ADS Securities is an advanced institutional Forex trading broker platform that has its headquarters in Abu Dhabi, the capital of UAE, which is one of the leading oil exporters in the Middle East. ADS Securities started its Forex brokerage in 2014 with a massive $400 million market cap and is considered to be one of the largest Forex brokers in the world.
ADS Securities is popular for having a significant monthly turnover in Forex volumes, which is helped in part by wealthy investors from the Middle East, Europe, and Asia Pacific. ADS Securities has different local branches and representations in several major financial capitals of the world.
Apart from Abu Dhabi, ADS Securities also operates out of London, Hong Kong, and Singapore; although its absence from the US market is indeed a reason for concern. Most mainstream Forex brokers with a huge market capital usually have a significant US presence, but ADS Securities is conspicuous by the lack of NFA or CFTC regulation.
- $400 million market cap, one of the largest in the world.
- Up to 1:500 leverage
Contact Info
- Website: ads-securities.co.uk
- Support: +44(0) 203 771 5450
- Office Address: 9th floor, Stock Exchange Tower, 125 Old Broad Street, London, EC2N 1AR, UK
Nevertheless, ADS Securities is indeed a highly reliable Forex broker that has quickly become one of the leading Forex brokers in the industry. ADS Securities is known as ADS Prime in the UK and is regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA). In Hong Kong, the broker is governed by the SFC, while in Abu Dhabi, ADS Securities is regulated by the Central Bank of UAE. As far as regulation is concerned, ADS Securities has provided a sense of security and confidence to its investors by being regulated by some of the top regulators in the financial industry. In this ADS Prime review, we will find out some of the relevant facts of trading with ADS Securities.
Is ADS Securities Only Available For Rich & Institutional Traders?
ADS Securities has opened up its Forex business to all traders through its ADS Prime subsidiary, which offers a broad range of Forex markets and trading products to suit different trading requirements. ADS Prime is a UK-based company, which allows it the freedom to provide numerous financial products under the excellent FCA regulatory guidelines. Traders can choose from different financial markets and assets that include currency pairs, indices, commodities, equities, precious metals, shares, bonds, and futures contracts.
Therefore, ADS Securities has added a wide range of tradable products into its services portfolio to ensure that a majority of the retail trading market can take advantage of their trading accounts. Contrary to popular belief, ADS Prime is not a Forex broker that is aimed only at affluent traders. In fact, traders can open an ADS Prime account with as little as £200 or its equivalent, which allows traders to open a standard account. The ECN account does require a higher investment, as traders will be asked to deposit at least £5000 as their initial deposit. The maximum ADS Prime leverage offered on all accounts is pegged at 1:500, which may be considered to be high, especially for an ECN account, where large market volatilities may affect high-risk trades. Commodities and shares can be traded only with a lower ADS Securities leverage of 1:200 and 1:20 respectively, while indices and other CFDs can be traded at the maximum leverage of 1:500.
ADS Prime spreads start from 0.7 pips for the Standard account, which reduces to 0 pips for the ECN account. ADS Securities spreads have always been on the lower side ever since they started offering their services to retail traders; however, the commission on ECN accounts is slightly higher at $3.5 per lot traded. Regardless, there have been instances where ADS Prime spreads increased to significant proportions during volatile market events, and numerous customers had registered their discontent at the lack of any mechanism to prevent the violent spikes in spreads.
ADS Prime also offers a spread betting account for UK residents that allow traders to enjoy a tax-free trading environment while dealing with several FX and CFD products. Spread betting is considered as a legal product in the UK financial markets, which is regulated and authorized by the FCA. Profits made on spread betting enjoy zero tax and zero stamp duty, which essentially removes any worry of paying tax for an investor’s profits in the market. Spread betting may be illegal in several other countries in the world; therefore, ADS Prime only offers the platform for traders from the UK.
How Effective Are ADS Securities Platforms?
ADS Prime platforms are restricted to the MT4 terminal, and it is a huge surprise that the company hasn’t invested any money into developing a proprietary trading terminal for their clients. The MT4 terminal is available in different guises, which also supports ADS Prime mobile trading through the MT4 mobile apps available for iOS and Android devices. As an incentive to traders for the lack of any other ADS prime platform alternatives, the company offers the MT4 Plus add-on free of cost that acts as a plugin to enhance the trading experience by providing advanced charting functionalities. Traders are also provided free access to the AutoChartist platform, along with the Algo Builder, which is an automated EA programming tool that helps users to create an Expert Advisor without any programming knowledge.
ADS Prime does take its customer complaints very seriously and has a dedicated complaint resolution department that caters to every client issues promptly. FCA regulation and protection under the FSCS scheme provides further security of funds to a trader, which is supplemented with access to a Financial Ombudsman service that helps traders to resolve disputes with their broker through an arbitration service. ADS Prime is indeed a good choice of broker for most trading requirements, but as far as incentives and ADS Securities bonus is concerned, new traders may be disappointed to learn that there aren’t any. You should open an account with the broker purely on merit, and if their trading conditions suit your trading needs.
FAQs
The ADS Securities forex broker offers three different account types, Prime Lite, Prime Classic, and Prime Elite. Prime Lite has a minimum deposit for $100, while Classic and Elite have $5,000 and $200,000 minimum deposits respectively. Prime Lite is for new traders, while Elite is tailored for professional traders. Swap-free accounts are also available.
Yes, ADS Securities offers a welcome bonus to traders that register from qualifying countries. They also have a friend referral program and a list of promotions that are offered both long-term and for limited times.
Yes, ADS Securities is a legitimate broker. They hold licenses from the Hong Kong Securities & Futures Commission (SFC), the UK Financial Conduct Authority (FCA), and the Central Bank of the UAE. Although they provide adequate services to their clients, our experts suggest registering at one of our recommended brokers instead for a better trading experience.
ADS Securities offers trading instruments in several markets. This include indices, currency pairs, commodities, and cryptocurrencies. They also provide their clients with helpful trading tools such as charts, signals, and alert systems. All these features can be tested out in their demo account before committing to a live account.
ADS Securities claims to process all withdrawals within one business day. Once processed, the arrival of funds will vary depending on which payment method has been selected. For example, e-wallets can have near-instant transfer times while bank transfers can take up to five business days.
