Hello, fellow investor! This review will give our honest opinion of Exness, a broker that specialises in contract for differences (CFDs) trading in Forex, commodities, stocks, indices, and crypto.
Exness targets the commission-free currency CFD trading niche (encompassing some ⅔ of its active customers), with only a limited offering in its other CFD trading products.
Exness only offers CFDs, not real stocks or shares (more about the differences between CFDs and real products).
Furthermore, the regulatory jurisdictions where it accepts retail investors raise some concerns for the security of the investments compared to more established brokers supervised by the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission or those accepting retail clients in the European Union.
Video summary
Watch a short recap of our review in the video below:
Overview
Exness offers CFD trading in instruments such as Currencies (over 100 currency pairs), Commodities, Stocks, Indices, and Crypto.
A distinctive feature for Forex CFDs is the ability to hold positions in currency pairs swap-free. This means you would not have to pay the difference in central bank rates in the respective currency pair you are trading (traditionally, when you have a position in foreign exchange, you receive the interest in the currency you are long and pay the interest in the currency you are short. For example, if you are long the USD versus the EUR, you will receive the USD interest rate and pay the EUR interest rate. The difference between the two interest rates is called the swap rate).
Exness enables trading through its distinctive Exness Terminal for desktop users, as well as the Exness Trade app for mobile users on the go. If you are more old-fashioned and prefer a more standardised trading platform, Exness also allows users to trade using the gold standard MetaTrader 4 and MetaTrader 5 platforms.
The Exness Terminal is the preferred desktop offering for active traders. It has a simple interface and industry-leading charts from TradingView. The platform features more than 50 drawing tools and over 100 indicators. The terminal is web-based, meaning you do not have to download or install it.
For opportunistic traders preferring mobility over functional depth, Exness offers the Exness trading app. The app allows you to open and close positions, set price level alerts, as well as to fund or withdraw money from your account.
You can also learn a ton on the up-to-date Exness blog here.
Highlights
🌎 Supported Countries | Over 150 (but not the US, UK or EU) |
💰 US Stocks CFD and Indices CFD fees | No commission, spreads apply |
💵 Currency Conversion Fee | None |
💰 Inactivity fee | Not specified |
💰 Withdrawal fee | None |
💸 Minimum Deposit | Depends on payment system and account type |
🎁 Products Offered | CFDs on Currencies, Commodities, Stocks, Indices, and Crypto |
🎮 Demo account | Yes |
💼 Regulatory entities | FSA, CBCS, FSC, CySEC, FCA, CMA |
Account opening
Exness boasts a quick account opening process. The platform offers three distinct sets of accounts: Standard accounts, Professional accounts, and Social Trading accounts.
The standard account is the broker’s most popular option, with no commissions and spreads starting from 0.2 pips (pips are standard measures in forex, more easily explained with an example. If the EUR/USD exchange rate moves from 1.1100 to 1.1101, the difference of 0.0001 is one pip). You can learn more about Standard accounts on Exness’s dedicated website here.
Professional accounts come in three varieties – Raw Spread, Zero, and Pro. They allow you to optimise your transaction costs depending on your trading style. You can learn more about Professional accounts on Exness’s dedicated website here.
Social Trading accounts allow you to share your trades with the Exness community, earning money in the process. The details on social trading profits you could make are scant on Exness’s website, but you can review social trading account details here.
The account opening process is intuitive, with a demo account available after selecting your Country/ Region of residence, e-mail address and password:
Once you have set up your account, you can explore the Exness Terminal functionality. If you like the platform and Exness’s trading terms, you are three steps away from unlocking your real account – you need to confirm your email, phone number, and profile information:
Products & markets
Exness only offers CFDs and no real stocks or shares (more about the differences between CFDs and real products).
Exness offers five broad CFD trading categories, with a dedicated website available for each separate product.
- Forex CFDs are Exness’s bread and butter. Around 70% of the company’s active clients trade currency CFDs. As highlighted above, the ability to hold positions swap-free is the broker’s key differentiating feature. You can learn all about Forex CFDs on the Exness dedicated website here.
- Commodity CFDs are available on key metals such as gold (including in non-USD currencies such as AUD or GBP), silver, copper, etc. and energy products such as oil and natural gas. More niche commodities, such as grains, are unavailable. You can learn all about Commodity CFD trading conditions on the dedicated website here.
- Stock CFDs are available on select large-cap stocks (primarily domiciled in the United States, with a few Chinese exceptions) in nine distinct sectors, including Consumer discretionary, Consumer staples, Energy, Finance, Healthcare, Industrials, Real estate, Technology, and Telecommunications. You can view all available stock CFDs on the dedicated website here.
- Index CFDs can be traded on ten of the largest world indices, offering a broad geographic diversification despite the small number of available indices. You can review all relevant details on index CFDs here.
- Crypto CFDs are available primarily on Bitcoin. That said, you can trade the largest cryptocurrency against a variety of assets, including the USD, Gold, Silver, etc. You can check out all crypto CFD options here.
Pros and cons
Pros
- Proprietary trading platform
- MetaTrader 4 and 5
- Swap-free Trading
- Demo account
Cons
- Tax-haven registration
- Not available in the US, UK or EU
- Focus on high leverage and Forex
- Limited trading offering outside Forex
- No real asset offering (only CFDs)
Fees
Exness has largely adopted the zero commission model, meaning it primarily makes money from the bid-ask spread on the instruments you trade. As a reminder, there are three types of accounts (standard, professional, and social trading accounts), meaning your spread will vary depending on the exact account type you choose. You can review the spread on the product you are interested in trading by visiting the respective product page. Here is an example of some of the most popular Forex CFD pairs:
Pair | Average spread (in pips) |
EURUSD | 1 |
GBPUSD | 1.2 |
USDCAD | 2.2 |
USDCHF | 1.4 |
USDJPY | 1.1 |
Safety and red flags
Exness offers trading in CFDs, which as instruments are widely accepted in the financial industry. That said, CFDs do not have the track record that trading on organised securities exchanges has. As a result, we reckon trading in CFDs, by the very nature of the instrument, implies a higher level of operational risk compared to common stocks traded on U.S. exchanges, for example.
Furthermore, Exness is regulated by several governing bodies, including the Financial Services Authority (FSA) of Seychelles, the Central Bank of Curacao and Sint Maarten (CBCS), the Financial Services Commission of the British Virgin Islands, the Financial Services Commission of Mauritius, the Financial Sector Conduct Authority in South Africa, the Cyprus Securities and Exchange Commission (CySEC), the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) in the UK, and the Capital Markets Authority (CMA) in Kenya. You can review all regulators here.
Despite being regulated by top-tier entities, the Exness subsidiaries that accept retail clients are the ones regulated by tax haven areas, meaning that when, for example, a Vietnamese or an Indian citizen opens an account, he is doing it under the Exness (SC) Ltd (Seychelles), Exness B.V. (Curacao) or Exness (VG) Ltd (Virgin Islands).
The lack of access to Exness services for retail clients residing in strongly regulated markets (such as the US, EU, etc.) is a warning flag for us. Currently, Exness only allows business customers in the UK to use its services:
That said, the company earns an average score of 4.5/5 on Trustpilot, based on over 5,500 reviews, which is very suspicious as even the world’s most reputable brokers have low Trustpilot scores.
Even so, a simple web search will reveal unhappy customers on Reddit claiming they have been unfairly treated.
Supported countries
Despite not being available in the US, UK and EU for retail investors, Exness conducts business in over 150 countries. The website and customer support are available in over 15 languages. While we did not find a comprehensive list of countries you can open a trading account, the broker is particularly active in the Asia-Pacific region, including Vietnam, India, Indonesia, and Thailand.
Exness alternatives
If you are unhappy with what you have read so far on Exness, don’t worry, we have you covered! You can read all our broker reviews here, including some of our top picks for CFD brokers, such as XTB and Plus500. Furthermore, if you want to consider a broker offering a wider variety of products outside CFDs, look no further than Interactive Brokers. For social trading, your best pick is definitely eToro.
Interactive Brokers
Best overall brokereToro
Best for commission-free investing and social tradingXTB
Best for CFD and Forex tradingPlus500
Best for a broad CFD offering
Bottom line
After going through all Exness has to offer, we cannot conclude that Exness is a scam. However, considering the limited product offering outside of Forex CFDs and the red flags around its regulatory bodies, we strongly suggest you consider alternative brokers to Exness or at least compare their terms and conditions.
Even with the best brokers, it is a wise choice to diversify your trading exposure with competitors. In that way, should one broker fail, you will still have access to your other broker’s account!