Vantage Review

Vantage Review

About Vantage

Founded in 2009 as MXT Global and formerly known as Vantage FX, today Vantage is a member of Vantage Global Prime Pty Ltd. The Vantage brand holds an Australian Financial Services License (AFSL) with the Australian Securities and Investment Commission (ASIC).

The group also has an entity regulated in the U.K. by the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) under Vantage Global Prime LLP, for institutional clients. Vantage also has an entity that holds regulatory status with the Cayman Islands Monetary Authority (CIMA), and by the Vanuatu Financial Services Commission (VFSC) in Vanuatu.

CFDs are complex instruments and come with a high risk of losing money rapidly due to leverage. Refer to PDS and TMD on our website. You should consider whether you understand how CFDs work and whether you can afford to take the high risk of losing your money.

Vantage rounds out its MetaTrader platform suite offering with support for multiple social trading platforms, content powered by Trading Central and a proprietary mobile app. However, Vantage trails industry leaders in key areas such as research and education.

Minimum Deposit: $50
Trust Score: 90
Tradeable Symbols (Total): 1000

Vantage pros & cons

Overall summary

Is Vantage safe?

Vantage is considered Highly Trusted, with an overall Trust Score of 90 out of 99. Vantage is not publicly traded and does not operate a bank. Vantage is authorised by two Tier-1 regulators (Highly Trusted), one Tier-2 regulator (Trusted), zero Tier-3 regulators (Average Risk), and two Tier-4 regulators (High Risk). Vantage is authorised by the following Tier-1 regulators: Australian Securities & Investment Commission (ASIC) and the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA).

Offering of investments

The range of available markets at Vantage will depend on which entity regulates your account. The following table summarizes the different investment products available to Vantage clients.

Cryptocurrency: Cryptocurrency trading is available at Vantage through CFDs and through trading the underlying asset (e.g. buying Bitcoin). Note: Crypto CFDs are not available to retail traders from any broker’s U.K. entity, nor to U.K. residents.

Commissions and fees

Trading costs at Vantage depend on which account you open and on which specific Vantage entity holds your account. There are three account options at Vantage: the spread-only Standard STP account, and the commission-based RAW ECN and PRO ECN accounts. Overall, Vantage’s pricing falls mostly in line with the industry average, but can’t compete with pricing leaders Saxo, IG, and CMC Markets.

Standard vs. Raw accounts comparison: Vantage lists typical spreads of 1.22 pips on the EUR/USD (for the month of August 2021) for its spread-only Standard account. For its Raw account, average spreads are 0.15 pips with a commission of $3 added per side ($6 per round turn), totaling 0.75 pips during the same time period.

PRO account: The PRO account from Vantage has competitive pricing, with its per-side commission amounting to just $2 (or $4 per round turn). Requirements for opening a PRO ECN account with Vantage fluctuate between its regulating entities. Its Australian entity requires that you qualify to be categorized as a wholesale client. If you open your account under Vantage’s Cayman Islands entity, you must fund your account with at least $10,000. For those who can meet its various account requirements, the PRO ECN account is Vantage’s best-priced option, and is comparable to similar accounts offered by FP Markets and Tickmill.

Active traders: The active trader program from Vantage offers rebates ranging from $2 to as much as $8 per standard lot, depending on your balance and monthly volume. The smallest tier starts at $10,000 and the highest tier requires at least $300,000 in equity. However, it is only available on the Standard account, which has the highest spreads from among all the account options available.

Mobile trading apps

Vantage offers its own proprietary trading app, alongside the standard MetaTrader suite of mobile apps. Vantage has built a decent foundation for a new mobile trading application with its Vantage App. However, I am not a fan of the ads, and it is still a long way off from competing with the best mobile apps in the industry.

Apps overview: Vantage offers two mobile apps: its proprietary Vantage App, and the MetaTrader platform suite. The MetaTrader 4 (MT4), MetaTrader 5 (MT5), and Vantage mobile app come standard from their developer for iOS on Apple App Store and for Android on Google Play.

Ease of use: I found the advertisements within the Vantage app to be a distraction from the trading experience. I’d prefer to avoid ads and promotional content when using a mobile trading app. That being said, Vantage has done a good job of integrating research, with newsletter updates, signals, and multiple Trading Central-powered videos per day.

Charting: Charting at Vantage allows for only five time frames, one chart type, and just a handful of indicators and overlays. On the plus side, tapping on the chart launches it into a full-screen landscape view, which is a nice touch. In contrast, charting from Plus500 comes with over 100 indicators and allows for the ability to use multiple indicators at the same time.

Market research

Vantage’s research is sourced primarily from third-party content providers such as Trading Central, and it lacks substantial in-house content. Considering the quality and depth of research that is made available by the best forex brokers such as IG, Saxo, and CMC Markets, there remains considerable room for Vantage to improve in this category.

Research overview: Vantage publishes daily market updates to its dedicated YouTube Channel. These updates are powered by Trading Central, and I found them to be just OK. My only gripe is that they are highly-templated, and feature pre-recorded pieces of content that repeat across every video. Meanwhile, nestled away in the trading tools section of the client portal are more engaging videos (also from Trading Central) that add to Vantage’s video offering of market news and analysis.

Market news and analysis: Also powered by Trading Central is the Pro Trader Tools product, which is offered to clients with at least $1,000 on deposit and is integrated directly within the client portal. Other useful features include its Featured Ideas tool, which is useful for traders looking for trading signals and actionable ideas, while the Analyst Views feature delivers automated analysis.

Future enhancements: Vantage’s scope of research resources continues to expand. That said, I’d like to see an increase in the range of its in-house content, particularly webinars and written content.

Education

Vantage does not offer a comprehensive range of educational resources for traders, putting it at a disadvantage against brokers that make education a priority, such as CMC Markets or City Index.

Learning center: Vantage’s Learn Forex Trading section features 37 expandable educational points, though I found them to be unsophisticated. In addition to platform tutorials, Vantage provides a library of over 130 videos developed by Trading Central as part of its Pro Trader series. Content ranges from short introductory clips for beginners to longer videos featuring advanced forex and CFD concepts across various markets – including cryptocurrencies. I found many of these videos produced by Trading Central useful.

Video content: Vantage has multiple YouTube channels, each with hundreds of videos that are helpfully organized in dedicated playlists. Vantage produces and uploads several webinars per week, including its “Masterclass” videos that cover a range of trading topics.

Room for improvement: Expanding the range of comprehensive written articles would complement Vantage’s growing collection of video content.

Final thoughts

Vantage distinguishes itself from other MetaTrader brokers by offering competitive pricing on its commission-based Raw ECN account and by supporting the integration of additional platforms such as Zulutrade and DupliTrade. It also offers its own proprietary Vantage app, which – despite the added distraction of in-app ads – shows real promise as a trading platform.

While the broker’s research and educational offerings continue to expand, Vantage has a ways to go if it wants to compete with the best brokers in those categories.

➜TND NETWORK – Exness Social Trading (social-trading.club)