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Contract reading

What SmartSTP legally published, but does not want you to read

Every clause below is published by SmartSTP itself, on its own website, today. The finding is not that the text exists. It is the distance between what a client is shown and what a client agreed to. Read from its own documents on .

Contracting entity: MRL INVESTMENTS (MU) LTD

sole discretionhidden feeprofit voidingwithdrawalscomplaint penaltydeemed acceptancedormancykyc freezelanguage arbitragenegative balance

SmartSTP charges EUR 60 a month once an account has gone 61 days without a trade, rising to EUR 500. Ask for your money back inside your first 60 days and the same fees apply to you. A $1,000 bonus needs $30,000,000 of trading before you can withdraw. Filing a complaint is a listed reason to close your account.

Back to SmartSTP

Contract risk

Money at risk
8.5/10

Where this contract sitsHow far this contract goes, overall. Under 2 is nothing beyond the ordinary; 6 to 9 means several clauses put money you have already earned at risk; 9 and above reads as designed to make payout refusable.

0510
CriticalClauses that can cost you money you have already earned or deposited, or that remove your ability to challenge it.
8
FlaggedEvery clause worth knowing about, at all three severities. Ordinary terms that every broker has are not counted.
24
DocumentsHow many of the broker's own legal files this reading is based on. Each one was downloaded and hashed on the date shown.
8
ContradictionsPlaces where a promise the broker makes in public is not kept by the clause that governs it.
4

How the 24 break downThe same flagged clauses, split by how much each one can cost you. Severity is our reading of the clause, not the broker's label.

Critical8
Warning14
Notice2

section 31 of 35is where the deepest clause sits, 89% of the way into the document it is in

The numbers in this contractFigures taken from this broker's own clauses, so the labels differ from broker to broker. The four in the panel above are the same on every report.

4 of these 4 figures come from a clause we rate critical, which means it can take your money or your profit rather than only delay it.

Critical$60Fee on an unused account. Jump to the clause this comes from.Inactivity fee starts at EUR 60 a month and reaches EUR 500Critical300Bonus requirement. Jump to the clause this comes from.A $1,000 bonus locks your profit behind 300 lots of tradingCritical60 daysWithdrawal limit. Jump to the clause this comes from.An early withdrawal request makes your account dormantCritical7 daysIn the contract. Jump to the clause this comes from.The Islamic account is sold as swap free and capped at seven days

What the documents say

24 clauses worth knowing about, worst first, each quoted from SmartSTP's own files

01

Leave your account 60 days without a trade and SmartSTP starts charging EUR 60 a month, climbing to EUR 500 by day 271. The fee table is in section 21 of the Terms.

In plain words

Dormancy means an account left unused.

Why this matters

Three of those charges take EUR 300 from an account whose minimum deposit was 250. SmartSTP also takes the fee before it approves your withdrawal, so a quiet account can be emptied before you ask for anything.

Exhibit 1CriticalRarely seen$60

Client accounts in which there have been no trades for a period of more than 60 calendar days will be considered by the Company as being dormant accounts.
Clause 21.1 in MRL INVESTMENTS (MU) LTD TERMS AND CONDITIONS, p.40
Downloaded from the broker's site on Open the reference

What it costsThe minimum first deposit is 250. Three monthly charges, at day 61, day 91 and day 121, come to EUR 300, which is more than that account holds.

Set against a regulated standard: FCA (UK), CySEC (Cyprus)

Firms licensed by the FCA and CySEC must disclose all charges to a retail client before they trade, and must tell the client before a charge changes. This table sits in section 21 of a 56 page contract, and no SmartSTP web page mentions an inactivity fee.

SmartSTP is not licensed by these regulators, so this is a comparison of practice, not a finding of any breach.

Our readingA monthly inactivity fee is common. One that opens at EUR 60, multiplies to EUR 500 a month and is taken before a withdrawal is approved turns dormancy into a way of consuming the balance.

What happens, and when

The stages this clause runs through, taken from the broker's own document
TriggerWhat the broker may then doClause
Day 1 to 60No fee while the account is new or still trading.21.1
Day 61A monthly fee of EUR 60 starts for holding the account.21.1
Day 91The monthly fee doubles to EUR 120 and stays there to day 151.21.1
Day 181The monthly fee rises to EUR 200.21.1
Day 271The monthly fee rises to EUR 500 and stays there.21.1
Balance reaches zeroSmartSTP can close the account once the fees have taken the balance to zero.21.2
  • Same clause as Exhibit 3The clause that sets this fee table also makes a new account dormant for requesting an early withdrawal.
  • Worse together with Exhibit 18If SmartSTP ends the relationship because your documents arrived late, this fee comes off before the balance goes back to you.
02

Take a $1,000 bonus from SmartSTP and you owe 300 lots of turnover before you can withdraw. Its own bonus terms put one lot at $100,000.

Why this matters

Ask to withdraw before you finish that volume and SmartSTP can waive every profit you made since the bonus arrived. Your deposit stays yours, your winnings do not.

Exhibit 2CriticalHarder than usual300

For every 1000 USD provided as a bonus to the client is subject to turnover of 300 lots minimum trading volume. While each turnover of 1 lot is considered equivalent to the standard size of USD 100,000 trade.
Clause 7 in BONUS AGREEMENT
Read from the broker's site on Archived copyOpen the reference

What it costs300 lots at $100,000 a lot is $30,000,000 of turnover for a $1,000 bonus. That is 30,000 times the bonus.

  • Worse together with Exhibit 1If the account goes dormant before the volume is met, clause 13 waives the bonus profits too, so inactivity and the bonus lock bite together.
03

Ask SmartSTP for your money back in your account's first 60 days and it treats that account as dormant. The dormancy fee table then applies, starting at EUR 60 a month.

Why this matters

A small first deposit can be charged for leaving early, under a clause headed dormant accounts. Clause 18.6 also lets SmartSTP hold the withdrawal until your documents satisfy it completely, with no deadline on that review.

Exhibit 3CriticalRarely seen60 days

Any new Trading Account for which the client requests a withdrawal before the first 60 calendar days of its operation, will be considered by the Company as being Dormant Account and will be subject to a dormancy fee as per the table below:
Clause 21.1 in MRL INVESTMENTS (MU) LTD TERMS AND CONDITIONS, p.40
Downloaded from the broker's site on Open the reference

Our readingCalling a new account dormant because the client asked to withdraw inverts the word: the account is being used, not left alone. The mechanism turns an inactivity fee into a charge for leaving early.

04

Complain to SmartSTP and it can end the relationship immediately, with no notice. Clause 24.3 lists a client complaint beside the death of a client and bankruptcy.

Why this matters

Using the complaints procedure puts your account at risk, and clause 24.6 lets SmartSTP close positions connected to the complaint while it investigates. The same clause cancels bonuses and any profit linked to them.

Exhibit 4CriticalRarely seen

The Client files a Complaint against the Company.
Clause 24.3 in MRL INVESTMENTS (MU) LTD TERMS AND CONDITIONS, p.44
Downloaded from the broker's site on Open the reference

Our readingMost contracts list grounds for termination that turn on the client's conduct. A complaint sits here beside death, bankruptcy and fraud, which makes using the published complaints procedure itself a reason to end the relationship.

  • Worse together with Exhibit 14SmartSTP has up to 60 business days to answer a complaint, and this clause lets it close the account at any point in that period.
05

SmartSTP sells its Islamic account as swaps free, in English and in Arabic. The contract makes a swap free account last up to seven calendar days, at the company's sole discretion.

Why this matters

After that, the overnight interest this account exists to avoid can return, and clause 11.18.4 lets SmartSTP switch swap charges back on at any time. The page's own small print promises only the first 5 days a position is open, and reserves a storage fee with no amount given.

Exhibit 5CriticalHarder than usual7 days

"Swap Free Account (s)" or "Islamic Account (s)" means a trading account offered by the Company, at its sole discretion, in line with clause 40 and for a limited timeframe of up to seven (7) calendar days, which is designed specifically for and available only to Clients who cannot receive or pay rollover interest on overnight Open Positions for religious reasons.
Clause 4.1 in MRL INVESTMENTS (MU) LTD TERMS AND CONDITIONS, p.11
Downloaded from the broker's site on Open the reference
  • Worse together with Exhibit 19The account requires proof of religion, and the privacy policy allows client data to reach payment and marketing providers.
06

SmartSTP needs only an indication or suspicion of scalping or sniping to void your profits, close your account and cancel your trades, with no notice. Neither word is defined in the contract.

Why this matters

Profit you have already made can be taken back on a suspicion you never see, and the decision is SmartSTP's alone. Clause 10.20 adds reversing your funds to their original source.

Exhibit 6CriticalHarder than usual

Any indication or suspicion, in the Company's discretion, of any form of scalping and/or sniping or/and other form of deceitful techniques will result in all transactions carried out and/or profits garnered as invalid/voided.
Clause 10.21 in MRL INVESTMENTS (MU) LTD TERMS AND CONDITIONS, p.22
Downloaded from the broker's site on Open the reference
  • Worse together with Exhibit 7You get two days to object to a statement, which is also the window to challenge a profit that has been voided.

Suspicion alone is enough to void your profits

Clause 10.21 lets SmartSTP void every profit on any indication or suspicion of scalping or sniping, with no notice and no definition of either word. A reversed deposit lets it unwind every transaction that followed, which can leave your balance negative. Both decisions are the company's alone.

Profit voiding1 clause flagged

If a deposit is reversed by a bank or a card provider, for any reason, SmartSTP reverses that deposit and can reverse every transaction you made after it. Your balance can go negative.

Why this matters

Closed, profitable trades can be unwound because of a payment problem you may not have caused. Clause 14.1 also lets SmartSTP force close your open positions as soon as it receives a chargeback.

Exhibit 8CriticalHarder than usual

In the event that any amount received in the Bank Accounts is reversed by the Bank Account or the merchant provider at any time and for any reason, the Company will immediately reverse the affected deposit from the Client's trading account and further reserves the right to reverse any other type of transactions effected after the date of the affected deposit.
Clause 18.10 in MRL INVESTMENTS (MU) LTD TERMS AND CONDITIONS, p.35
Downloaded from the broker's site on Open the reference
  • Worse together with Exhibit 21The risk disclosure promises no negative balance while this clause creates one, so the protection a reader relies on has an exception the same broker wrote.

Filing a complaint is a listed reason to close your account

Clause 24.3 of the SmartSTP Terms lists a client complaint beside death and bankruptcy as grounds to end the relationship with no notice. You get two days to object to a statement before it becomes final and binding. SmartSTP gives itself up to 60 business days to answer.

Complaint barriers2 clauses flagged

You get two days to object to a trade confirmation or an account statement. After that, SmartSTP's record is final and binding on you.

In plain words

A manifest error means an obvious mistake by the broker.

Why this matters

Notice a wrong fill or a missing deposit on the third day and the contract has already settled it against you. Two calendar days is the window in clause 17.2, so a weekend can take most of it.

Exhibit 7CriticalHarder than usual2 days

Confirmations shall, in the absence of manifest error, be conclusive and binding on the Client, unless the Client places his/her objection in writing within two (2) days.
Clause 10.16 in MRL INVESTMENTS (MU) LTD TERMS AND CONDITIONS, p.22
Downloaded from the broker's site on Open the reference
Set against a regulated standard: FCA (UK)

Firms licensed by the FCA must accept a complaint made up to six years after the event, or three years from when the client could reasonably have known of it. This contract makes a statement final and binding after two days.

SmartSTP is not licensed by this regulator, so this is a comparison of practice, not a finding of any breach.

SmartSTP gives itself 60 business days to send a final response to your complaint, and 30 business days to try to resolve it. An acknowledgement arrives within seven business days.

Why this matters

Twelve working weeks can pass before you hold the final response you need to take the matter to the Ombudsperson. Clause 24.3 also lets SmartSTP end the relationship once you complain.

Exhibit 14WarningHarder than usual60 working days

A final response should be provided to the customer within sixty (60) business days at the latest from the date he/she submitted his/her complaint.
Clause Procedure 3 in COMPLAINT HANDLING POLICY, p.3
Read from the broker's site on Open the reference
Set against a regulated standard: FCA (UK), CySEC (Cyprus)

Firms licensed by the FCA must send a final response within eight weeks, and CySEC firms within two months. SmartSTP allows itself 60 business days, which is about twelve weeks.

SmartSTP is not licensed by these regulators, so this is a comparison of practice, not a finding of any breach.

The Islamic account is sold as swap free and capped at seven days

SmartSTP tells Arabic readers that the Islamic account's swaps are free, while the English contract makes a swap free account last up to seven calendar days at the company's sole discretion. The same English page promises only the first 5 days a position is open. Seven of the eight documents on the Arabic legal page link to the English file.

Language arbitrage2 clauses flagged

The SmartSTP homepage offers you leverage up to 1:200, and its published Contract Specifications give a retail account 3.33% margin on major currency pairs, which is 1:30. The 0.50% rate that equals 1:200 sits in the column headed Margin Pro %.

Why this matters

A position you sized at 1:200 needs nearly seven times that margin at 3.33%. Clause 7.15 also says the leverage you chose at signup does not decide it: SmartSTP does.

Exhibit 17WarningHarder than usual3.33%

Margin Retail %Margin Pro %
Quoted in Contract Specifications, p.1
Downloaded from the broker's site on Archived copyOpen the reference

What it costs$1,000 of margin at 1:200 supports a $200,000 position. At the retail rate of 3.33%, the same $1,000 supports about $30,000.

SmartSTP markets in seven languages besides English, and clause 2.3 makes English its official language. The contract that binds you is the English one.

Why this matters

An Arabic reader is sold the account in Arabic and bound by a 56 page English contract. On the Arabic legal page, seven of the eight documents link to the English file.

Exhibit 22WarningHarder than usual

The Client acknowledges that the Company's official language is the English language and the acceptance of the Terms constitutes a binding legal agreement with the Company.
Clause 2.3 in MRL INVESTMENTS (MU) LTD TERMS AND CONDITIONS, p.4
Downloaded from the broker's site on Open the reference

A 3% deposit fee and a 50 application fee appear on no public page

SmartSTP can add 3% plus 0.25 to every deposit, and the fee goes on top of what you send. A 50 EURO/USD/GBP examination fee applies to every new application, against a minimum first deposit of 250. Neither figure appears anywhere on the SmartSTP website, only inside two PDFs.

Cost disclosure4 clauses flagged

SmartSTP can add a fee of 3% plus 0.25 to every deposit, and the fee goes on top of what you send rather than coming out of what arrives. Both the deposit policy and clause 18.3 call it discretionary.

Why this matters

A $1,000 deposit costs you $30 more than you planned, and the website never tells you so. SmartSTP has no fees page and no payments page: the figure lives in two PDFs.

Exhibit 9WarningHarder than usual3%

The Company at its discretion may charge a 3% plus 0.25 cents fee per deposit which includes payment service provider and handling fees which will be paid by the Client additionally to the deposited amount.
Clause 2.1 in MRL INVESTMENTS (MU) LTD DEPOSIT AND WITHDRAWAL POLICY, p.2
Read from the broker's site on Open the reference
Our own capture of smartstp.com, taken on Oct 1, 2026The claim, on Homepage, Advantages block, under the heading SafetyVisit this page on the broker's siteDownload the full size image file

Where it sits: section 3 of 29 in the MRL INVESTMENTS (MU) LTD DEPOSIT AND WITHDRAWAL POLICY, near the start.

What it costsA $1,000 deposit carries a $30 charge, and the contract adds it to what you send instead of taking it from what arrives.

Set against a regulated standard: FCA (UK), CySEC (Cyprus)

Firms licensed by the FCA and CySEC must give a retail client all costs and charges in good time before they trade. This fee appears in the deposit policy and in the Terms, and on no page of the SmartSTP website.

SmartSTP is not licensed by these regulators, so this is a comparison of practice, not a finding of any breach.

Every new application to SmartSTP carries an examination fee of 50 EURO/USD/GBP for the work of reading it. One clause calls that fee discretionary, another says all new clients pay it.

Why this matters

Against the 250 minimum first deposit, 50 is a fifth of your money gone before your first trade. Clause 21.3 says SmartSTP will charge it to all new clients.

Exhibit 10WarningRarely seen$50

Examination of application fees of 50 EURO/USD/GBP are applied to all new applications due to the administration costs incurred by the Company when examining clients' applications.
Clause 19.7 in MRL INVESTMENTS (MU) LTD TERMS AND CONDITIONS, p.38
Downloaded from the broker's site on Open the reference

What it costsOn the 250 minimum first deposit, a 50 examination fee is a fifth of your money before a single trade.

Our readingA fee for examining an application is charged before the firm provides anything. Account opening costs are normally carried by the broker, and here one clause calls the fee discretionary while another says every new client pays it.

Trade in a way SmartSTP calls price latency arbitrage and it can charge you 10% of your deposited funds, capped at EUR 200. It can also cancel the trades and close your account without notice.

Why this matters

The term is never defined, so the test is SmartSTP's view of your trading. The same clause lets it adjust your execution prices to what it says would have happened.

Exhibit 11WarningHarder than usual10%

charge an administration fee equal to 10% of the deposited funds, with the maximum charge set at Euro 200 or deposit currency equivalent.
Clause 12.2 in MRL INVESTMENTS (MU) LTD TERMS AND CONDITIONS, p.28
Downloaded from the broker's site on Open the reference

What it costsOn a EUR 2,000 deposit the 10% charge is EUR 200, which is the stated cap.

Every instrument in the Contract Specifications carries a negative overnight charge on both sides. EURUSD shows -54.83 points long and -54.83 short, so holding overnight costs you either way.

Why this matters

You pay to hold a position overnight whichever direction you took, and the published table covers the Silver tier only. The asterisk on both columns leads to no footnote, so the file never says what a point is worth.

Exhibit 12WarningHarder than usual

Silver Tier Swap Long (pts)* Silver Tier Swap Short (pts)*
Quoted in Contract Specifications, p.1
Downloaded from the broker's site on Archived copyOpen the reference

Asking for your money back in the first 60 days makes your account dormant

SmartSTP treats a new account that requests a withdrawal inside 60 days as dormant, which puts it on a fee table running from EUR 60 to EUR 500 a month. Withdrawals then take three business days to process and five to seven more to arrive. Clause 18.6 lets SmartSTP hold any withdrawal until your documents satisfy it completely.

Exit conditions1 clause flagged

SmartSTP takes three business days to process your withdrawal, then five to seven more days for the money to appear. It can also refuse the method you asked for and suggest another.

Why this matters

Ten days or more can pass before your money arrives. Clause 18.15 sends a bank withdrawal only to the account the money came from, and clause 18.17 leaves the alternative to SmartSTP's discretion.

Exhibit 13WarningHarder than usual3 working days

Upon the Company receiving an instruction from the Client to withdraw funds from the Client's Account, the Client's withdrawal request will be processed within three (3) business days upon the submission of the withdrawal request.
Clause 2.3 in MRL INVESTMENTS (MU) LTD DEPOSIT AND WITHDRAWAL POLICY, p.4
Read from the broker's site on Open the reference

Where it sits: section 16 of 29 in the MRL INVESTMENTS (MU) LTD DEPOSIT AND WITHDRAWAL POLICY, 55% of the way through.

SmartSTP can change the terms, the fees and your margin on its own

SmartSTP gives you five calendar days of publication for a change to the Terms, two days for a change to its fees and 24 hours for a change to its charges, and your continued use counts as acceptance. Its stop out sits at 5% of the margin level. It can also merge your accounts and move money between them.

Unilateral control3 clauses flagged

SmartSTP can change the Terms by publishing them, and after five calendar days your continued use counts as acceptance. Fee changes need two days of notice and charge changes 24 hours.

Why this matters

You can be bound by terms you never read, because putting them on the website is enough. Clause 19.12 treats one email as proof that you reviewed the new charges.

Exhibit 15WarningHarder than usual5 days

Any modified version of the Terms will take effect five (5) calendar days after its publication on the Internet Site and the Client's continued use of the Services or the Software after the aforementioned 5 calendar days will be deemed to constitute the Client's acceptance of the changes to the present Terms.
Clause 24.1 in MRL INVESTMENTS (MU) LTD TERMS AND CONDITIONS, p.43
Downloaded from the broker's site on Open the reference

SmartSTP can treat all your accounts as one and move money between them whenever it wants to cover exposure. Clause 16.8 tells you the opposite: each account is entirely separate.

Why this matters

Margin sitting in a second account can be taken to support a loss in the first. A credit in one account still does not discharge what you owe on another, so the rule runs one way.

Exhibit 16WarningHarder than usual

the Client also accepts and authorize the Company to have the absolute right at any given moment to merge all or any Trading Accounts to one and/or to transfer any available balance and/or funds between these accounts for covering any exposure and/or any possible exposure of any individual account of the same Client.
Clause 7.2 in MRL INVESTMENTS (MU) LTD TERMS AND CONDITIONS, p.14
Downloaded from the broker's site on Open the reference

SmartSTP closes your positions when your margin level falls to 5%, starting with the biggest loser. Its risk disclosure tells you something different: that it may start closing at about 75%.

Why this matters

At a 5% stop out your account is almost empty before the protection works. At 75% you would still hold most of your money.

Exhibit 21WarningHarder than usual5%

The Client acknowledges that the Margin Call is set to 75% and the Stop Out to 5%.
Clause 16.9 in MRL INVESTMENTS (MU) LTD TERMS AND CONDITIONS, p.32
Downloaded from the broker's site on Open the reference

Where it sits: section 15 of 35 in the MRL INVESTMENTS (MU) LTD TERMS AND CONDITIONS, 43% of the way through.

What it costsIf a position needs $1,000 of margin, the 5% stop out triggers once your equity has fallen to about $50.

Set against a regulated standard: ESMA (EU), FCA (UK), CySEC (Cyprus)

Firms licensed under the ESMA rules, including the FCA and CySEC, must close a retail CFD client's positions when equity reaches 50% of the required margin. SmartSTP sets its margin call at 75% and its stop out at 5%.

SmartSTP is not licensed by these regulators, so this is a comparison of practice, not a finding of any breach.

A withdrawal can reopen your file at any time

SmartSTP can ask for new documents at any point and hold your withdrawal until it is completely satisfied, with no deadline on the review. If the relationship ends because your documents were late, the dormancy fee comes off before your money goes back. Its privacy policy allows your file to reach payment and marketing providers.

Document demands2 clauses flagged

SmartSTP can ask you for new documents at any point and hold your withdrawal until those documents satisfy it completely. No deadline applies to that review.

Why this matters

Your money stays where it is while the review runs. If SmartSTP ends the relationship because your documents were late, clause 19.8 takes the dormancy fee before returning what is left.

Exhibit 18WarningHarder than usual

The Company may not approve and reasonably withhold any withdrawal request unless all requested documents and information are provided by the Client to its complete satisfaction.
Clause 18.6 in MRL INVESTMENTS (MU) LTD TERMS AND CONDITIONS, p.34
Downloaded from the broker's site on Open the reference

The privacy policy says SmartSTP will not disclose your personal information to a third party unless the law requires it. The next paragraph allows some or all client data to go to payment and marketing providers.

Why this matters

Two paragraphs in a row give you opposite promises, so you cannot tell which one governs your file. SmartSTP also asks Muslim clients for proof of religion to open the Islamic account.

Exhibit 19WarningStandard wording

The Company shall not disclose to a third party any personal information unless required by law and/or competent authority.
Clause PERSONAL DATA in MRL INVESTMENTS (MU) LTD Privacy Policy
Read from the broker's site on Open the reference

The broker named SmartSTP sets the prices you trade on

SmartSTP says it acts as an agent passing orders to liquidity providers, and its risk disclosure says its rates are the ones at which it is willing to sell to clients. Those rates may not match real time market levels. It can also change the spread according to the size of your order.

In plain words

Liquidity providers are outside banks and brokers.

Price source1 clause flagged

SmartSTP says it passes your orders to liquidity providers as an agent. Its risk disclosure says its rates are the ones at which it is willing to sell to clients, and may not match real time market levels.

Why this matters

The price you trade on comes from the firm on the other side of your screen. Clause 10.10 lets it widen the spread according to your order size, and clause 20.2 says your prices may differ from another client's.

Exhibit 20WarningHarder than usual

The trading rates assigned to the assets on the Company's websites are the ones at which the Company is willing to sell Forex/CFDs to its clients at the point of sale. As such, they may not directly correspond to real time market levels at the point in time at which the sale of options occurs.
Clause 3 in MRL INVESTMENTS (MU) LTD Risk Disclosure Policy, p.4
Read from the broker's site on Open the reference

Where it sits: section 14 of 35 in the MRL INVESTMENTS (MU) LTD Risk Disclosure Policy, 40% of the way through.

One Mauritius entity, one claimed licence, and no compensation scheme

MRL INVESTMENTS (MU) LTD contracts with you and names FSC licence GB21027168 in every document. No compensation scheme is named in any document we read, and the risk disclosure says segregated client money may not afford complete protection. Three policies the contract tells you to read are not on the legal page.

In plain words

On a principal basis, as your counterparty, means the broker takes the other side of your trade itself. Your loss is then the firm’s gain, so it has an interest in how your trade ends.

Counterparty2 clauses flagged

You contract with MRL INVESTMENTS (MU) LTD of Mauritius, which names FSC licence GB21027168 in every document. No compensation scheme is named in any document we read.

Why this matters

If the company fails, no scheme is named to pay you back, and its risk disclosure says segregated client money may not afford complete protection. Three policies the contract tells you to read are not on the legal page.

Exhibit 23NoticeStandard wording

The Company is required to hold client money in an account that is segregated from the Company's money in accordance with the Act and Laws but this may not afford complete protection.
Clause 10 in MRL INVESTMENTS (MU) LTD Risk Disclosure Policy, p.6
Read from the broker's site on Open the reference

Buried at section 31 of 35 in the MRL INVESTMENTS (MU) LTD Risk Disclosure Policy, 89% of the way through.

Set against a regulated standard: FCA (UK), CySEC (Cyprus)

Firms licensed by the FCA or CySEC belong to a statutory compensation scheme that pays a client if the firm fails. No such scheme is named in the SmartSTP documents.

SmartSTP is not licensed by these regulators, so this is a comparison of practice, not a finding of any breach.

The risk disclosure you accept at registration gives you two seconds to cancel a trade after clicking the CALL or PUT button. It also refers to the moment the sale of options occurs.

Why this matters

The document meant to explain your risks describes a binary options product, not the CFD account you are opening. SmartSTP re-dated the file from April 2025 to December 2025 and left those passages in.

Exhibit 24NoticeRarely seen

The Client will have the right to cancel his/her trade for a period of at least 2 seconds after clicking the CALL or PUT button (cancelling the trade will not affect your trading balance and the funds will be returned to your trading account).
Clause 6 in MRL INVESTMENTS (MU) LTD Risk Disclosure Policy, p.4
Read from the broker's site on Open the reference

Where it sits: section 19 of 35 in the MRL INVESTMENTS (MU) LTD Risk Disclosure Policy, 54% of the way through.

Our readingA risk disclosure is the document a client must accept before trading. This one grants a two second cancellation right after clicking a CALL or PUT button and refers to the sale of options, which belongs to a binary options platform rather than a CFD account.

Where the marketing and the contract disagree

A promise made in public, set against the clause that governs it

01

Arabic readers are promised free swaps, and the English contract limits a swap free account to seven calendar days at the company's discretion.

Said in public, in Arabic

المبادلات مجانية

Word for word in English: Swaps are free

Arabic Islamic account page, feature list, repeated three times

In the contract · clause 4.1

"Swap Free Account (s)" or "Islamic Account (s)" means a trading account offered by the Company, at its sole discretion, in line with clause 40 and for a limited timeframe of up to seven (7) calendar days

02

The page counts 5 days from opening a position and the contract counts seven calendar days for the account, so neither number tells you when the charges resume.

Said in public, in English

Islamic accounts are free of any overnight fees during the first 5 days a position is opened.

English Islamic account page, footnote under the opening paragraph

In the contract · clause 4.1

for a limited timeframe of up to seven (7) calendar days

03

The homepage offers leverage up to 1:200, while the published margin table gives a retail account 3.33% on major pairs and the contract lets SmartSTP set your leverage regardless of your choice.

Said in public, in English

Leverage up to 1:200 for FX pair trading

Homepage, What we offer on SmartSTP

In the contract · clause 7.15

irrespective of the choice of the Client during the registration process with regards to the amount of Leverage for his/her account shall be automatically determined by the Platform and/or the Company according to the instrument(s) in question

04

The homepage calls the payment processing transparent, and the deposit fee it can charge appears on no page of the website.

Said in public, in English

Secure and transparent payment processing system.

Homepage, Advantages block, under the heading Safety

We took a picture of this page. It is shown once, with the finding it belongs to. See our capture of smartstp.com

In the contract · clause 2.1

The Company at its discretion may charge a 3% plus 0.25 cents fee per deposit which includes payment service provider and handling fees which will be paid by the Client additionally to the deposited amount.

What changed quietly

This is our first reading of SmartSTP, so there is nothing yet to compare it against.

  • REWRITTENClause · April 2025 to December 2025

    SmartSTP moved the date on the risk disclosure forward by eight months and left the text as it was, including the CALL and PUT passage.

    December 2025

The documents this reading is based on

8 files, all published by SmartSTP. Each shows when we read it and a fingerprint of its wording.

WIKILIX keeps the copy of each file it read, and does not republish it: what is published is the fingerprint of its wording. Download the file yourself and hash its text, lowercased with runs of whitespace collapsed, and a matching fingerprint means the wording quoted above is still the wording SmartSTP publishes.

How this reading was done

Every clause above was read out of a document SmartSTP publishes itself

This reading was published on .

Documents
6 of 8downloaded from the broker's site, and 6 read in full
Pages opened
72pages walked to find those documents, footer links included
Older copies
11earlier versions downloaded, 5 identical to the copy we hold by fingerprint
Marketing pages
11public pages set against what the contract says
Languages
AR vs ENthe language it advertises in, against the language it contracts in
Position measured
6clauses whose position was counted: which numbered section of the document holds them, out of how many

Who the contract is with

MRL INVESTMENTS (MU) LTD

You contract with MRL INVESTMENTS (MU) LTD, a Mauritius company numbered 187076, which owns and operates the SmartSTP brand. The same company appears as 187076GBC in the complaints policy and in the website footer. Its own Deposit and Withdrawal Policy names it twice as MLR INVESTMENTS (MU) LTD, which is not the spelling in the other seven documents. Every document names one licence, FSC GB21027168, and an office at 7th Floor, Tower 1, NeXTeracom, Cybercity, Ebene. No other group company appears and no bank is named: clause 18.2 says your money sits with a bank the company will specify from time to time, and clause 7.13 lets it route your trades through an intermediate broker that may not be in Mauritius, with no liability for what that broker does.

Quotations are copied verbatim from the documents named above, with the clause number and the page each one came from. Where a clause is quoted in another language, the original is shown first and the English is a translation.

The plain-language parts, what a clause means for a client, how ordinary it is, and how it reads against a regulated standard, are WIKILIX's analysis and are labelled as such on every card. This is a reading of public documents, not legal advice and not an allegation of wrongdoing.

In fairness, and what we could not check

A reader who knows the edges of the work can trust the middle of it

All eight legal documents sit on one page at smartstp.com/en/legal, free to open, with no login and no account. The Contract Specifications publish the margin rate, the overnight charge and the trading hours for every instrument, which many brokers keep behind a login. The risk disclosure says plainly that a stop loss order cannot guarantee your limit, and that segregated client money may not afford complete protection. The complaints policy names the Office of Ombudsperson for Financial Services in Mauritius and prints the complaint form. Clause 16.3 gives you two business days of written notice before margin requirements change.

We read the Terms and Conditions as far as clause 24.9, which is page 45 of 56. We did not read sections 25 to 40. They cover conflicts of interest, liability, chargebacks, governing law and the swap free accounts, so nothing here rests on them. The Contract Specifications do not copy out as clean text, so we read the first of its seven pages ourselves to check the margin and overnight figures quoted here, and we did not check every row of the other six. No earlier copy of the Deposit and Withdrawal Policy or the Privacy Policy exists, so neither could be compared with an older version. Five earlier copies of the other documents are identical to today's files, so we checked those by fingerprint and did not read them again. We read the marketing pages in English and Arabic, and not the French, German, Hindi, Italian, Portuguese or Spanish versions.

How to check any of this yourself

Every quote above links to the SmartSTP file it came from. This is what to do with it.

Open the three stepsFind the words in the source, work out the fingerprint, and read what a difference does and does not prove.

Open the source and search for the words

Every quote has a link under it. Open the file, or the web page, and search it for the words we quote. The clause number next to the quote tells you where to look.

If the words are not there any more, the source may have changed after we read it. That is worth knowing too. We keep the date we read it, and a code worked out from its wording, so the quote stays checkable.

What a fingerprint is

A fingerprint is a code worked out from what a source says. Change one word and the code changes completely. We keep two codes for every file we read, and the panel on each source shows both.

The first is the code of the exact file we downloaded. The second is the code of its wording alone, with capital letters lowered and runs of spaces collapsed. When the same words are saved as a new file, the first code changes and the second one stays the same.

Only the first code can be worked out on your own computer. Save the file, then run one of these, putting the name of the file you saved where the example is. The panel on each source prints the command with that source's real file name already in it.

macOS or Linux:
  shasum -a 256 the-file-you-saved.pdf

Windows:
  certutil -hashfile the-file-you-saved.pdf SHA256

The two codes are different from each other, and they are not meant to match. Comparing one against the other proves nothing.

What a difference means, and what it does not

A different file code on its own proves nothing. A PDF saved again with a new date inside it is a new file saying exactly the same thing.

A different wording code means the words themselves changed. That is the one that matters, and it is why we keep it.

Even then, a change is not proof of bad faith. Companies update their documents. What this report says is what the document said on the day we read it, and every quote carries that date.

A source that is a web page and not a file has no file to save, so only the code of its wording is shown.

How this report is made

Every clause quoted above comes from a document SmartSTP publishes on its own website, downloaded and hashed on the date shown, with the clause number and page recorded so any reader can check it. We do not allege anything the documents do not say, and we do not judge SmartSTP on anything other than its own published terms and its own public marketing. Where a clause has a qualifier that softens it, the report says so. Last read Oct 1, 2026.

If you represent SmartSTP and a clause has changed, been withdrawn, or is being read out of context, tell us and we will re-read the documents and update this page. Corrections from the broker are welcome and are published with the reading they change. Contact us.

This is a reading of a contract, not legal advice and not a ruling on SmartSTP. Whether its licence is real and current is a separate check on the broker profile.

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