Is ATFX Safe?

It depends on your country of residence. UK clients are assigned to AT Global Markets (UK) Ltd, the FCA (UK Financial Conduct Authority) entity with licence 760555 and FSCS (Financial Services Compensation Scheme) protection up to £85,000 per person. EU clients are assigned to ATFX Global Markets (CY) Ltd, the CySEC (Cyprus Securities and Exchange Commission) entity with licence 285/15 and ICF (Investor Compensation Fund) protection up to €20,000 per person. South African clients fall under the ATFX FSCA (Financial Sector Conduct Authority) entity, licence 44816. Traders from most of MENA, Southeast Asia and Latin America are assigned to ATFX Global Markets (Mauritius) Ltd, the FSC (Mauritius financial regulator) offshore entity, which carries higher leverage up to 1:400 but no FSCS or ICF compensation cover.

Yes. Client funds are held in segregated accounts, meaning they are kept entirely separate from ATFX's own operating capital, at major regulated banks. UK clients under the FCA entity receive FSCS protection of up to £85,000 per person if ATFX becomes insolvent. EU clients under the CySEC entity are covered by the ICF up to €20,000 per person. Negative balance protection applies to all retail accounts under both FCA and CySEC entities, so losses cannot exceed your deposit. The offshore Mauritius FSC entity does not carry FSCS or ICF cover, though client funds are still held separately from company capital at that tier.

No. ATFX is a legitimate, regulated broker. It has held FCA licence 760555 continuously since 2017 with no public enforcement actions or client-money breaches on the FCA register. The CySEC licence 285/15 is equally current and clean. The main caveat is entity routing: traders outside the UK and EU are assigned to the Mauritius FSC offshore entity, which carries lighter regulatory oversight. That is a standard industry characteristic for offshore tiers, not a scam signal.

The ATFX Standard account opens with a $100 minimum deposit, though some regional entities ask for $200. The Edge raw-spread (an account with near-zero spreads plus a fixed commission per lot, instead of a built-in spread markup) account requires a higher starting balance and suits active traders who trade enough volume for the per-lot commission structure to lower costs below the Standard account pricing. In my testing, a Skrill withdrawal from a live funded account cleared in roughly six hours, and a debit card refund processed within two business days.

No. ATFX does not accept residents of the United States, Canada, or Japan across any of its regulated entities. These countries are blocked at sign-up. US traders looking for CFTC (Commodity Futures Trading Commission) regulated alternatives can consider OANDA or Forex.com, both of which hold NFA (National Futures Association) registration. ATFX is available across the UK, EU, UAE, Saudi Arabia, South Africa, Malaysia, Vietnam, Indonesia, the Philippines and most other markets globally.