no minimum deposit except for those required by the funding methods (3 USD for bank cards, or 10 USD for all other methods – for more on Exness’s deposit and withdrawal methods, click here). 

Trading costs are a little higher than average across all three of the Standard Accounts – most good brokers’ entry-level accounts have a trading cost of 9 USD per lot of EUR/USD traded.  However, with no real minimum deposit requirements to speak of, these are still good accounts for beginner traders.

Trading costs improve significantly on the six Pro Accounts, but the minimum deposits here are much higher, at 500 USD. While trading costs are lower than average across all the Pro Accounts, there are big differences between them in terms of execution, commission and spreads. For more detail on Exness’s account types, click here.

Spreads are variable at Exness, meaning that they will get wider or tighter depending on trade volume and market volatility – the spreads in the table above are average spreads. It’s also important to note that there are material differences between using the MT4 and MT5 trading platforms, mainly in terms of leverage and the financial instruments available to trade. For more on Exness’s trading platforms, click here.

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Broker

Trading Conditions

Base Currencies

EURUSD (Standard)

Trading Cost (Standard)

EURUSD (Best)

GBPUSD (Best)

USDJPY (Best)

Commission

Exness

5/ 5

USD, EUR, GBP, AUD, ZAR, CHF, JPY, NZD, SGD+40

0.70 pips

USD 7

0 pips

0.10 pips

0 pips

USD 0

eToro

4/ 5

USD

1.00 pips

USD 10

1.00 pips

2.00 pips

1.00 pips

USD 0

CM Trading

4/ 5

EUR, USD

1.50 pips

USD 15

1.70 pips

2.60 pips

1.70 pips

USD 0

Swap Fees

The final trading cost to consider at Exness is the swap rate charged on positions held overnight. Exness is completely transparent regarding its overnight financing rates and these can be found on the website for every instrument.

In addition, the Exness website also features an easy-to-use trading calculator – making it simple to figure out the cost of holding a trade overnight. For instance, the fee for holding 1 lot of EUR/USD overnight in a long position on a Standard Account is 3.69 USD, while your account will be credited 1.17 USD for a short position.

Overall, Exness trading costs are low compared to other brokers. The ongoing costs on the Standard Accounts are slightly higher than other brokers but the minimum deposits are negligible. The ongoing trading costs on the Pro Accounts are lower than average but the minimum deposits are much higher than most beginners would expect to pay. 

Exness Non-Trading Fees

Exness has very low non-trading costs compared to other brokers

Some of the most overlooked trading costs are the non-trading fees that are charged by brokers.  These fees can significantly affect your profitability and so should be carefully scrutinised.

Most brokers will charge a fee on accounts that have been inactive for more than a few weeks. Exness, on the other hand, does not charge a fee but instead archives the account after 90 days of inactivity. Archived accounts can be easily recovered by logging in and reviving the account. 

Exness charges no fees for deposits or withdrawals, though transaction fees can apply for international bank transfers and small withdrawals. A currency conversion fee will also apply for deposits and withdrawals from bank accounts in a different currency than the trading account. For more on Exness’ deposit and withdrawal fees and methods, click here.

Opening an Account with Exness

The account-opening and verification process at Exness is fully digital and accounts are ready within 48 hours, which is about the industry average. But traders can make a deposit and start trading immediately while they wait for verification.

All Nigeran residents are eligible to open an account at Exness, as long as they meet the minimum deposit requirements. These are:

• Standard Accounts: 3 USD
• Pro Accounts: 500 USD

1. From the Exness homepage, you will have to click on the New Account tab where you will be directed to register an account.    
2. Exness’ registration form requires you to fill in their country of residence and email address and choose a password. This will register your Exness Personal Area. 
3. By default, a real trading account and a demo trading account (both for MT5) are created in your new Personal Area; but it is possible to open new trading accounts.
   1. From your new Personal Area, click Open New Account in the ‘My Accounts’ area.
   2. Choose from the available trading account types, and whether you prefer a real or demo account. Then choose between the MT4 and MT5 platforms, set your Max Leverage and choose your account currency (note that this cannot be changed for this trading account once set).
   3. Finally, create a nickname for this trading account, set a trading account password and click Create an Account
   4. Your new trading account will show up in the ‘My Accounts’ tab.
4. While you can deposit up to 2000 USD and trade for 30 days without account verification, it is recommended that you verify your identity as soon as possible. Note that deposits with cryptocurrency or bank cards require a fully verified profile.
5. Verification usually take less than 28 hours and Exness will need:
   1. Your Economic Profile – this is a short questionnaire detailing your economic knowledge and financial background.
   2. Proof of Identification – Exness accepts all government-issued identification documents such as Passport, national ID card, driving license, or other government-issued ID. 
   3. Proof of Address – Proof of residence/address document must be issued in the name of the account holder within the last 6 months and must contain a trader’s full name, current residential address, issue date, and issuing authority. 
6. Once verification is complete, traders will be able to deposit up to 50,000 USD. If your Exness account is not verified within 30 days of account registration, deposits, transfers, and trading functions will not be available.

Overall, Exness’ account-opening process is fully digital and hassle-free – new traders will be especially happy that they can start trading right away without having to wait for account verification.  

Exness has a much wider range of account types than most brokers, but maximum leverage is very high (up to 1:2000), which can greatly increase the risk of account wipeout for those with lower minimum deposits.

Exness offers nine live accounts (when you include the choice of the MT4 or MT5 trading platforms), which is many more than most other brokers. While trading conditions are poor on the Standard Accounts, the Pro Accounts offer relatively low trading costs but much higher minimum deposits..

The three Standard Accounts on offer at Exness are more suited to beginners traders. Beginner traders are inexperienced traders who have never traded before, or who have been trading for less than a year. Beginner traders often do not want to risk trading large sums of money and generally will not be able to trade full-time during the workweek.  

The three beginner-friendly Standard Accounts have low minimum deposits, though trading costs are higher than the industry average. The main issue with the Standard Accounts, and at Exness in general, is the extreme leverage on offer – up to 1:2000 on some Forex pairs. With low minimum deposits, leverage this high will greatly increase the risk of an account wipeout, so beginner traders should be careful.

More experienced traders will be interested in the range of five Pro Accounts, which require a minimum deposit of 500 USD but have much tighter spreads. All the Pro Accounts are available on MT5, and one of them features spreads of 0.6 pips on the EUR/USD with no commission.

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Exness has three Standard trading accounts and five Professional trading accounts with a good range of options for both beginner and experienced traders – all accounts are available as swap-free Islamic accounts for Muslim traders. MT4 support is available on all account types, but MT5 support is slightly restricted – see below for details. 

All accounts feature market execution, apart from the Pro Account, where instant execution is provided for all CFDs except cryptocurrencies.

Standard Cent Account (MT4 only) – With a 3 USD minimum deposit, micro-lots unlocked, and spreads as low as 0.3 pips, this is a great account for new Forex traders who want to learn without too much risk. You will only be able to trade Forex and metals with this account and the MT5 trading platform is not supported.

Standard Account (MT4 or MT5) – This account also only requires a 3 USD minimum deposit and trading conditions are broadly similar to the Cent Account, but you will have access to MT5 and more assets, including cryptocurrencies and indices.

Raw Spread Account (MT4 or MT5) – A minimum deposit of 500 USD deposit and 3.50 USD (7 USD round turn) commission and spreads that start at 0 pips on the EUR/USD. Available on MT5.

Pro Account (MT4 or MT5) – The single instant execution account offered by Exness, this account has a minimum deposit of 500 USD and spreads from 0.6 pips (EUR/USD) but guarantees no slippage. Available on MT5.

Zero Account (MT4 or MT5) – A minimum deposit of 500 USD deposit and 3.50 USD (7 USD round turn) commission but guaranteed 0 pip (EUR/USD) spreads for 95% of the trading day on 30 pairs. Also available on MT5.

Unlike most brokers, Exness charges no deposit or withdrawal fees. Most deposits are available instantly, but withdrawals can take a few days.

In line with Anti-Money Laundering policies, deposits and withdrawals at Exness cannot be made to/from third-party accounts and all non-profit funds are returned to the original deposit source. No matter your deposit method, the withdrawal of all profits must be made by bank transfer to a bank account in your name. While Exness does not charge any fees for deposits or withdrawals, some funding methods may incur a charge from the service provider.

Funds can be deposited in several different ways including Credit Cards, bank wire transfers, Neteller, Skrill and a few other online payment systems. Exness offers a huge range of trading account currencies (base currencies), so it is important to pick the right account currency, as currency conversions apply when making deposits and withdrawals in a currency different from the account’s denominated currency. For more on Exness’ trading account currencies, click here.

See below for a list of Exness payment methods:

• Ozow: Deposits are instant, with a minimum deposit of 10 USD. Withdrawals are not allowed by this method.
• SnapScan: Deposits are instant, with a minimum deposit of 10 USD. Withdrawals are not allowed by this method.
• Mybux: Deposits are instant, with a minimum deposit of 10 USD. Withdrawals are not allowed by this method.
• Tether (USDT Omni): Deposits can take up to 72 hours (three days), with a minimum deposit of 10 USD. Withdrawals can also take up to 72 hours.
• Bitcoin: Deposits can take up to 72 hours (three days), with a minimum deposit of 10 USD. Withdrawals can also take up to 72 hours.
• Internet Banking Deposits are instant, with a minimum deposit of 10 USD. Withdrawals can also take up to 72 hours.
• Bank Card: Deposits are instant, with a minimum deposit of 3 USD. Withdrawals can also take up to 72 hours.
• Neteller/Skrill: Deposits are instant, with a minimum deposit of 10 USD. Withdrawals are also instant.
• Perfect Money: Deposits are instant, with a minimum deposit of 50 USD. Withdrawals are also instant.
• Webmoney: Deposits are instant, with a minimum deposit of 50 USD. Withdrawals are also instant.

Exness has a much wider range of deposit and withdrawal methods than most brokers. Most deposits and withdrawals are instant and have no fees, making funding your account (and withdrawing profits) much cheaper and easier than most other brokers.

Exness Base Currencies (Trading Account Currencies)

Exness offers a much wider range of trading account currencies than any other broker, including NGN trading accounts, so Nigerian traders don’t have to worry about paying conversion fees.

While Exness offers a huge range of trading account currencies, they do differ for each account. The Standard Cent Account is especially limited, see below:

• Standard Cent Account: USDCent, EURCent, GBPCents, CHFCents, AUDCents
• Standard Account: AUD, CHF, EUR, GBP, HKD, NGN, SGD, USD – and 40+ others, including precious metals and BTC. 
• Pro Account: AUD, CHF, EUR, GBP, HKD, NGN, SGD, USD – and 40+ others, including precious metals and BTC. 
• Raw Spread Account: AUD, CHF, EUR, GBP, HKD, NGN, SGD, USD – and 40+ others.
• Zero Account: AUD, CHF, EUR, GBP, HKD, NGN, SGD, USD – and 40+ others.

As you can see, all accounts (except for the Standard Cent Account) have an NGN option, so Nigerian traders with Naira bank accounts can avoid paying conversion fees when depositing and withdrawing money from their trading account. 

However, for traders that trade in large volumes (more than 10 lots a month), it is better to open an account denominated in USD, especially for trading on assets such as the EUR/USD. This is because when trading a USD quoted currency pair with a NGN account, there will be a small conversion fee for every trade made.

With support for both MetaTrader 4 and MetaTrader 5 but no proprietary trading platform, Exness’ platform support is average compared to other Forex brokers

Exness offers both MT4 – the most popular trading platform in the world – and MT5 – the latest version of the industry standard. As well as the desktop applications, Exness also offers MT4 and MT5 WebTerminal, which are browser-based versions of the platforms, along with mobile and tablet versions of both iterations.

While MT4 and MT5 are both excellent trading platforms, many other CFD brokers also offer their own web-based platforms, which tend to be easier to use for beginner traders. On the other hand, the benefit of Exness offering third-party platforms such as MT4 and MT5 is that traders can take their own customised version of the platform with them should they choose to migrate to another broker.

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Broker

Platform Choice

Copy Trading

Platforms

Exness

4.5/ 5

Yes

MT4

MT5

Exness Terminal

eToro

4/ 5

Yes

etoro

CM Trading

4/ 5

Yes

MT4

WebTrader

Metatrader 4 (MT4)

Developed by MetaQuotes in 2002, MT4 is still the most popular CFD trading platform in the world.  Although the platform’s interface is now dated, MT4 is still widely recognised for its fast execution speeds, a wide range of charting tools, algorithmic trading, and customisability.  Other features of MT4 include:

• Supports the creation, modification, and utilisation of automated trading strategies.
• Supports MQL4 programming language.
• Algorithmic trading, which allows any trading strategy to be formalised and implemented as an Expert Advisor. 
• Allows traders to develop their own custom indicators.
• Superior charting tools in nine timeframes
• 24 graphical objects
• 30 built-in indicators
• Four pending order types, including buy stop, sell stop, buy limit, and sell limit.

Metatrader 5 (MT5)

Developed in 2010, MT5 is the newer version of its predecessor, MT4.  The main difference is that MT4 is a Forex-only platform, while MT5 is a multi-asset trading solution that can plug straight into stock exchanges all over the world. On MT5, you can trade stocks, stock indices, ETFs and other exchange-traded assets.

MT5 is more powerful and faster than MT4, especially when it comes to back-testing functionality for automated trading algorithms.  MT5 also has a built-in news feed, market depth indicator, economic calendar, and trades can be made on charts. Additional features of MT5 include:

• 12 timeframes
• 38 built-in indicators
• 37 graphical objects
• Six pending order types
• Multi-threaded strategy tester

Both MT4 and MT5 are available as downloads, browser-based, and on iOS and Android devices. Mobile access is 24/7, and the mobile apps employ the latest SSL encryption technology for security.

Exness Mobile Trading Platforms

Exness’  mobile trading options are average when compared to other brokers

Exness offers support for the MT4 and MT5 mobile trading apps for Android and IOS, including a native iPad app.

The Exness MT4 and MT5 apps allow traders to work from anywhere, with nine timeframes, 30 indicators and interactive currency charts. Functionality to close and modify existing orders, calculate profit/loss in real-time and tick chart trading further empowers traders while on the move.

Exness Trading Tools

Disappointingly, Exness offers no trading tools, apart from a standard VPS service and Trading Central’s indicator service. Most other brokers offer a range of tools to assist traders with finding opportunities and making analyses.

Trading Central Indicator 

The TC Indicator is a multilingual and customizable plugin that superimposes Trading Central’s technical analysis strategies, forecast, commentary and key levels (support/ resistance / targets / stop pivots) onto MT4 live charts for most tradable instruments.

Based on selected timeframes TC Indicator will display the latest Trading Central articles whether on an intraday, short term or midterm basis. Traders can program and fill in orders based on the TC Indicator levels directly from their MT4 screen.

VPS Service

Exness offers a free VPS service for all traders who deposit at least 500 USD. A Virtual Private Server (VPS) is a remote terminal solution that benefits from reduced latency and downtime, as it is unaffected by power cuts or computer crashes.  Even when the trading terminal is closed, the Exness VPS will keep trading.

Exness offers 100+ Forex pairs to trade, much more than most other brokers, and a selection of cryptocurrencies with 1:200 leverage – much higher than most other brokers. Other tradeable instruments are more limited than other brokers, with only 70+ stock CFDs plus a few indices and commodities.

Exness offers 100+ Forex pairs – including majors, minors and exotics – 70+ Stocks CFDs, a few metals, energies, indices, and cryptocurrencies.

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• Forex pairs: Exness offers 100+ Forex pairs to trade, including majors, minors, and exotics such as USD/ZAR and ZAR/JPY. Maximum leverage is 1:2000.
• Cryptocurrencies: Exness offers 14 crypto crosses, most of them Bitcoin, including BTC/ZAR and BTC/XAU. Also available are Ethereum, Litecoin and Ripple. Maximum leverage is 1:200, which is much higher than other brokers.
• Metals: Exness offers silver and gold crosses with the AUD, EUR, GBP and USD as well as palladium and platinum futures. Maximum leverage is 1:2000 on gold but falls to 1:100 on platinum and palladium futures.
• Energies: Exness offers spot contracts on both Brent and WTI oil. Maximum leverage is 1:50.
• Indices: Exness offers CFDs on a range of international indices, including the NASDAQ, S&P500, FTSE100, DAX30 and the Nikkei. This is a similar range of indices compared to other brokers. Maximum leverage is 1:100.
• Shares: Exness offers 70+ share CFDs to trade, including popular US tech companies, and multinational energy companies. This is a smaller range of share CFDs than offered by other brokers. Maximum leverage is 1:20.

While some traders will be disappointed that Exness only offers a small range of share CFDs and a limited selection of commodities, this broker has a very large range of Forex pairs. The high leverage on the crypto CFDs is very unusual given the volatility of these assets, and traders are advised to use lower levels than the maximum offered. 

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Exness Research and Analysis

The market analysis section at Exness is not quite as expansive as the education section, though there is still some great content here. Most of the content is presented in the analysis blog, which is updated every few days with thoughtful insight on recent and future events across a range of CFD markets. Dow Jones news is available to clients with MT4 accounts.

Of course, a standard economic calendar is available, but Exness also presents a daily video of upcoming market events to watch out for with brief technical analysis. This is provided by Trading Central but is still useful for new traders.

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Display Name

Research Team

Daily Market Commentary

Forex News

Analysis Webinars

Exness

In House

No

Yes

No

eToro

None

Yes

Yes

No

CM Trading

In House

Yes

Yes

Yes

Exness Educational Content

The majority of Exness’ educational assistance for new traders can be found in the Exness Academy. Trading education is split into three different experience levels, which is perfect for a new trader wishing to gradually improve their understanding of the Forex market.

Video education is available in five languages, including English, Arabic, Thai, Indonesian and Vietnamese. These bite-sized videos are great explainers of important concepts that all Forex traders need to understand.

Exness also hosts frequent webinars in English, Arabic, Thai, Indonesian and Vietnamese. These cover a range of topics and will prove especially useful to new traders. Registering for a webinar does not require an Exness account, though you will have to provide an email address.

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Broker

Beginner Course

Advanced Course

Well Structured Education

Education Quality

Webinars

Exness

Yes

Yes

Yes

Medium

Yes

eToro

No

No

No

Low

Yes

CM Trading

No

No

No

Medium

Yes

Exness Customer Support

Notably, Exness customer service is available in English 24 hours a day and over the weekend. In addition, the help centre offers detailed and useful advice on a host of topics.

Client phone support is 24/5 in 15 languages and two languages, English, Chinese and Thai customer support is provided 24/7. Most brokers only offer 24/5 customer service, so this is a bonus for English-speaking traders.

Other forms of contact include live chat, call back service, phone, and emails. Support is also provided through the Exness help centre which is frequently updated with detailed articles covering everything from trading guides to funding FAQs.

Evaluation Method

We value transparency and openness in the way we review the partners. To bring transparency to the forefront, we have published our review process that includes a detailed breakdown of the Exness offer. Central to that process is the evaluation of the reliability of the broker, the platform offering of the broker and the trading conditions offered to clients, which are summarised in this review. Each one of these is graded, and an overall score is calculated and assigned to the broker.

Exness Disclaimer and Risk Warning

Trading Forex is risky, and Exness would like you to know that: “CFDs are leveraged products. Trading in CFDs carries a high level of risk thus may not be appropriate for all investors. The investment value can both increase and decrease and the investors may lose all their invested capital.”.

Final Word

 In pure trading terms, Exness is a decent all-round broker for most traders, whether beginner or more experienced. With support for MT4 and MT5, good customer service, low-cost entry-level accounts, and good trading conditions on the Pro Accounts the only real fault is the very high levels of leverage offered to traders with low minimum deposits, increasing the risk of an account wipe-out.