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Capital GMA is part of Equalizer Limited with headquarters in Bulgaria. Many unregulated brokerages choose to operate from countries in Eastern Europe where the financial laws are much more lenient. Capital GMA is no exception. It is not regulated by the regional financial governing body of Bulgaria or any global watchdog for that matter. Transparency should not be expected from a company that does not submit any audit reports.
The biggest red flag for traders is that there will not be any compensations in case the company goes bankrupt. But is it all doom and gloom for Capital GMA? Does this brokerage have any redeeming qualities? We wanted to discover everything this new brokerage had to offer and whether traders should take it seriously into consideration.
Platform & Execution SCORE: 30%
Traders who are accustomed to MetaTrader platforms will be sorely disappointed, as the only thing on offer here is the online trading portal. It is a simple web-based platform without many advanced or even basic features traders are accustomed to in 2020. More puzzling is the absence of a demo account, so every trader goes in completely blind, not knowing what to expect.
Capital GMA offers its users three basic account types. They are listed as Bronze, Silver and Gold. The first thing to note is the unusually high minimal deposit amount, even for the bronze level. Users must deposit a minimum of $1,000 to start trading. This falls way above the industry average. Another shocking discovery was how similar all accounts are. Apart from the minimum deposit amount, there is very little to distinguish them from one another.
One of the biggest advantages to trading with Capital GMA is the variety of assets and high leverage. Traders can enjoy numerous tradable assets ranging from Stocks, Indices, Commodities among others. Capital GMA offers maximum leverage of 1:400, which seems very generous. However, it needs to be noted that the higher the leverage is, the higher the risk.
Withdrawal Speed SCORE: 20%
Capital GMA allows payment methods such as VISA, MasterCard, Wire transfer and via EFTpay. There seem to be unusual charges and fees ranging from $1.5 to $5 per trade, a monthly maintenance fee with additional withdrawal fees of at least $20. On top of all that, traders are obliged to pay a $50 monthly dormant fee if they have not traded for 90 days. Many other brokerages do not implement such penalties, or if they do, they are usually charging an inactivity fee only after a year.
While most other legit brokers rarely take more than 24hours to process your withdrawal request, Capital GMA claims the entire process can take up as much as 7 working days. Getting funds transferred to your wallet is a completely different matter as the whole ordeal can take up the better part of a month.
Customer & Assistance SCORE: 20%
The situation does not get any better when it comes to customer service either. On their website, there is only one UK-based number, which is surprising given the fact that the company is based out of Bulgaria. If you wish to contact them via email, you can expect a response after 5-6 days.
Over the past several years, the live chat support has become the industry standard. Sadly, we do not see this option with Capital GMA. With this absence, there is little hope of getting a quick answer anytime soon.
Education and Tools SCORE: 20%
One of the fundamental pillars of the online trading industry is client education. While many competitors offer a wide range of educational tools, Capital GMA fails to deliver any meaningful material.
Besides a FAQ page, there is very little to speak of. Lack of any fundamental tools will discourage many traders to stick with Capital GMA in the long run. Even the most curious ones should stay clear because of the steep entry point that promises little and somehow manages to deliver even less.
Conclusion
At this point, there are way too many red flags surrounding Capital GMA. Some of those are apparent at first glance while others were fairly well hidden. While we have covered unregulated brokers in the past and noted that lack of regulations always equates to illegal activity, it needs to be pointed out that the lack of any regulatory body gives this brokerage too much freedom.
Another point of contempt is about the trading software. It offers no demo account to properly test it, and the entry price is unnecessarily steep compared to industry standards. If you feel brave enough to go through with it, you will be unpleasantly surprised that Capital GMA is not trader friendly at all.
Until at least some of these flaws are addressed, we recommend that you stay away of Capital GMA. This brokerage which was founded in 2019 has a long way to go if it wants to become a reputable name in the industry. Whether it will manage to do so or not, only time can tell, but it doesn’t look promising for the Bulgarian brokerage.