Risk scorecard
Each area is scored 0 (clean) to 10 (worst). Higher means more risk.
Regulation
5/10 · ModerateGenuine FCA (186171) and DFSA (F000048) licences are held by sister companies; the Costa Rica company that runs hycm.com accounts holds no licence.
Identity & transparency
3/10 · LowAll companies and numbers are disclosed and match the FCA, DFSA and CMA records; the Costa Rica operator publishes no address and shows no local business activity.
Withdrawals & conduct
6/10 · HighRepeated reports since 2018, on two platforms, of profits removed and accounts closed after winning trades, alongside many normal withdrawals; HYCM disputes them.
Reputation
5/10 · ModerateTrustpilot 2.1 from 138 reviews, two-thirds of them four or five stars; no regulator warning names HYCM, though 12 clones use its name.
Website claims
5/10 · Moderate'Multi-Regulated' and 'Maximum fund security' marketing on a site whose operator is unregulated; still shows a former DFSA entity name.
Operational history
2/10 · LowUK company since 1993, UK-regulated since 1998, hycm.com since 2006, with continuous history under one FCA reference number.
Who they are
A quick desk file on the company behind the brand.
- Brand: HYCM, formerly HY Markets and Henyep Capital Markets.
- Legal entity behind hycm.com: HYCM Capital Markets S.R.L., registered in Costa Rica, number 3-102-883933.
- Regulated group companies: HYCM Capital Markets (UK) Limited (FCA 186171, Companies House 02878581); HYCM Limited in the DIFC (DFSA F000048); HYCM Financial Services L.L.C. in Dubai (UAE CMA, Category 5).
- Registered: the hycm.com company is registered in Costa Rica and publishes no address there. The UK company's registered office is 5 Market Yard Mews, 194-204 Bermondsey Street, London. Trading offices are at 51 Moorgate, London, at Liberty House in the DIFC and at Latifa Tower, Dubai.
- Website: hycm.com, plus the mirror hyfx.org, the UK site hycm.co.uk and the DIFC site hycmdifc.com.
- Only licence: none for the Costa Rica company that holds hycm.com accounts. The FCA, DFSA and CMA licences belong to sister companies.
- Offers: CFDs on forex, shares, indices, crypto and commodities on MT4, MT5 and the HYCM Trader app, with leverage up to 1:500 and a $20 minimum deposit. The hyfx.org mirror advertises a 100% welcome bonus up to $100 and a 20% deposit bonus up to $4,900.
- Not accepted: residents of the United States, Belgium, Hong Kong, Afghanistan and some other regions, according to the site.
- Age claim: '40+ years of Group cumulative experience'. Earlier versions of the site said 'Est. Since 1977', referring to the Henyep group. We could not confirm 1977 on a registry. The UK company dates from 8 December 1993 and has been regulated in the UK since 18 February 1998.
Regulation
Who really oversees this broker, and what each licence is worth to you.
Proof of regulation on an official register: Yes
We confirmed this broker on a genuine regulator’s register.
Licences the broker publishes
Financial Conduct Authority (FCA), United Kingdom
Dubai Financial Services Authority (DFSA)
Capital Market Authority (CMA), United Arab Emirates (formerly the Securities and Commodities Authority)
Costa Rica company registration (HYCM Capital Markets S.R.L.)
Found by our investigation (1) — the broker does not list these on its own site
Cyprus Securities and Exchange Commission (CySEC)
Found by us — not listed by the broker
Why we reached this verdict
How the evidence adds up.
HYCM is a genuine, long-established broker group. The problem is that the company behind hycm.com is not the regulated one, and that gap drives our rating.
- Who holds your money: hycm.com is operated by HYCM Capital Markets S.R.L., registered in Costa Rica (3-102-883933), and its customer agreement is in that company's name. The regulation page lists it under 'Other Incorporated Entities', with no licence. Costa Rica's tax registry confirms the company exists. It records no business activity beyond being a legal entity, and it flags the company as behind on payments ('moroso') and on filings ('omiso').
- Real licences, held by other companies: the FCA licence (186171) belongs to HYCM Capital Markets (UK) Limited, whose website on the register is hycm.co.uk. The DFSA licence (F000048) only lets HYCM Limited arrange deals in the DIFC. The UAE CMA licence covers introductions and promotion. None of them covers an account with the Costa Rica company.
- A repeating complaint: since 2018, clients on Trustpilot and Forex Peace Army describe the same sequence. They had a profitable run, then the profits were removed, the account was closed and only the deposit came back. HYCM says these traders broke its terms. The reports are specific and appear on two platforms. They are spread over years rather than clustered in one period, and many other reviewers report normal withdrawals.
- Marketing versus reality: the site calls HYCM 'Multi-Regulated' and promises 'Maximum fund security', but the company operating the site is unregulated. It also runs Polish, Czech, Swedish, German and Italian versions, while telling EU visitors that its operator falls outside EU rules.
- What is clean: no regulator warning names hycm.com or any HYCM company. The warnings that carry the HYCM name are about clone sites such as hycmcapitalmarkets.com, hycmarket.com and hycmarkets.net.
- How the score adds up: regulation 5, identity 3 and withdrawal complaints 6 (each counted twice), plus reputation 5, website claims 5 and history 2. That averages 4.4 out of 10, which we publish as 44%.
Evidence ledger
Every finding, with its source and how strongly it points.
E1The FCA register lists HYCM Capital Markets (UK) Limited, reference 186171, as Authorised since 1 Dec 2001; it has been regulated in the UK since 18 Feb 1998. It may deal as principal in CFDs, rolling spot forex and spread bets for retail clients and may hold client money. Its contact details are 51 Moorgate, London, compliance@hycm.com and the website www.hycm.co.uk.
Hard proofFCA Financial Services RegisterE2The same FCA entry lists 12 clone firms using this firm's details, added between 2011 and 2023. They include Henyep Markets, hycmarkets.net, hycmarket.com, HYCMFX, HycmCapitalMarkets and HNM (UK) Limited (heynepmarkets.com).
ModerateFCA Financial Services RegisterE3hycm.com states that the website is operated by HYCM Capital Markets S.R.L., a company registered in Costa Rica (3-102-883933) that falls outside the European regulatory framework. Its regulation page lists this company under Other Incorporated Entities, with no licence, while the page title calls HYCM a Multi-Regulated Forex and CFD Provider.
E4Costa Rica's Ministry of Finance lists taxpayer 3-102-883933 as HYCM CAPITAL MARKETS SOCIEDAD DE RESPONSABILIDAD LIMITADA, registered ex officio. It carries only the generic activity code for a legally constituted company and is flagged as in arrears (moroso) and as a non-filer (omiso).
E5Companies House shows HYCM CAPITAL MARKETS (UK) LIMITED, company 02878581, as active and incorporated on 8 Dec 1993. Its former names are Henyep Capital Markets (UK) Limited (2010 to 2022), Henyep Investment (UK) Limited (1999 to 2010) and Hing Yep Investment (UK) Limited (1994 to 1999).
StrongUK Companies HouseE6The DFSA register lists HYCM Limited (trading name HYCM), a DIFC company at Liberty House, reference F000048. It has been licensed since 19 Sep 2006 with a retail endorsement, for Arranging Deals in Investments only, and no regulatory actions are shown. Two of its authorised individuals also hold approved roles at the FCA-regulated UK firm.
StrongDFSA public registerE7HYCM Limited's own site says it holds a DFSA category 4 licence and may not hold client money. It also says all its clients are clients of the FCA-regulated UK company, which holds their money in segregated accounts.
E8The UAE Capital Market Authority lists HYCM FINANCIAL SERVICES L.L.C. as Active, at 801 Latifa Tower, Dubai, with email compliance@hycm.com. Its only licences are Introduction and Promotion. The CMA notes that a Category 5 licence does not authorise brokerage in derivatives or spot FX.
E9Trustpilot shows 138 reviews of hycm.com with a TrustScore of 2.1 (42% five-star, 25% four-star, 21% one-star). The recurring one-star complaint, from 2020 to 2026, is profits cancelled and accounts closed after winning trades. Examples include a reported $43,000 profit voided in October 2020 and a $3,900 withdrawal cancelled for alleged swap abuse in February 2025. HYCM replied to several, citing breaches of its terms, and other reviewers report fast withdrawals. Two large-loss reviews came from US residents, whom HYCM says it does not accept; we left them out of the pattern.
StrongTrustpilotE10A November 2018 client thread on Forex Peace Army describes a professional client of the UK firm who made $11,303.84 profit on US30 and US100 trades. The profit was removed the next morning, the account was closed and only the $6,000 deposit was returned. The client said the Financial Ombudsman Service had opened an investigation.
ModerateForex Peace ArmyE11IOSCO's I-SCAN list carries a warning that Spain's CNMV published on 17 Mar 2025 against HYCM CAPITAL MARKETS at hycmcapitalmarkets.com, an unlicensed look-alike site. No warning we found names hycm.com or any HYCM group company.
ModerateIOSCO I-SCANE12Domain records show hycm.com registered on 20 Nov 2006 and the former brand domain hymarkets.com on 3 Mar 2003. hycm.co.uk, the website on the FCA record, was registered on 20 Feb 2017. It uses the same name servers as hycm.com and forwards visitors outside the UK to hycm.com.
ModerateDomain registration recordsE13hyfx.org, registered on 8 Mar 2023, mirrors hycm.com. It has the same Costa Rica company footer and the same live-chat, analytics and advertising accounts, and it advertises a 100% welcome bonus up to $100 and a 20% deposit bonus up to $4,900.
Weakhyfx.orgE14Archived copies of HYCM's regulation page show the line-up changing over time. In October 2021 it listed FCA, CySEC (HYCM (Europe) Ltd, 259/14), CIMA (HYCM Ltd, 1442313) and DFSA licences, plus HYCM Limited of St Vincent (25228 BC 2018). By October 2024, and still in August 2025, only the FCA, the DFSA and the St Vincent company remained. Today the Costa Rica company has replaced the St Vincent one.
E15CySEC announced on 18 Jun 2024 that it had withdrawn the authorisation of HYCM (Europe) Ltd (CIF 259/14) after the company expressly renounced it. HYCM no longer claims this licence.
E16hycm.com runs Polish, Czech, Swedish, German and Italian versions. It tells EU visitors that its Costa Rica operator falls outside EU rules, but lets them continue once they acknowledge they will not be covered by EU regulation if they register.
Moderatehycm.com homepage
The other side
The strongest case in this broker’s favour.
There is a strong case that HYCM is a real broker run in good faith, and much of it checks out.
- The UK company has existed since December 1993. It has kept the same FCA reference number through every rename, from Hing Yep and Henyep to HY Markets and HYCM.
- The FCA, DFSA and CMA records all match HYCM's own addresses, its hycm.com email domain and its managers. Marcin Piotr Swanson-Zajac and Aikaterini Oikonomou hold approved roles at both the UK firm and the DIFC firm. Stavros Lambouris sits on the UK firm and on the board of the CMA-licensed company.
- The Costa Rica company is named in every page footer, and EU visitors are told plainly that it falls outside EU rules.
- No regulator has acted against HYCM itself. The warnings that carry its name target clone sites, so HYCM is the victim of impersonation, not the culprit.
- Client agreements commonly let a broker cancel trades that break its terms. HYCM has said publicly that the closed accounts involved swap abuse, abuse of a promotion or forged documents. Many reviewers report fast, normal withdrawals.
- HYCM gave up its Cyprus licence voluntarily in 2024. CySEC records it as a renunciation, not a sanction.
What would change this
What we would need to see to revise the verdict.
Any of these would move our rating, in one direction or the other.
- If HYCM moved international clients to a licensed company, or the Costa Rica company obtained a real financial licence, the regulation risk would fall sharply.
- Independent rulings on the cancelled-profit disputes would settle them. Rulings for HYCM would lower the complaint score; rulings against it would raise it.
- A regulator warning or enforcement action naming hycm.com or any HYCM company would raise the risk sharply.
- A new cluster of refused or stalled withdrawals within a few months would raise it.
- A published Costa Rica address, up-to-date tax filings and a clear statement of where international client money is held would improve the transparency score.
Check it yourself
Official registers and warning lists. Verify every claim first-hand.
FCA register: HYCM Capital Markets (UK) Limited
Licence, permissions, clone warnings and the genuine firm's switchboard number
DFSA register: HYCM Limited (F000048)
Dubai licence, which covers arranging deals only
UAE CMA register: HYCM Financial Services L.L.C.
Category 5 introduction and promotion licence; HYCM itself publishes no link to it
Companies House: HYCM Capital Markets (UK) Limited
UK company record, incorporated 8 December 1993, with its former names
HYCM regulation page
Shows which group companies are regulated and that the Costa Rica company is not
HYCM legal documents
Customer agreements for each HYCM company; check which one you are signing
IOSCO I-SCAN: warning on the look-alike HYCM CAPITAL MARKETS
Spanish regulator's warning about hycmcapitalmarkets.com, a clone and not HYCM
Frequently asked questions
Quick answers about this broker’s safety.
Is HYCM a scam?
No. HYCM is a real broker group. Its FCA-regulated UK company has been supervised in the UK since 1998, and we found no regulator warning against it. We still rate it high risk at 44%, because hycm.com accounts are held by an unlicensed Costa Rica company and clients have reported cancelled profits for years.
Is HYCM a fraud?
No. We found no regulator warning, no enforcement action and no fraud-related court record naming hycm.com or any HYCM company. The regulator warnings that use the HYCM name are about clone websites that copy it.
Is HYCM regulated?
Parts of the group are. HYCM Capital Markets (UK) Limited is authorised by the FCA (FRN 186171). HYCM Limited holds a DFSA licence (F000048) for arranging deals, and HYCM Financial Services L.L.C. holds a UAE CMA licence for introductions and promotion. HYCM Capital Markets S.R.L., the Costa Rica company that runs hycm.com, holds no licence.
Which HYCM company holds my money?
It depends on the agreement you sign. HYCM states that hycm.com is operated by HYCM Capital Markets S.R.L. in Costa Rica, and the customer agreement published for the site is in that company's name. Clients of the FCA-regulated UK firm, including DIFC clients (who are also clients of the UK firm), have their money held by the UK company under FCA rules.
Am I covered by the FCA or the FSCS if I open an account on hycm.com?
Not if your contract is with the Costa Rica company. FCA rules, the Financial Ombudsman Service and the FSCS apply only to the UK company's regulated business. Ask HYCM in writing which company your account is with before you deposit.
Can I withdraw my money from HYCM?
Many reviewers report normal, even fast, withdrawals. But since 2018 a recurring group of clients say that after profitable trading their profits were removed, their accounts were closed and only their deposit was returned. Read the abusive-trading clauses first and test a small withdrawal early.
Why do some traders say HYCM cancelled their profits?
In the cases we read, HYCM said the client had broken its terms. It cited swap abuse, abuse of a refer-a-friend promotion, forged documents or a trading pattern it would not accept. The clients dispute this. We have not seen an independent ruling that settles these disputes either way.
Who owns HYCM and how old is it?
HYCM grew out of the Henyep group, which HYCM dates to 1977. Its UK company was incorporated on 8 December 1993. It was renamed Hing Yep Investment (UK) Limited in 1994, Henyep Investment (UK) Limited in 1999, Henyep Capital Markets (UK) Limited in 2010 and HYCM Capital Markets (UK) Limited in 2022. It has been regulated in the UK since February 1998.
Is hycm.com a clone?
No. hycm.com is HYCM's own site. The FCA-registered firm uses the hycm.com email domain, and hycm.co.uk, the website listed on its FCA entry, forwards visitors outside the UK to hycm.com. Clones do exist: the FCA lists 12 firms copying HYCM's details, and Spain's CNMV warned about hycmcapitalmarkets.com in March 2025.
What is hyfx.org?
It is a mirror of hycm.com, run by the same operator. It carries the same Costa Rica company footer and uses the same live-chat and analytics accounts as hycm.com. It advertises a 100% welcome bonus up to $100 and a 20% deposit bonus up to $4,900, so read the bonus terms before you accept.
Can EU residents open an account with HYCM?
HYCM gave up its Cyprus licence in June 2024 and stopped serving EU clients through an EU company. hycm.com tells EU visitors that its Costa Rica operator falls outside EU rules, but lets them continue once they acknowledge this. An EU resident who registers there gets no EU investor protection.
What are HYCM's DFSA and UAE CMA licences worth?
Both are real and active, but limited. The DFSA licence lets HYCM Limited arrange deals and does not let it hold client money. The CMA licence only covers introducing clients and promotion. Neither one protects money deposited with the Costa Rica company.
What should I check before depositing with HYCM?
Confirm the domain and which HYCM company your agreement names, then check that company on the regulator's register yourself. Read the clauses on abusive trading, bonuses and account closure. Start with a small deposit and a test withdrawal.
What should I do if I think a fake HYCM site scammed me?
Stop paying anything, including any fee promised to release your funds. Report the site to your national regulator and to the FCA, and ask your bank or card issuer about a chargeback. To check whether you ever had a genuine account, contact HYCM only through the details on the FCA register.
What we recommend
The practical takeaway from everything above.
Before you deposit, find out exactly which HYCM company you are signing with.
- If you live in the UK, ask for written confirmation that your account and your money are with HYCM Capital Markets (UK) Limited, the FCA-regulated firm.
- Otherwise, assume an account opened on hycm.com is with the Costa Rica company. No regulator, ombudsman or compensation scheme stands behind it.
- Before you trade, read the customer agreement's clauses on abusive trading, bonuses, swap-free accounts and account closure. Avoid bonuses that tie up withdrawals.
- Make a small test withdrawal early, and keep copies of your trade history, support tickets and emails.
- Use only hycm.com and its subdomains (hyfx.org is HYCM's own mirror, run by the same company). Treat look-alikes such as hycmcapitalmarkets.com, hycmarket.com and hycmarkets.net as clones. If someone calls claiming to be HYCM, check them through the switchboard number on the FCA register.
This is an independent assessment of risk, not a legal ruling. Scores and verdicts follow the Wikilix broker-safety methodology and can change as new evidence appears. Review scores are treated with caution when a broker’s reviews look manipulated. Last reviewed October 27, 2026. If any detail here is out of date or incorrect, or you represent this broker, please contact us.
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