HYCM broker review Review

HYCM is part of the Henyep Group, which has provided trading services from Hong Kong since 1977. They offer spreads as low as 0.2 pips and have grown to offer retail investors Forex trading, and CFDs trading, over 30 currency pairs, cryptocurrencies, indices, stocks, commodities. HYCM offers MT4 and Mobile trading currency platforms. To open an account, you need a minimum deposit of $100 and they offer a demo account to practice on.

hycm website

What can be traded

With HYCM there are around 100 instruments for you to use. You can trade:

  • Forex
  • Stocks
  • Indices
  • Commodities

Accounts

HYCM offer three account types. Effective spreads are high across all account options. The options are:

  • Fixed
  • Classic
  • Raw

Broker regulations

HYCM is regulated and supervised by reputable organisations, they are governed and supervised by reputable financial regulatory bodies. HYCM is authorised and regulated by the UK’s Financial Conduct Authority (FCA), also authorized and regulated under the Cyprus Securities and Exchange Commission.

Demo account

Although it wasn`t highlighted on the website, I found out in other reviews, that they offer a demo account. A demo account is a virtual account, with virtual money. You can test your skills and learn everything about the platform and trading, before going live. Shame I don’t know anything about their demo account. I don’t know if it’s free, and for how long I may use it.

Broker fees

The forex trading costs depend on which account you choose. Average spreads for the EUR/USD stand near two pips for the fixed spread, The Raw account has more competitive pricing, with 0.7 pips average spreads. There`s a commission of $4 per round lot and charge a $10 monthly inactivity fee. The withdrawal fees vary on the payment method, but they don’t charge a withdrawal fee.

fees

fees 2

fees 3

Registering for an account

As I am a beginner, I`m going for the demo account, which I know nothing about so far and I`m not sure, where to find it, so intuitively I`m clicking on “open account”. A short form comes up, where I fill in my name, email and telephone number.

trading account

After filling the short online form, it takes me further, and that, to open a trading live account. So, I try to log in through a link I found in another review. That link took me to a choice of an International website or a European website.

international website

As advised, I continue with the European website. Unfortunately, that took me to the same page I was on a minute earlier. So, I try to fill in my details and risk it with a live account. And to add insult to injury, I couldn`t type in numbers, God knows why. So, this is where my registration ended.

Trading platforms

HYCM is a MetaTrader-only broker, they offer the retail-favourite MT4 platform for you to trade on and MetaTrader 5 (MT5). Although both fully support automated trading, HYCM hardly maintains the most basic version. the trading platform remains a standard without adding 3rd party plugins. Clients may opt for the mobile version, while the WebTrader I haven`t found anywhere.

HYCM website

The color chosen for their website is O.K. I`d say, red and grey works well. Scrolling up and down the main page works well. I worked my way through intuitively and quickly. You see, what you need to see when you visit them for the first time. That is, their awards, what they offer, why to choose them etc. In the top panel you can choose from:

  • About us
  • Trading
  • Tools
  • Education

In the first option you can go through their history in detail, read through regulations and licences, awards and you can look at what other media says about them. The next option shows what HYCM offers, “Tools” offer you an economic calendar, calculator and news. Recent news is an awkward page, where you choose your news depending on the currency, what`s disappointing is, that you can`t read the news if you don’t have an account.

news

 

The whole time you have a live chat bubble there available for you to chat with someone.

I tried it; the response was a bot response. So now I`m waiting for a real person to speak to.

chat

While HYCM provides a dedicated education section on its website, where you can choose from:

  • Forex education
  • Webinars and workshops
  • Seminars

In Forex education, you`ll learn about basics, how to trade, what tools to use and why. I tried the “The trend signal strategy”. Not very functional, took ages to load up.

As another source of education with HYCM, you can go through e-books. This part I enjoyed, worked well and simple design. They hold seminars and you may read about them, look through photos etc here too.

events

Social networks

In the footer, you can see a line of social network accounts they have. Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, Instagram, YouTube and CrunchBase. On Facebook, they post news, events and facts a couple of times a month.

facebook

Surprisingly, all social network accounts are up to date, with loads of information.

social networks

Advantages and disadvantages

Despite its respected history, it struggles to keep up with the modern world. I was missing demo account information, fee information. The educational tools seem great but aren`t very functional. I couldn`t sign up for an account, because their form didn`t accept numbers, I was typing in, plus, I wanted to try a demo account first. On the other hand, HYCM is a well-regulated and trustworthy broker, they have several accounts to choose from and they are active on social networks. They also offer a live chat, but I haven`t received any answers yet. (1 hour from leaving them a message and my email address).

Pros:

  • Regulated
  • Variety of accounts
  • Long history
  • A good track record of offering Forex, CFDs

Cons:

  • No demo account
  • Educational tools don’t function well
  • Live chat didn`t respond
  • Basic MetaTrader platform

Pros / Cons
  • Regulated
  • Variety of accounts
  • Long history
  • A good track record of offering Forex, CFDs
  • No demo account
  • Educational tools don't function well
  • Live chat didn`t respond
  • Basic MetaTrader platform

Our Score

HYCM is part of the Henyep Group. They offer spreads as low as 0.2 pips and have grown to offer retail investors Forex trading, and CFDs trading.