TMGM Review

Trust

In our trust category, we place most importance on how a broker is regulated. So let’s take a look at how the different entities of TMGM across the globe are regulated and how this impacts you as a trader. We rate regulators on a scale of 1 to 3, with 1 reflecting the highest level of trust.

The various entities of TMGM are regulated as follows:

• Trademax Australia Limited is regulated by the Australian Security and Investment Commission (ASIC), registration number 436416. (We rate ASIC as a Tier 1 regulator.)
• Trademax Global Markets (NZ) Limited is regulated by the Financial Markets Authority in New Zealand (FMA). FSP number 569807. (We rate FMA as a Tier 2 regulator.)
• Trademax Global Limited is regulated by the Vanuatu Financial Services Commission (VFSC), registration number 40356. (We rate VFSC as a Tier 3 regulator.)

Why is it important to know where your broker entity is regulated?

Different regulators provide different levels of protection. TMGM clients in Australia benefit from the oversight of a Tier 1 regulator and have negative balance protection since it is a requirement of ASIC. Negative balance protection means that clients cannot lose more than their deposit. ASIC also requires that brokers have at least $1 million in operating funds and can only use Tier 1 banks for segregating their clients’ funds. ASIC allows retail traders a maximum leverage of 30:1.

TMGM’s New Zealand entity is overseen by the less stringent Financial Markets Authority (FMA). The FMA allows a more liberal 500:1 leverage and also offers negative balance protection to traders. TMGM’s clients outside of Australia and New Zealand are under the entity overseen by Vanuatu’s VFSC, an offshore regulator that provides little protection for clients. We checked the regulatory status of TMGM in November of 2021.

All clients of TMGM have the benefit of segregated accounts, regardless of the global entity they are trading with. This means that client funds are not mixed with the operating funds of the broker. Having funds held in segregated accounts protects clients in the event that a broker becomes insolvent and declares bankruptcy. TMGM client funds are held with Tier 1 banks such as National Australia Bank (NAB).

Stability and Transparency

In our tests for the Trust category we also cover factors such as how long the broker has been in business, the size of the company and how transparent they are.

Founded in 2013, TMGM has a substantial operating history under its belt. Financial reporting requirements make it easier to see how stable a publicly traded company is at a given time. Since TMGM is not a publicly traded company, there is less transparency into the health of the company. The company LinkedIn page lists the number of employees as 51-200, reflecting a small to mid-sized brokerage firm. We judged that TMGM is a fairly stable broker, but not on the same level as publicly traded industry leaders with decades of history.

From looking at TMGM’s website and social media presence we concluded that this broker has a good level of transparency relating to its fees, regulatory status and the overall background of the company. Information and materials were clearly laid out and easy to find. Trading related fees are shown on the Account Types page and the regulatory background of TMGM is covered on their Regulatory Supervision page. The client agreement can be found on their Legal Documents page.

TMGM has a Civil Liability Insurance program for a limit of $5 million which includes coverage against errors, omissions, negligence, fraud and other risks. This indemnity insurance cannot be claimed by individual clients. Rather, it can only be claimed by TMGM to ensure it would have funds to pay clients in the event of insolvency.

In summary, for clients in Australia there is a high level of stability safety, but for international clients there is less due to their entity being regulated offshore. TMGM has offset this risk to some extent by segregating all client funds in a Tier 1 bank and with their insurance program.

Fees

TMGM offers 2 account types (Classic and Edge) and we tested the Classic account in this review. In the Classic account, trading costs are mostly reflected in the spread. The spread is the difference between the bid (sell) price and the ask (buy) price. Narrower spreads allow you to enter and exit the market at a lower cost, which is especially important for active traders.

Trading Fees

Spreads at TMGM are variable, meaning that they fluctuate slightly. This depends on the level of liquidity in the market. Liquidity describes the extent to which an instrument can be bought and sold quickly and without moving the market. Tighter spreads are typically seen when there is greater liquidity in the market.

We tested the spreads at TMGM across different asset classes in a live account using MetaTrader 4. The test was done at 8AM GMT and at 3PM GMT on November 12th 2021. We made our tests at two different times to allow greater perspective. 8AM GMT is the London open, when there is a great deal of liquidity in the forex market and therefore tighter spreads in currency pairs. 3PM GMT is a quieter time, shortly before the opening of the New York stock exchange.

Spreads at TMGM are among the tightest in the industry, making it cheaper for traders to enter and exit trades. Spreads at TMGM were most competitive in forex and commodities. Some brokers have narrow spreads only in major instruments, but TMGM spreads are competitive across the board.

The spreads were actually lower than advertised, as TMGM says on their website that spreads start at 1 pip and we experienced spreads of 0.9 pips.

Swap fees (the cost of holding a position overnight) are also competitive at TMGM.

In the table below you can see the Swap Long (the cost/credit of holding a buy position overnight) and the Swap Short (the cost/credit of holding a sell position overnight) for one full sized contract. A full sized contract is 100,000 units of the base currency (the first currency quoted in the pair).

We recorded the data on November 24th 2021.

Non-Trading Fees

Unlike many brokers, TMGM does not charge for deposits and withdrawals. However, there is a relatively high inactivity fee of $30 for accounts that have $500 or less after 6 months of inactivity.

Are Fees at TMGM Competitive?

Overall we found the fees at TMGM to be highly competitive with the exception of the inactivity fee.

Tradable Instruments

TMGM offers an impressive number of stock CFDs but other in areas such as commodities, the range is more narrow. Overall, the range of instruments is above average for the industry.

CFDs (Contract for Differences) are financial derivative products that allow traders to speculate in various markets without owning the underlying assets. Tradable instruments at TMGM include the following CFDs:

• 50 currency pairs. A currency pair combines two different currencies, with the value of one currency quoted against the other. For example EUR/USD, which reflects the value of the euro measured in dollars.
• 12,000 global stock CFDs. A stock is a security that represents partial ownership of a corporation. Keep in mind that when trading stock CFDs you are speculating on the price of a stock without actually taking ownership of the underlying asset.
• 5 Commodities. Commodities are raw products, such as gold and oil.
• 15 Indices. An index is a basket of trading instruments that is used to gauge a market sector, stocks within an exchange or the economy of a country.
• 12 Cryptocurrencies. Cryptocurrencies, such as Bitcoin, are digital currencies that are secured by cryptography.

While a broad range of markets are available, some instruments such as bonds and exchange traded funds (ETFs) are not available. Below is a sampling of instruments across the various asset classes.

Forex Majors	Forex Minors
EUR/USD | NZD/USD | USD/CAD	AUD/JPY | EUR/CAD | GBP/AUD

Indices	Cryptocurrencies
Swiss 20 | India 50 | Russell 2000	Polkadot | Ripple | Stellar

Commodities	Shares
Silver | WTI Crude Oil | Platinum	Amazon | Moderna | Square

Note: To access the full range of stock CFDs it is necessary to trade via the Iress platform. Iress is a specialized shares portfolio platform that requires a minimum deposit of $5000 and a platform fee of $35 per month. There is also a live data fee which can vary depending on the exchange you are looking to trade.

Account Types and Terms

Classic and Edge Accounts

The account opening process at TMGM is easy and can be done online in under 10 minutes. There are 2 main account types: Classic and Edge. The classic account only uses spreads, while the Edge account offers spreads from 0 pips, plus a commission.

The Classic account is commission free but has wider spreads. The Edge account has spreads that start from 0 pips but charges $7 per round turn (to open and close a trade). There is a short quiz on the Trading Accounts page to help you choose which is the best account type for you based on your style of trading.

The Edge account is geared to short term traders, traders who trade economic news events and traders who use Expert Advisors (EAs). This is because trading via the Edge account is the cheaper account in the long term due to the low spread. It is preferred by EA traders because many EAs use scalping as a trading strategy. When scalping, low spreads are especially important because trades are often held for only a few seconds and profit targets can be just a few pips.

IRESS Account

IRESS is an institutional grade platform that allows traders to manage multiple portfolios. There are 3 options for the IRESS account: Standard, Premium and Gold.

Leverage

One of the reasons that traders are attracted to the forex and CFD markets is the high degree of available leverage. Leverage is the use of borrowed funds to increase the size of your trading positions beyond what would be possible using only the cash in your account. The maximum leverage available at TMGM for both Classic and Edge account types is 1:500. This means that with an account of $1,000, you can control up to $500,000 worth of positions in the market. For the IRESS account, available leverage is much lower at 1:10. Leverage is often described as a ‘double-edged sword’ because it can amplify both your profits and losses. Leveraged trading comes with a high level of risk and can often result in significant losses.

Signing Up

Signing up for Classic and Edge accounts is straightforward and can be done online in a matter of minutes. There was not a Know Your Customer (KYC) questionnaire during the sign up process with the international entity (Trademax Global Limited). KYC aims to ensure that brokers understand the clients’ risk tolerance, investment knowledge, and financial position. However, prospective clients must upload proof of identity and address.

TMGM offers a broad range of base currencies (the currency in which your account is denominated.)

Base Currencies Available at TMGM

US Dollar | Australian Dollar | Euro | British Pound | New Zealand Dollar | Canadian Dollar

TMGM also offers a demo account to help users practice trading without risk and Islamic accounts that adhere to the principles of Sharia law. Swap free Islamic accounts are only available to Edge account holders.

TMGM does not accept clients from the United States, Iran, Japan, North Korea and Afghanistan.

Deposit and Withdrawal

TMGM supports a wide range of payment providers making it easy to deposit and withdraw from your brokerage account. Funds are held in the Tier 1 National Australia Bank. Withdrawals by bank transfer are processed within 1 business day, which is faster than the industry average.

Deposits

Deposits are free at TMGM and mostly instant. The minimum deposit is $100 for all methods. Here are the available deposit methods and the time it takes for the money to clear:

Withdrawals

Withdrawals are also free at TMGM including withdrawals via bank wire. Here are the available withdrawal methods and the time it takes for them to be processed:

Note: withdrawals via bank wire are processed within 1 business day by TMGM, during Australian business hours. Clients must also allow 3-5 working days for the funds to become available in their account.

Customer Support

TMGM customer support is available via phone, live chat and email. Support is currently 24/5, but we were able to access support via WhatsApp over the weekend in our tests.

TMGM offers the convenience of providing assistance via popular chat platforms such as Whatsapp and Facebook messenger. The team of agents can provide support in 10 languages, listed below.

Support Languages at TMGM

English | Thai | Spanish | Portuguese | Arabic | Chinese | Vietnamese | Italian | French | Indonesian

We tested phone, live chat and email with a variety of questions. We asked easy questions such as ‘what is the available leverage at TMGM?’ to harder questions like ‘how can I place a trailing stop loss order?. Response times were very fast: same day for email replies, immediate response via chat and phone. Operators were generally helpful and knowledgeable about the trading industry.

Research

Research materials are of great importance to traders in terms of getting ideas and orienting themselves in the markets. For example technical research materials may cover key support and resistance levels to watch. Fundamental research covers important data such as the economic releases that move the market on a regular basis. TMGM offers quality research materials from both third party sources such as Trading Central and their own analysts. Trading Central can be accessed from within the client portal.

Key features of Trading Central include the following:

• Market Buzz, which can visually display the top financial instruments by news volume and other criteria.
• Featured Trading Ideas, for example a triple bottom pattern in EUR/INR.
• Analyst Views, providing forecasts and key support and resistance levels.
• Calendar Insight, a feature rich economic calendar.

Trading Central materials are frequently updated and we judged them to be good quality.

TMGM also offers research by in-house analysts on their blog. Articles cover both technical and fundamental analysis, published before the open to help traders orient themselves for the day. Fundamental stories cover the key economic events coming up while technical coverage helps traders identify important levels in the market to watch for. We judged the quality and volume of research materials to be above average for the industry.

Finally, live news coverage and analysis is available within the MetaTrader platform from sources such as Credit Suisse and Citibank. News is available on the MetaTrader desktop and mobile platforms.

Education

The TMGM Academy offers in depth course materials, along with progress tracking and quizzes.

TMGM’s educational materials are on their website and only available to registered users. The TMGM Academy breaks its curriculum down into three stages.

• The Beginner Stage introduces concepts such as spreads, margin and basic market analysis.
• The Intermediate Stage goes deeper into technical analysis and covers trading over multiple time frames and introduces fundamental analysis.
• The Advanced Stage covers material such as trading psychology, money management and trading strategies.

The material is well crafted and goes deeper than most other trading courses offered by brokers. The quizzes are not easy and there is something here for traders of all levels of experience.

Platform and Tools

For trading, TMGM offers MetaTrader 4 and 5, along with the IRESS platform. In this review we cover the MetaTrader platform across desktop, web and mobile. MetaTrader is a powerful platform with robust features but the user experience is not as smooth and intuitive as the proprietary platforms of some other CFD brokers. It presents a steeper learning curve than some competing platforms

Desktop

TMGM offers MetaTrader 4 and MetaTrader 5 for desktop, which includes advanced functions such as copy trading and automated trading.

MetaTrader 4 is available in 39 languages, from Arabic to Vietnamese. The platform provides popular features such as:

• Alerts. This feature allows traders to be updated when an instrument reaches a specific price level. Alerts can be delivered via audio, an email, or a push notification to a mobile device.
• Watchlists. Traders can set up a list of their favorite instruments and follow live quotes in a panel called Market Watch.
• One click trading. One Click Trading allows traders to execute orders with a single click and no secondary confirmation. This saves time and is especially useful for short term traders.
• Trading from the chart. MT4 also allows users the convenience of trading directly from the chart.

MetaTrader also delivers when it comes to the range of available order types and its charting functionality. The following order types are available:

• Market Order. This is an order to buy or sell an instrument at the current best available price.
• Limit Orders. This is an order to buy or sell an instrument at a specified price or better.
• Stop Loss Order. This is an order to buy or sell an instrument that is triggered when price reaches a specified level.
• Trailing Stop Order. This is a stop loss order that can be set at a defined percentage or dollar amount away from an instrument’s current market price. It is used to secure profits when you are in a winning trade, while not having to exit the position.

Charting features are robust. MetaTrader 4 offers:

• 47 technical indicators. These include classic trend indicators, volume indicators and oscillators.
• 23 analytical objects. These include lines, channels, Gann and Fibonacci tools.
• 9 time frames Each instrument can be displayed in nine time frames, from one minute to one month.
• 3 chart types. Traders can choose between Bar Charts, Japanese Candlestick Charts and Line Charts.

MetaTrader is also popular due to its copy trading and automated trading features.

• Trading Signals. Signals in MetaTrader 4 allow users to automatically copy the activity of other traders in real time.
• Automated trading. MetaTrader 4 allows users to develop, test and apply Expert Advisors (EAs). EAs are programs that monitor and trade markets using algorithms. They find opportunities according to set parameters and then either create a notification or automatically open a trade.

To conclude, the MetaTrader 4 desktop platform is one of the most feature rich and popular trading platforms in the world. It does not have the most beautiful interface and it does require some time and effort to learn, but that is typical of advanced platforms.

Web

The MetaTrader Web Platform (Web Trader) is a slightly stripped down version of the desktop platform. It allows you to trade without any additional software, only an internet connection is required. The Web Platform allows users to trade directly from any browser and operating system.

TMGM clients can access Web Trader from within the client portal. In the left margin, tools such as Trading Central and HUBx are conveniently situated.

Popular features include:

• One-click trading.
• Trading from the chart.
• Watchlists with real time quotes.
• Trade History.
• Advanced charting with 30 indicators for technical analysis.

Note: copy trading and automated trading are also only available on the MT4 desktop platform. The web platform is not as intuitive as some rival platforms among CFD brokers, but it offers a good range of features.

Mobile App

For mobile trading, TMGM offers the MetaTrader 4 mobile app, which is available for Android and iOS. The app offers popular features such as alerts, 1-click trading and trading from the chart.

The MetaTrader 4 mobile app also provides a broad range of order types including pending and stop-orders. However, trailing stop loss orders are only available from desktop. In order to change the language of the MT4 app, you must change the language for your entire phone. As with desktop and web, the interface is not the most intuitive but the MT4 app offers an above average range of features.

HUBx

HUBx is a copy trading platform which helps traders and fund managers monitor their client accounts along with their risk allocations more efficiently and easily. Clients can easily monitor and manage their positions along with adjusting their risk allocations. HUBx’s smart logs and journals keep track of all important transaction information allowing clients to easily monitor their trading performance. In order to access the platform you need an IRESS account.

The Bottom Line

TMGM has appeal for serious traders and fund managers looking for access to tight spreads and platforms with advanced functionality. Beginners can also benefit from a great range of educational materials and research. This broker scored high in all of our major categories with an all around strong offering. The Achilles heel of TMGM is that for traders outside of Australia and New Zealand, it is overseen by the offshore Vanuatu regulator, which provides a relatively low level of protection to clients.

FAQ

[fx-faq-section
question= Where is TMGM based?;
answer= TMGM headquarters are situated at Level 28, One International Tower, 2000 Barangaroo Avenue, 2000, Sydney, NSW, Australia.]

[fx-faq-section close;
question= Is TMGM safe?;
answer= The Trademax Australia Limited entity of TMGM is regulated by the Australian Securities and Investments Commission (ASIC). The Trademax Global Markets (NZ) Limited entity is regulated by the New Zealand Financial Markets Authority (FMA). The Trademax Global Limited entity is regulated by the Vanuatu Financial Services Commission (VFSC).]

[fx-faq-section close;
question= How does TMGM make money?;
answer= TMGM makes money mainly through spreads, swaps and commissions.]

[fx-faq-section close;
question= How do I deposit funds in a TMGM account?;
answer= Visa, Mastercard, Revolut, Wise, Bank Transfer, NETELLER, Skrill, UnionPay, RMB instant, STICPAY and Broker to Broker.]

[fx-faq-section close;
question= What is the minimum deposit for TMGM?;
answer= The minimum deposit to fund an account is $100.]

[fx-faq-section close;
question= How do I withdraw money from TMGM?;
answer= You can withdraw money via bank wire, NETELLER, Revolut, Wise, Skrill, POLi Payments and RMB instant.]

[fx-faq-section close;
question= How long does it take to withdraw money from an account at TMGM?;
answer= Withdrawals are processed within 1 business day. In the case of bank transfers, clients must allow 3-5 business days for the funds to reach their account.]

[fx-faq-section close;
question= How much is the maximum leverage at TMGM?;
answer= TMGM offers a maximum leverage of 1:500.]

[fx-faq-section close;
question= How can I open an account with TMGM?;
answer= You can open an account online within a matter of minutes.]

[fx-faq-section close;
question= What platforms does TMGM offer?;
answer= MetaTrader 4 and 5, IRESS and HUBx.]

[fx-faq-section close;
question= What are the withdrawal fees at TMGM?;
answer= TMGM does not charge any fees on deposits or withdrawals.]

[fx-faq-section close;
question= Is TMGM good for beginners?;
answer= TMGM can cater well to new traders in that they have a strong educational offering and helpful customer service.]