GO Markets

About Go Markets

GO Markets is an Australian-based forex and CFD broker that offers some of the lowest trading fees in the industry. It is also heavily regulated and has won several coveted industry awards over the years.

Our GO Markets broker review determined that it is not a large broker. There are over 100 employees to serve your interests, and the firm has taken up residence in key jurisdictions with a strong regulatory presence. This includes Australia with regulation from the Australian Securities and Investments Commission (ASIC), in Cyprus where regulation comes from the Cyprus Securities and Exchange Commission (CySEC), in Mauritius with the Financial Services Commission (FSC) and the Financial Services Authority in the Seychelles.

The management team at GO Markets also made a wise choice to offer the MetaTrader family of platform products to their clients, bypassing the need for a proprietary system and its accompanying expense. These platforms include MT4 and MT5 across desktop, mobile and web platforms.

Some customers may feel that the portfolio of asset choices is limited. Depending upon your residency jurisdiction, you may not have full access to all of these trading instruments. Although the firm advertises that it offers over 1,000 tradable CFD instruments related to forex, indices, shares, cryptos, and commodities, residents of Australia also get access to GO Markets’ share trading product.

The GO Markets head office is located in Melbourne, Australia, and since 2006, the broker has dedicated itself to providing its customers with the best trading experience possible. It has consistently enhanced its technology and service offerings, winning several coveted industry awards in the process. Most recently, it received ‘Best Fintech Broker Global’, ‘Most Trusted Broker EU’ and ‘Best Trading Support Asia’ at the Global Forex Awards 2022. It is still best known, however, for its ultra-low fee schedules for both the Standard and commission-based accounts.

Products and Trade Offers

Our GO Markets review showed the firm to be a niche provider in the forex/CFD arena, choosing to deliver low fees and exceptional service for beginner, veteran and professional traders. For the majority of its clients, the firm offers two account possibilities: a Standard Account and a GO Plus+ Account. The Standard Account omits commissions while pricing its trades purely on very low Bid/Ask spreads starting at roughly one pip.

For traders who deal in larger-value trades, the GO Plus+ Account is exactly like the Standard Account, but it starts with 0.0 spreads and a commission of A$3.00 per trade. GO Markets also offers professional accounts, as designated by regulatory definitions for sophisticated and high-net-worth individuals. These definitions require lengthy employment in the industry or a high annual gross income and a portfolio.

Over the past decade, regulators have grown concerned about the trading losses sustained by customers, often the result of unscrupulous brokers based in a foreign locale without any regulatory oversight present. Major agencies have issued a multitude of new rules and regulations designed to protect the public interest, which have been inconsistent across national borders. Leverage levels have been reduced, and in some cases, the trading of crypto CFDs has been forbidden for retail consumers.

Brokers have responded by forming separate operating entities in various jurisdictions, which means that the offerings of the firm are not the same for every client. GO Markets has had to follow this business model to adapt to the ever-changing regulatory scene. Here is a listing of its product portfolio, though you may be limited in your choices by your country of residence:

• Basic CFD package: The firm’s general offering includes CFDs for forex, indices, metals, commodities and bonds. Currency pairs are in the 50 range, while indices and commodities fall down to the 15 and 10 range. Trading share CFDs is also limited to the MT5 platform, where there are over 1,000 assets from major global exchanges.
• Crypto CFDs: Presently, GO Markets offers CFD trading in 14 popular crypto programs, but access is confined to clients within CySEC and SVG regions. There are global concerns that cryptos are far too volatile for retail traders. Agencies have adopted restrictions on this activity, and although ASIC has not followed suit, it has often said in the press that it is reviewing its position.
• Share trading: Australian residents have an additional benefit when signing up with GO Markets. The firm offers access to buying and selling ASX shares and ETFs directly through the company’s regulated broker.

Due to the crackdown by regulators on bonuses and trading incentives, GO Markets has curtailed this marketing approach to obtain and retain retail clients. Other than its fee waiver for ASX share trading after a full account transfer, you will not find bonus offers from this broker. There is a standard referral program, and there may be a promotion from time to time. Check the website.

Commissions and Fee Charges

The core competency of the GO Markets team is its ability to offer quality service and execution while maintaining one of the lowest fee profiles in the industry. This one distinguishing feature, being a very low-cost provider, is often the one thing that all reviewers agree upon when they critique this firm. It may have cut corners in other aspects or outsourced certain activities such as research and copy trading support to third parties, but clients can easily avail low trading fees without making enormous deposits, as with most other brokers.

Bid/Ask spreads start at 0.0 pips for the commission-based GO Plus+ Account, but even with the Standard Account, spreads are low at 1 pip for the EUR/USD pair. While this amount might seem at first to be average, other brokers will typically require a very large deposit to access a lower spread. The assessment of overnight charges for swing trades is also very competitive, indicating no markup, as with other brokers. There is no inactivity or fees for deposits or withdrawals.

What Others Say

Our GO Markets review revealed that it is a popular broker based in Australia, and as a result of its popularity, it has been reviewed by many independent sources on the internet. The majority of these reviews applaud the firm’s competitive fee and spreads as being some of the lowest in the industry, but in order to offer such low fees, other areas such as product portfolio breadth, customer service, and research fall on the other side of average, which can be acceptable when profit is your primary objective.

Here are a few comments from other reviewers in the forex industry:

Fxempire.com:

“If you’re interested in trading with some of the best fees in the industry then GO Markets could be for you. While the product range is limited, GO Markets is regulated by two tier 1 regulators and provides a good range of products that are great for beginner and advanced traders. Overall, GO Markets provides an above-average offering mainly due to its trading fees.”

Brokerchooser.com:

“GO Markets is an Australian forex and CFD broker. The broker offers low forex fees and charges no inactivity, deposit, or withdrawal fee. The account opening is fast and fully digital and there are several, high-quality educational tools. There are some drawbacks though. The product portfolio covers mainly forex and CFDs. The customer service could be improved, and non-EU customers are not covered by any investor protection scheme.”

Daytrading.com:

“GO Markets’ investing experience, award-winning support, and trading tools have earned it a solid reputation in the online forex industry. The MT4 and MT5 platforms are ideal for traders of all levels, and the tight spreads and low commission fees make them an attractive option for anyone looking to trade assets efficiently.”

Customer Service

Our GO Markets broker review found that the firm offers ‘24/5’ customer support in several languages. You may access support via email or direct phone, and the website does have a live chat button for quick responses to your queries. The firm also has a few offices in Europe to assist in those time zones, but reviews of the support have indicated that it’s average. Once again, in order to be a low-cost provider on fees, there have to be sacrifices in some quarters.

Platform Features and Tools

There is no confusion in this area or a new proprietary platform to learn. GO Markets is a MetaTrader shop, complete with MT4, MT5 and MetaTrader’s mobile app. The addition of MT5 is recent and may be required in your jurisdiction to access share trading. Due to previous criticism, the firm has also upgraded its platform portfolio by adding direct web access.

No longer must its clients always download the software to their devices. The direct web platform goes by the name of GO WebTrader. Its web applications enable CFD trading with both Android and iOS devices. These have the same analytical capabilities as you have become accustomed to on its desktop software.

Mobile Trading

GO Markets does support mobile trading with its MetaTrader mobile app, which is easily downloaded for using both MT4 and MT5 trading applications and tools. For the on-the-go trader, instant access and execution speeds rival the desktop versions, and you still have access to such helpful tools as a-Quant, Trading Central and Autochartist. The latter popular tool for MT4 scans the market for price action alerts and more, enabling the trader to focus on the opportunities at hand.

Robo Trading

With MT4 and MT5, it is always a given that the software allows you to access trading algorithms for automated trading routines via Expert Advisors (EAs). The feature may be found under the ‘Options’ tab, but some experience is required to configure your desired results.

As for copy trading, GO Markets does provide access to Myfxbook, which presently has more than one million participants on its service. You may choose your experts and control the trading action as you see fit, but the service is independent of GO Markets, another way to offer a premium service without having to expend precious internal capital on its development and operation.

Research and Learning Section

Our GO Markets review also revealed that the firm goes out of its way to educate beginners. There are training courses, tutorials for its platform, and an active YouTube channel with lots of helpful advice and research. You may easily access a free demo account, an account manager, educational articles, eBooks and coaching webinars. The coaching support goes by the name of Inner Circle Webinars. Beginners participate in weekly training sessions, where they can build confidence and connect with other traders.

On the research side, GO Markets has outsourced this activity to a third-party research company, Trading Central. There is no harm in this, but experienced traders realize that once information is public, it is not unique. Every client of Trading Central will get the same information, but confidence comes from exercising a strategy. Outside advice helps with understanding general market directions, and an economic calendar keeps you from being blindsided by a market event. GO Markets does provide an ample calendar on its website. Autochartist and a-Quant applications are also available.

Regulatory Details

Our GO Markets broker review revealed a highly regulated brokerage firm with top-tiered regulators such as ASIC and CySEC. The FSC in Mauritius and FSA in Seychelles rounds out the compliance regimen. Negative balance protection is also provided.

OUR SUMMARY