HYCM Broker Review 2023 – HYCM is a global forex and CFD broker regulated by many financial authorities globally, including the top-tier FCA. HYCM has low forex and CFD trading fees. It offers a wide selection of quality educational tools. The account opening is easy and fully digital. On the flip side, HYCM’s product portfolio is limited to forex and CFDs. Popular asset classes, such as real stocks, are missing. The broker uses MetaTrader trading platforms that have a slightly outdated design. Additionally, HYCM charges a $10 inactivity fee per month after 90 days of inactivity.
HYCM is a regulated broker, it is overseen by top-tier financial regulators in multiple countries . HYCM is also covered by investor protection in selected jurisdictions. We at BrokerChooser always test brokers with real money, including the withdrawal process.
Best broker for Forex and Crypto
(78.28% of retail CFD accounts lose money)
HYCM highlights
| 🗺️ Country of regulation | UK, Cyprus, Dubai, Cayman Islands |
| 💰 Trading fees class | Low |
| 💰 Inactivity fee charged | Yes |
| 💰 Withdrawal fee amount | $0 |
| 💰 Minimum deposit | $100 |
| 🕖 Time to open an account | 1 day |
| 💳 Deposit with bank card | Available |
| 👛 Depositing with electronic wallet | Available |
| 💱 Number of base currencies supported | 6 |
| 🎮 Demo account provided | Yes |
| 🛍️ Products offered | Forex, CFD, Crypto |
Fees
HYCM has low forex and CFD trading fees. It’s also great that the broker charges no deposit and withdrawal fees in most cases. On the negative side, there is a quite high inactivity fee.
| Pros | Cons |
|---|---|
| • Low forex fees | • Inactivity fee |
| • Low CFD fees |
| Assets | Fee level | Fee terms |
|---|---|---|
| S&P 500 CFD | Low | Classic & Raw account: the fees are built into the spread; the spread cost is 0.5 points during peak trading hours. The Fixed account has wider spreads. |
| Europe 50 CFD | Low | Classic & Raw account: the fees are built into the spread; the spread cost is 2.3 points during peak trading hours. The Fixed account has wider spreads. |
| EURUSD | Low | Classic account: the fees are built into the spread, 1.4 pips is the average spread cost during peak trading hours. |
| Inactivity fee | Average | $10 each month after 90 days of inactivity |
How we ranked fees
We ranked HYCM’s fee levels as low, average or high based on how they compare to those of all reviewed brokers.
To get things rolling, let’s go over some lingo related to broker fees. What you need to keep an eye on are trading fees and non-trading fees.
- Trading fees occur when you trade. These can be commissions, spreads, financing rates and conversion fees.
- Non-trading fees include charges not directly related to trading, like withdrawal fees or inactivity fees.
In the sections below, you will find the most relevant fees charged by HYCM for each asset class. For example, in the case of forex and stock index trading the most important fees are spreads, commissions and financing rates.
We also compared HYCM’s fees with those of two similar brokers we selected, XM and AvaTrade. This selection is based on objective factors such as products offered, client profile, fee structure, etc. See a more detailed rundown of HYCM alternatives.
To have a clear overview of HYCM, let’s start with the trading fees.
HYCM trading fees
HYCM’s trading fees are low. There are different cost structures for the various account types. In this review, we tested the fees of the Classic account.
We know it’s hard to compare trading fees for CFD brokers. So how did we approach the problem of making their fees clear and comparable? We compare brokers by calculating all the fees of a typical trade for selected products.
We have chosen popular instruments within each asset class:
- Stock index CFDs: SPX and EUSTX50
- Stock CFDs: Apple and Vodafone
- Forex: EURUSD, GBPUSD, AUDUSD, EURCHF and EURGBP
A typical trade means buying a leveraged position, holding it for one week and then selling. In terms of volume, we chose a $2,000 position for the stock index and stock CFDs and $20,000 for the forex transactions. The leverage we used was:
- 20:1 for stock index CFDs
- 5:1 for stock CFDs
- 30:1 for forex
These catch-all benchmark fees include spreads, commissions and financing costs for all brokers. Let’s see the verdict for HYCM fees.
CFD fees
HYCM has generally low CFD trading fees, they compare favorably to the fees charged by its main competitors.
| HYCM | AvaTrade | XM | |
|---|---|---|---|
| S&P 500 index CFD fee | $1.7 | $2.6 | $2.5 |
| Europe 50 index CFD fee | $0.8 | $2.0 | $3.1 |
| Apple CFD fee | $4.2 | $6.6 | $6.7 |
| Vodafone CFD fee | – | $8.3 | $2.3 |
Forex fees
HYCM forex fees are low and in line with its main competitors.
| HYCM | AvaTrade | XM | |
|---|---|---|---|
| EURUSD benchmark fee | $14.3 | $16.4 | $17.5 |
| GBPUSD benchmark fee | $11.6 | $11.3 | $12.2 |
| AUDUSD benchmark fee | $14.5 | $15.3 | $14.5 |
| EURCHF benchmark fee | $10.1 | $4.4 | $6.3 |
| EURGBP benchmark fee | $15.5 | $15.5 | $15.5 |
In the case of Classic and Fixed accounts, the broker only charges spread costs. The Raw account has low spreads, but there is a $4 per lot per trade commission. The Raw account is favorable if you trade a high volume.
Non-trading fees
HYCM has average non-trading fees.
| HYCM | AvaTrade | XM | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Account fee | No | No | No |
| Inactivity fee | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Deposit fee | $0 | $0 | $0 |
| Withdrawal fee | $0 | $0 | $0 |
It’s great that no deposit or account fees are charged.
Normally, HYCM does not charge withdrawal fees either. There are two exceptions:
- withdrawals of less than $300 via bank transfer carry a handling fee of $30.
- withdrawals over $5,000 via Skrill or Neteller are subject to a 1% processing fee.
Less conveniently, there is a $10 inactivity fee charged each month after 90 days of inactivity. A bit underhand for our liking.
Account opening
HYCM accepts customers from all over the world with some notable exceptions like residents of the US, Belgium, France, Hong Kong, Japan. Quebec and Saskatchewan in Canada are also excluded. Furthermore, the following citizens cannot open an account regardless of their residence: USA, Hong Kong, North Korea, Sudan.
What is the minimum deposit at HYCM?
The required minimum deposit is $100 for Classic and Fixed accounts, while Raw accounts require a $200 minimum deposit.
Account types
If you want to explore the possibilities offered by HYCM, we recommend opening a demo account.
There are 3 main types of trading accounts at HYCM (Fixed, Classic and Raw), which differ in their pricing structure and the required minimum deposit. The key differences are shown in the following table.
| Fixed | Classic | Raw | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Spread from | 1.8 pips | 1.2 pips | 0.2 pip |
| Commission per round | 0 | 0 | $4 |
| Minimum deposit | $100 | $100 | $200 |
Besides, you can also open swap-free or Islamic accounts. Instead of overnight interest, swap-free accounts have an administrative fee if you hold your leveraged position overnight.
How to open your account
Opening an account at HYCM is an easy and fast process, the client interface is very user friendly. Online registration takes only 5-10 minutes. Our account was verified within one business day. Follow these simple steps to open an account:
- Click on the open account button.
- Provide the required personal details, like your name, email address, phone number, date of birth and physical address.
- Select your desired trading platform (MetaTrader 4 or MetaTrader 5), account type (Fixed, Classic or Raw) and currency. Bear in mind that you can also open additional accounts later. So for example, you can have a MetaTrader 4 account both in USD and EUR. You can make transfers between accounts opened in the same currency.
- Provide additional personal data required and answer a few questions on your financial status and trading experience.
- Verify your ID and residency. You can upload a national ID, passport or driver’s license for authentication. Utility bills and bank statements are accepted for residency verification. If you want to use a debit or credit card, you’ll need to verify those as well.
Deposit and withdrawal
HYCM offers free and fast deposit and withdrawal options, including traditional methods such as bank transfer and credit card funding as well as various e-wallets. On the other hand, the number of available account currencies lags behind some of HYCM’s competitors.
| Pros | Cons |
|---|---|
| • Credit/Debit card available | • Average account currency selection |
| • Free withdrawal | |
| • No deposit fee |
Account base currencies
At HYCM, you can choose from 6 base currencies: USD, EUR, GBP, CAD, RUB, AED. This is an average selection in comparison with some of HYCM’s competitors.
| HYCM | AvaTrade | XM | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Number of base currencies | 6 | 6 | 10 |
Under your HYCM profile, you can open more than one account with different account base currencies. For example, you can have both a EUR and USD account for MetaTrader 4 at the same time. Moving funds between accounts that have the same currency is free and instant. International users (not under the FCA or CySEC regulation) with USD accounts are able to fund their account using crypto.
Why does this matter? For two reasons. If you fund your trading account in the same currency as your bank account or you trade assets in the same currency as your trading account base currency, you don’t have to pay a conversion fee.
Deposit fees and options
HYCM charges no deposit fees. In addition to bank transfers, clients can also deposit money using credit/debit cards, and via Skrill, Neteller, WebMoney However, WebMoney is not available for all countries.
| HYCM | AvaTrade | XM | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Bank transfer | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Credit/debit card | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Electronic wallets | Yes | Yes | Yes |
A bank transfer can take several business days while payment with a credit/debit card is instant.
You can only deposit funds from accounts that are in your name.
HYCM withdrawal fees and options
Generally speaking, HYCM charges no withdrawal fees. There are two exceptions:
- withdrawals under $300 via bank transfer carry a handling fee of $30.
- withdrawals over $5,000 via Skrill or Neteller are subject to a 1% processing fee.
| HYCM | AvaTrade | XM | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Bank transfer | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Credit/debit card | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Electronic wallets | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Withdrawal fee | $0 | $0 | $0 |
How long does it take to withdraw money from HYCM? We tested the debit card withdrawal and it took more than 3 business days.
You can only withdraw money to accounts in your name.
How do you withdraw money from HYCM?
- Log into your ‘Personal Area’
- Click on ‘Funds Management,’ then go to ‘Withdrawal’
- Select the account you wish to make the withdrawal from
- Add the amount you wish to withdraw
- Click ‘Submit’
Web trading platform
HYCM’s web trading platform is provided by MetaTrader. It is highly customizable, available in many languages and has a clear fee report. On the other hand, the platform lacks a two-step login or price alerts and its design is outdated.
| Pros | Cons |
|---|---|
| • Clear fee report | • No two-step (safer) login |
| • Good customizability (for charts, workspace) | • No price alerts |
| • Order confirmation | • Poor design |
| Trading platform | Score | Available |
|---|---|---|
| Web | 2.8stars | Yes |
| Mobile | 4.3stars | Yes |
| Desktop | 3.4stars | Yes |
HYCM doesn’t have its own self-developed trading platform. It provides MetaTrader 4 and MetaTrader 5 third-party trading platforms. We reviewed MetaTrader 4 because of its high popularity.
MetaTrader 4 is available in an exceptionally large number of languages.
| Arabic | Bulgarian | Chinese | Croatian | Czech | Danish |
| Dutch | English | Estonian | Finnish | French | German |
| Greek | Hebrew | Hindi | Hungarian | Indonesian | Italian |
| Japanese | Korean | Latvian | Lithuanian | Malay | Mongolian |
| Persian | Polish | Portuguese | Romanian | Russian | Serbian |
| Slovak | Slovenian | Spanish | Swedish | Tajik | Thai |
| Traditional Chinese | Turkish | Ukrainian | Uzbek | Vietnamese |
Look and feel
HYCM’s web trading platform has great customizability. You can easily change the size and the position of the tabs.
However, the platform feels outdated and some features are hard to find. For example, it took us a while to figure out how to add an asset to the watchlist.
Login and security
HYCM provides only a one-step login. A two-step authentication would be more secure.
Search functions
The search functions are OK. You can find assets grouped into various categories. However, we missed the usual search function where you can type the name of an asset manually.
Placing orders
You can use all the basic order types. However, you won’t find more sophisticated order types such as ‘one cancels the other’. The following order types are available:
- Market
- Limit
- Stop
- Trailing Stop
Trailing Stop is available only in the MT4 desktop platform.
If you are not familiar with order types, read this overview.
There are also order time limits you can use:
- Good ’til canceled (GTC)
- Good ’til time (GTT)
Alerts and notifications
You cannot set price alerts and notifications on the web trading platform. This feature is available only in the desktop version.
Portfolio and fee reports
HYCM has clear portfolio and fee reports. You can easily find your profit-loss balance and the commissions you paid under the ‘History’ tab.
Mobile trading platform
HYCM has its own mobile trading platform, HYCM Trader, and also offers a platform by MetaTrader. HYCM Trader is well-designed and user-friendly with a good search function. However, it lacks a safe login.
| Pros | Cons |
|---|---|
| • User-friendly | • No two-step (safer) login |
| • Good search function | • No Touch/Face ID login |
| • Price alerts |
The mobile trading platform is available only in English.
Look and feel
The HYCM mobile trading platform is user-friendly.
Login and security
HYCM provides only a one-step login for its mobile platform.
You can’t log in using biometric authentication. Providing this feature would be more convenient.
Search functions
The search functions are good.
Placing orders
You can use the following order types: Market, Limit, Stop.
There are also order time limits you can use: Good ’til canceled (GTC), Good ’til time (GTT).
Alerts and notifications
You can set alerts and notifications on the HYCM mobile platform.
Desktop trading platform
In design and functionality, HYCM’s MetaTrader 4 desktop platform is almost the same as the web trading platform. One major difference is that you can set price alerts on the desktop trading platform.
| Pros | Cons |
|---|---|
| • Clear fee report | • No two-step (safer) login |
| • Good customizability (for charts, workspace) | • Poor design |
| • Available in several languages |
HYCM provides MetaTrader 4 and MetaTrader 5 as desktop trading platforms. Similarly to the web and mobile trading platforms, we reviewed MetaTrader 4 (MT4) in this category as well.
The platform has the same design, it is available in the same languages, offers the same order types plus Trailing Stop, has the same search functions and offers the same portfolio and fee reports as the web trading platform. Similarly, two-step authentication – which would provide additional security – is not available.
The major difference is that here you can set alerts and notifications in the form of mobile push and email notifications. To set email or mobile notifications, you need to add your email address and mobile MetaQuotes ID (you can find this in the settings of the MT4 app). Select ‘Options’ under the ‘Tools’ menu item to add this data.
Markets and products
At HYCM you can only trade with forex and other CFDs (commodities, stock indices, futures, and share CFDs). Popular asset classes, such as real stocks, bonds, mutual funds and options are missing.
HYCM is essentially a forex and CFD broker. To learn more about CFDs read our CFD trading tips.
Disclaimer: CFDs are complex instruments and come with a high risk of losing money rapidly due to leverage. 59% of retail investor accounts lose money when trading CFDs with this provider. You should consider whether you understand how CFDs work and whether you can afford to take the high risk of losing your money.
HYCM has an above-average forex selection but the stock CFD lineup is minimal compared to its main competitors. Stock CFDs include some large companies listed in the UK, US, German and Spanish markets. Some stock CFDs and exotic FX pairs are only available on the MetaTrader5 platform.
| HYCM | AvaTrade | XM | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Currency pairs (#) | 70 | 55 | 55 |
| Stock index CFDs (#) | 14 | 31 | 24 |
| Stock CFDs (#) | 65 | 610 | 1,261 |
| ETF CFDs (#) | 20 | 60 | – |
| Commodity CFDs (#) | 17 | 18 | 15 |
| Bond CFDs (#) | – | 2 | – |
| Futures CFDs (#) | – | – | – |
| Cryptos (#) | 29 | 20 | – |
FCA bans the sale of crypto-derivatives to UK retail consumers from 6 January 2021.
The asset classes and the number of products within each category available to any particular client depend on the client’s country of residence. For example, clients from the EU have access only to a few US-listed share CFDs, like Apple and Tesla. We highlighted the major differences here:
| Place of residence: | EU | UK | Rest of the world |
|---|---|---|---|
| Currency pairs available | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Stock index CFD available | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Stock CFD available | Yes (only a few US stocks) | Yes (only a few US stocks) | Yes |
| ETF CFD available | No | No | Yes |
| Commodity CFD available | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Crypto available | No | No | Yes |
At HYCM, clients cannot change leverage levels, which is a drawback. For example, the leverage for EU and UK clients is fixed at 1:20 for US stock indices and at 1:30 for major forex pairs.
Changing the leverage is a very useful feature when you want to lower the risk of your trade.
Research
HYCM provides trading ideas based on technical analysis and a great economic calendar. On the negative side, the charting tools and the newsfeed could be improved.
| Pros | Cons |
|---|---|
| • Trading ideas | • Limited interactive charting |
| • User-friendly | • Very low quality newsfeed |
| • Economic calendar |
HYCM’s research tools are available in various channels:
- MetaTrader trading platform
- Personal Area, under ‘Tools’
- HYCM website, under ‘Tools’
Trading ideas
HYCM provides trading ideas through Trading Central, a third-party research provider. The ideas are based purely on technical analysis and cover certain commodities, stock indices as well as most FX pairs.
We liked that you can filter for timeframe and that sub-indices are also included (e.g. the Stoxx600 Oil&Gas index).
Once logged into the Personal Area, you can access the Trading Central platform under the ‘Tools’ menu.
Fundamental data
HYCM offers some fundamental data through an economic calendar. You can filter for countries, categories of data and importance.
While this is useful for forex traders, we would appreciate it if HYCM also provided fundamental data for stocks.
Charting
HYCM has OK charting tools. You can use 31 technical indicators and other editing tools, such as trendlines and Fibonacci retracement. These charting tools can be found on the MetaTrader trading platform.
On the negative side, the design is outdated and some features are hard to use. For example, we had difficulty figuring out how to remove an indicator from the chart.
News feed
Unfortunately, HYCM has a poor newsfeed. It’s unstructured and finding relevant news items is cumbersome. We missed tags and visual elements. You’ll be better off using a 3rd party newsfeed.
Customer service
HYCM offers several customer service channels and we found the live chat to be the fastest and most relevant. Emails are typically answered within 24 hours, but the answers are not always complete or on the subject. Lastly, we missed the 24/7 support.
| Pros | Cons |
|---|---|
| • Phone support | • No 24/7 support |
| • Live chat | • Mediocre email support |
| • Fast response time |
You can contact HYCM via:
- live chat
- telephone
The live chat at HYCM is usually fast and manned from 5 am GMT until 6 pm GMT on weekdays. When they’re offline, you can leave a message. Additionally, you can chat with customer support on Telegram, Skype, Viber, Whatsapp, and Facebook Messenger as well. The relevance of the answers was OK although some questions were not properly addressed at first and we had to ask the same questions again to get an answer.
The phone support at HYCM was average-speed, we received relevant answers and customer service representatives were helpful.
Customer emails are typically answered within 24 hours and this was where we missed relevant answers the most. Some questions were left unanswered, in other cases the response was irrelevant.
We also missed the 24/7 availability. You can contact them Monday to Friday during UK business hours.
Education
HYCM has great educational content. You can test the waters with a demo account and learn through videos and webinars.
| Pros | Cons |
|---|---|
| • Demo account | • Videos miss tags or categorization |
| • Trading platform tutorial | |
| • Educational videos |
At HYCM, you can learn in the following ways:
- Demo account
- Platform tutorial videos
- General educational videos
- Webinars
- Quality educational articles
Webinars and workshops are scheduled weekly at HYCM. Registered users can access past webinars as well. We liked the videos; the presenter, Giles Coghan has good insights and an easily understandable accent. On the negative side, we think these videos should feature tags or be organized into categories for better searchability.
A MetaTrader video guide and general educational videos for beginners are available on the HYCM website, under ‘Education’ > ‘Forex Education’. The quality of these videos is OK.
For a more detailed guide on how to use technical analysis, we recommend you visit Trading Central (under the ‘Tools’ menu item in the Personal Area area) and consult the help section (see picture below).
Safety
HYCM is regulated by several financial authorities, including the top-tier FCA. On the negative side, clients outside the EU and the UK are not covered by any investor protection.
| Pros | Cons |
|---|---|
| • Negative balance protection | • Not listed on stock exchange |
| • Financial information is not publicly available | |
| • No investor protection outside the EU&UK |
Is HYCM regulated?
Yes, it is regulated by several financial authorities globally, including the top-tier FCA.
Here is the full list of regulators:
- Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) for UK clients
- Cyprus Securities and Exchange Commission (CySEC) for European clients (EU + European Economic Area)
- Customers from other countries are onboarded via HYCM’s legal entity registered in St. Vincent & the Grenadines
- Dubai Financial Services Authority (DFSA) & Cayman Islands Monetary Authority (CIMA) licenses currently not used
Is HYCM safe?
To be certain, we highly advise that you check two facts:
- how you are protected if something goes wrong
- what the background of the broker is
How you are protected
Depending on your country of residence, you can open an account at one or more of HYCM’s legal entities.
This can be important because the investor protection amount, the maximum leverage allowed and the regulator differ from entity to entity. Unfortunately, only the clients of HYCM’s EU and UK entities are covered by investor protection.
| Country of clients | Protection amount | Regulator | Legal entity |
|---|---|---|---|
| EU and EEA | €20,000 | Cyprus Securities and Exchange Commission (Cysec) | HYCM (Europe) Ltd |
| UK | £85,000 | Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) | Henyep Capital Markets (UK) Limited |
| Rest of the world | No protection | Registered in St. Vincent & the Grenadines | HYCM Limited |
HYCM provides negative balance protection. If the balance on your account goes into negative, you will be protected.
Background
HYCM is part of the Henyep Capital Markets Group, an international conglomerate specializing in financial services, property, education, and charity.
HYCM’s parent company, Henyep was established in 1977. Henyep received its license from the UK’s FCA in 1998. The longer a broker’s track record, the more proof that it has successfully survived previous financial crises.