JP Markets – why do we think that is not the best option?

JP markets is a very interesting broker that, despite some issues with their services, does their utmost best to provide as much information and as good a service to their clients. This includes comprehensive information regarding their offers, what promotions they have going on, some educational resources as well as a decent contact scheme. It is a pleasure to see a South African doing so much to advance their business and to help their clients. So let us get into the JP Markets review and talk about all of the things they have done right up to this very point.

Though we are still going to give you a fair warning before we get into the details. The experience you have with the company might be very different from what the other users have, so do not expect to get the 100% best trading experience from them that you go in expecting.

The page

The website the JP Markets has to offer to clients seems very simple at first look. The simple black and grey color scheme, with a very simplistic design, are something of a red flag when going to a new website, especially a website related to Forex and another financial trading. In the past, when seeing such a website, we have warned against a potential nefarious scheme being part of the company’s plans. Fortunately, we do not believe that a JP Markets scam is possible. The website has a very simplistic approach to showcasing information and is rather easy and quick to navigate. The fact that it is ugly is an unfortunate reality that we have to deal with if we want to deal with a good South African Forex broker. Sometimes a good broker will just not want to pimp their website, and that too is ok, as long as the service remains good and the information provided on the website is useful and concise. So what is the information provided?

Navigation

Thankfully, the information is full and detailed. The navigation bar that is front and center of the website allows the client, potential or already seasoned, to travel to any part of the website and receive any information needed in a couple of clicks only. Whether it is the FAQ page, the training page or the page talking about the economic calendar, the user will be able to end up there within seconds if they want to. The nav bar also provides easy access to information for first-time visitors, easy registration.

Communication

The communication with the company is not obvious when you first enter the webpage. The online chat and live support located on the bottom right of the page is simply shaped like a large, red dot that you wouldn’t suspect was online chat unless you knew so. Even then, the chat is mostly offline. It is possible to get in touch with the company offices from the contact page or send an email, though not everybody enjoys these two options as the live chat support option. Alas, you can’t have everything.

Education

The education page of the JP markets FX brokerage is extremely limited. They simply provide a number of definitions that only a person entirely oblivious to the Forex industry will have not known. This is unfortunate, as we believe that a good Forex broker will support their traders with any resource they have, especially educational ones. Though on the other hand, it seems that the company offers some training opportunities for their traders, and what is great is that this training does not need to be paid for clients, but need to be paid for if you are not already a client. The company offers regular training and workshops for clients and non-clients that a person can register for from the website.

Background

The company does not have a long history of existence, but what it does have is an impressive track record. The company over the past years of existence has expressed its ambitions to move onto working globally, but so far has remained confined to the South African market. It seems that what is getting in the way of JP markets Forex broker most is their own reported problems with certain individuals they have worked with. There have been some accusations of the company trading against their own clients, though there are not too many of them. Still, does this provide evidence for a JP markets scam? Let’s take a closer look.

License

The company only has one license, the one provided by the FSCA, also known as the FSB. The FSB is the South African financial regulatory body that is responsible for making sure that Forex brokerages are working with their clients responsibly. The license was given in the year 2016, the founding year of the company and it seems the company has operated without issue since then. It would be better to see the company get some more licensing form other regulatory bodies, but this will not be happening until the company decides to move out of their borders and into other regions.

Promotions

The company seems to run a lot of promotions. While this might seem like a good thing, we tend to get suspicious of such things. While a fast growing company might be interested in investing some money into promotional events and marketing, the possibility of these were simply words to gain more followers is not excluded. Whether it is JP markets fraud schemes or true, a high number of promotions is not something we would suspect a new company to be able to run, unless they are making enough profit to support them. Still, we are not going to cause this to lower our scoring of the company by too much. Though the fact that there are opportunities to get a bunch of JP markets bonus deals is a great thing.

Accusations

It seems like the company has been accused several times of making the life of their clients hard. There are a number of small YouTube videos, as well as a couple of Facebook posts and other online forum posts regarding the company not being an honest one. Though the outcry against these is usually high from the supporters of the company and JP markets reviews these themselves and tries to get in touch with those who have had a bad experience with them. A respectable trait that redeems the company and makes us wonder whether these “bad” reviews are simply the results of the occasional bug or human error.

Software: is JP Markets trustworthy?

Let us now take a look at the software and other offers that the company has for their clients. The platform options are rather limited, with the company offering online one: the Meta Trader 4. This platform is the most used one across the world with most brokers and is easily recognizable to most. The JP markets MT4 provides users with a relatively easy and simple interface to use, while also allowing a large amount of customization for the personal tastes and preferences of most users. The basic nature of the MT4 also allows even the most beginner users to easily get adjusted and start working with the platform. Though, the limited choice of platforms might be a bit of a problem for some – people like diversity in their choices and more advanced or interesting platforms are able to provide better service to more advanced traders. Maybe in the future, JP markets will be adding some options.

Minimum deposit, account type

The JP markets rating is definitely affected by the fact that there are no real account types to talk about, other than the ones dedicated to a specific currency. It is both a good and a bad thing. It means that all accounts get treated the same, but the fact that you can’t pay for additional support from the company means that they haven’t grown enough to start offering different types of accounts to their clients. The minimum deposit for JP markets is 3500 ZAR, which is pretty low as compared to the rest of the FSB registered Forex brokers.

Spread

The spread that JP markets FX broker to their clients even on the most basic currency pairs is a little higher than the industry average. This is probably caused by the recent foundation of the company and a relatively small client base. This will possibly be changing in the future when the company will be able to capture a larger share of the market. Though today, large spreads are causing people to conduct trades that are a little more profitable simply to keep themselves afloat, with small-time bidders having a hard time staying with the broker. This is unfortunate, but the fact that it keeps commissions on different money transfers and trades away from JP markets is a good thing.

Withdrawal

The JP markets withdrawal process is relatively easy. It is possible to withdraw your profit through a bank deposit, wire transfer, in a platform request or even a WhatsApp request. Though watch out, not all of these possible withdrawals are as safe as the others. It seems like some ways of funds withdrawal are faster than others, such as the one where you make a request through the client, which can take less than a day. This makes the broker much more trustworthy in our opinion.

Is JP Markets broker legit?

So far, with all the investigation we have done into the company, we would like to say that yes, we think there is enough evidence to support this claim. They seem to provide a pretty good service which, while limited, seems to be on track to becoming one of the better South African Forex brokers. The only qualms have against the company are the possible scam allegations brought up by a few users and the lack of comprehensive online education tools. Other than that the company has done well and is on the right track to becoming one of the better brokers in the area. Though until they lower their spread and have a longer track record of faithful service, they will remain at the silver lion.