Risk scorecard
Each area is scored 0 (clean) to 10 (worst). Higher means more risk.
Regulation
7/10 · HighThe Seychelles FSA Securities Dealer licence is genuine and confirmed on the regulator's own register with matching websites, which caps this score, but it is a low-tier offshore permission with no compensation scheme, and Spain's CNMV has warned that the firm operates there without authorisation.
Identity & transparency
5/10 · ModerateA real, disclosed entity with an active LEI, a Seychelles company number and a named payment agent, but three conflicting office addresses across its own pages and the register, and a mobile app published by Deloce LTD, a company disclosed nowhere in its legal documents.
Withdrawals & conduct
8/10 · CriticalA sustained fund-integrity pattern across two platforms with amounts, dates and named account managers, including a recent and specific demand for further fees and taxes before funds would be released, though the firm does answer complaints publicly and some clients report normal service.
Reputation
8/10 · Critical1.3 out of 5 on both Trustpilot pages and 1.59 out of 5 across 301 reviews on reviews.io, with only 16 percent recommending, a hollow middle in the distribution, and two European regulator warnings on the public record.
Website claims
7/10 · HighThe licence claim itself is truthful and no founding year is fabricated, but the site says it does not serve the European Economic Area while running a live Spanish page, still presents a CySEC licence withdrawn in February 2026 as current, and lists six awards with no verifiable awarding body.
Operational history
2/10 · LowAbout seven years of verified presence, with domains registered in March and October 2019 and an LEI record from May 2019, and no advertised history we could not evidence, though the figure is an upper bound because the Seychelles company registry cannot be searched.
Who they are
A quick desk file on the company behind the brand.
- Brand: Axia Trade, also written Axia Investments and AXIA.Trade
- Legal entity: Smarttool Trading SC Limited, Seychelles company number C8424753, LEI 213800MYEJFF5BL2O614
- Registered: F20, 1st Floor, Eden Plaza, Eden Island, Seychelles, per the company's own filings. The FSA register shows a different address, Office No. 6 (Bird), Abis 2, Abis Centre, Providence, Mahe
- Website: smarttoolsc.com is the corporate site, axiainvestments.com is the trading site, axia-trade.com is an alias
- Only licence: Seychelles FSA Securities Dealer licence SD034, confirmed on the regulator's own register
- Offers: CFDs on forex, shares, indices, commodities and crypto, on an in-house web platform and a mobile app
- Not accepted: the firm says it does not serve the European Economic Area, the USA, or British Columbia in Canada
- Age claim: none published. Its domains date from March and October 2019 and its LEI from May 2019, so about seven years of real presence
- Group: the privacy policy names OBR Investments Limited, Cyprus, as a same-group company, and Marketvalley Limited, Cyprus, as its payment agent
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 Services Authority of Seychelles (FSA)
Cyprus Securities and Exchange Commission (CySEC)
Why we reached this verdict
How the evidence adds up.
We checked the regulator, the corporate record and the client footprint. The paperwork holds up. The conduct does not.
- A real regulator warning, naming this exact company. On 26 February 2024 Spain's CNMV added SMARTTOOL TRADING SC LIMITED, the trade name AXIA TRADE and the address axiainvestments.com/es/ to its list of unauthorised entities. Belgium's FSMA republished the same warning, so we count the two as one signal, not two.
- The firm is still doing the thing it was warned about. Its own footer says it does not offer services in the European Economic Area. A complete Spanish-language site sits at axiainvestments.com/es/ today, more than two years after the CNMV notice. Reviewers write from Germany, France, Spain-speaking Latin America and the Gulf.
- Clients say the money does not come back. Trustpilot shows 1.3 out of 5 from 96 reviews on axiainvestments.com and 1.3 out of 5 from 69 reviews on axia.trade. Reviews.io shows 1.59 out of 5 from 301 reviews, with only 16 percent recommending. The complaints describe one mechanism over and over: deposits are easy, withdrawals are refused, delayed for months, or the balance simply disappears.
- The complaints are checkable. They carry amounts and dates: 58,000 dollars lost on an account manager's advice in October 2025, 35,000 dollars queried in February 2025, a withdrawal rejected for two months in December 2025, a balance that vanished on 17 January 2026. Several name the account managers involved. The company's own public reply to one client confirms that client had attempted card chargebacks.
- An advance-fee demand. A review posted in mid-August 2026 says the firm keeps telling the client to pay more fees and taxes before releasing her own savings. There is no legitimate version of that request. On our rules a single credible, specific instance carries hard weight, and it sets a floor under the score.
- A licence presented as current that is not. The privacy policy we read on 20 August 2026 still says OBR Investments Limited is regulated by CySEC under licence 217/13. CySEC resolved on 9 February 2026 to withdraw that authorisation after the firm renounced it, and the Cyprus compensation fund removed its membership. The group's only European licence is gone and the website has not been corrected.
- Smaller things that point the same way. The iOS app is published by Deloce LTD, a company named nowhere in the broker's legal documents. Three different office addresses appear across its own pages and the register. Six awards from 2021 to 2023 are claimed with no verifiable awarding body. A UK mobile number is offered as a WhatsApp contact channel by a firm with no UK authorisation. One reviewer in Argentina reports an AI deepfake advertisement using a well-known national figure to recruit an elderly relative.
How the number was reached. The weighted average of the six scored dimensions comes to 6.5 out of 10, which is 65 percent. The confirmed regulator warning and the advance-fee account raise that to the 70 percent floor our rules set for this class of finding, and we place it at 78 to reflect the second, independent line of hard evidence and the four supporting strong items. We did not go to 90 or higher, because the licence is real and confirmed on the issuer's own register, no regulator has taken enforcement action for fraud, and no court has made a finding against the firm.
One point of fairness on the age figure: the Seychelles company registry is not searchable online, so we could date the company only through its LEI record. The seven-year figure rests mainly on the domain registrations and should be read as an upper bound.
Evidence ledger
Every finding, with its source and how strongly it points.
E1Spain's securities regulator lists SMARTTOOL TRADING SC LIMITED as an unauthorised entity, in a notice dated 26 February 2024. The same notice covers the trade name AXIA TRADE and the web address axiainvestments.com/es/. This is a regulator naming this exact company and this exact website.
E2The same CNMV warning listed under the brand and the web address, confirming the notice targets AXIA TRADE and the Spanish-language page at axiainvestments.com/es/ rather than a similarly named firm.
E3Belgium's regulator carries a warning page for SMARTTOOL TRADING SC LIMITED, AXIA TRADE and https://axiainvestments.com, dated 26 February 2024. It republishes the Spanish notice, so we count it as the same signal rather than a second independent one.
ModerateFSMA Belgium, warning pageE4The Seychelles FSA register of licensed Securities Dealers lists Smarttool Trading SC Limited, with the trade name AXIA.Trade, the email [email protected], and the websites www.smarttoolsc.com and axiainvestments.com. Name, both domains and the contact email match the operation we examined, so the licence is genuine and this is not a clone.
E5A Seychelles FSA alert dated 8 July 2025 warns that a site called xtradevip.com falsely claims licence SD034, and states that the number is linked to another entity licensed and regulated by the FSA. This confirms SD034 is a real licence, and that a third party has been impersonating it.
E6A review posted in mid-August 2026 states that the firm will not let the client withdraw anything and keeps telling her to pay more fees and taxes to get her own money back. A demand for payment before funds are released has no legitimate counterpart and is the advance-fee mechanic.
E7Trustpilot rates axiainvestments.com 1.3 out of 5 from 96 reviews. The one-star accounts describe a single repeated mechanism with checkable detail: a withdrawal request rejected across two months in December 2025, 58,000 dollars lost on an account manager's advice in October 2025, 35,000 dollars queried in February 2025, and positions that appear and disappear on the platform.
E8A second Trustpilot page, for the trade name axia.trade that appears on the Seychelles register, rates the firm 1.3 out of 5 from 69 reviews, with complaints running from December 2021 to August 2026. One account dated 26 January 2026 reports money disappearing from the account on 17 January 2026 with no trades placed.
E9An independent second review platform rates the firm 1.59 out of 5 across 301 reviews, with only 16 percent of reviewers recommending it. This confirms the negative pattern is not confined to one site.
E10The broker's own homepage footer states that Smarttool Trading SC Limited does not offer services within the European Economic Area, and the page offers Spanish, Portuguese, Arabic and Japanese versions. Its own words contradict the language versions it publishes.
StrongAxia Trade homepageE11The Spanish-language site the CNMV named in February 2024 is still live and still marketing to Spanish speakers, with the same footer stating that the firm does not serve the European Economic Area. Two and a half years after the warning, nothing has been withdrawn.
E12The broker's privacy policy, read on 20 August 2026, states that OBR Investments Limited is in the same group and is regulated by CySEC under CIF licence 217/13, and names Marketvalley Limited in Cyprus, registration HE415749, as its payment agent.
ModerateAxia Trade privacy policyE13CySEC resolved on 9 February 2026 to withdraw the CIF authorisation 217/13 of OBR Investments Ltd after the firm renounced it. The licence the broker's website still advertises for its group company has not been in force since February 2026.
E14The Global LEI record shows SMARTTOOL TRADING SC LIMITED as an active Seychelles entity, registration number C8424753, with a legal address at F20, 1st Floor, Eden Plaza, Eden Island, and an LEI first registered on 15 May 2019. This proves the company genuinely exists. It is corporate reality, not a trading licence.
ModerateGLEIF Global LEI IndexE15The corporate site names the operator, the Seychelles FSA licence SD034 and the regional restrictions, and describes Axia Investments as its brand. It also names Redpine Capital Limited of Limassol, Cyprus, as providing auxiliary support, a company disclosed nowhere else in the broker's legal documents.
E16The domain smarttoolsc.com was registered on 11 October 2019 through Namecheap. Together with the March 2019 registration of the trading domain, this gives the operation roughly seven years of verifiable presence and shows no age exaggeration.
E17The alias domain axia-trade.com was registered on 18 January 2024 through the same registrar and on the same Cloudflare nameservers as the main trading domain, tying it to the same operator.
E18The Axia Trade iOS app is published by a seller called Deloce LTD, not by Smarttool Trading SC Limited. The company handling the client-facing app is named nowhere in the broker's own legal documents.
E19The about page lists six industry awards dated 2021 to 2023, including Best Trading Platform in MENA region and Most Trusted Emerging Forex Broker GCC, with no awarding body we could verify, and publishes no link to the Seychelles register to support the SD034 licence claim.
The other side
The strongest case in this broker’s favour.
Here is the honest case for the other side, and some of it is strong.
- The licence is genuine and we proved it. The Seychelles FSA register lists Smarttool Trading SC Limited as a licensed Securities Dealer, and the entry itself carries the trade name AXIA.Trade, the email [email protected], and both www.smarttoolsc.com and axiainvestments.com. That is a complete match on name, domains and contacts. This is not a clone and the licence number is not invented.
- The FSA has effectively vouched for the number. In a public alert dated 8 July 2025 the Seychelles FSA warned that a site called xtradevip.com was falsely claiming licence SD034 and said the number belongs to another entity that is licensed and regulated by the FSA. So SD034 is real, and this broker is the victim of that particular impersonation, not the author of it.
- The corporate identity is real and disclosed. There is an active LEI record, a Seychelles company number, a named payment agent with a Cyprus registration number, and a physical address. Anonymous shells do not carry any of that.
- Offshore is not the same as fraud. Hundreds of legitimate brokers hold only a Seychelles, Vanuatu or Mauritius licence. Weak regulation belongs in the regulation score, not in a fraud finding.
- The firm answers its critics in public. It replies to a large share of negative reviews, sometimes with account-level detail such as when a client opened the account and when they last deposited. A pure boiler room does not stay and argue for years under its own name.
- Some of the anger is trading loss, not theft. A number of complaints describe losing money on positions an account manager recommended. That is bad practice and bad advice, but it is not the same as funds being stolen, and we did not count those toward the fund-integrity finding.
- Fake complaints exist. Competitors do plant scam accusations. We looked for the tells and did not find them here: the accounts are spread over five years, across three platforms and many countries, the wording is not templated, and none of them push a named alternative broker.
- The CySEC exit was voluntary. OBR Investments gave up its Cyprus licence rather than losing it to a sanction. That is a business decision, not a finding of misconduct, and we have described it as such.
What would change this
What we would need to see to revise the verdict.
Concrete things that would move this verdict, in either direction.
- Towards safer: the CNMV removing Smarttool Trading SC Limited from its unauthorised list, or the firm taking down its Spanish, Portuguese and other European-language pages and confirming it has stopped serving those markets.
- Towards safer: a documented run of paid withdrawals with amounts and dates, verifiable on Trustpilot or reviews.io, over a six-month period. The single fastest way to refute a withdrawal-trap finding is proof of withdrawals.
- Towards safer: the firm correcting its privacy policy to remove the claim that OBR Investments Limited is CySEC regulated, and publishing a direct link from its own site to its entry on the Seychelles FSA register.
- Towards safer: an independent, dated check confirming a staffed office at the address on the FSA register, and a single consistent address across the site, the register and the LEI record.
- Towards worse: a second credible, specific report of a fee, tax or insurance payment demanded before a withdrawal is released. That would push this to a confirmed scam.
- Towards worse: any enforcement action, court filing or Seychelles FSA action naming this entity, or a warning from a tier-one regulator such as the FCA, ASIC or BaFin naming axiainvestments.com.
- Towards worse: confirmation from a regulator or advertising platform that deepfake celebrity advertising was run for this brand.
- What would settle the open questions: a searchable Seychelles company registry, so the incorporation date could be fixed rather than inferred, and a confirmable UAE warning record, which secondary sources report but we could not find on the Capital Market Authority warnings page.
Check it yourself
Official registers and warning lists. Verify every claim first-hand.
Seychelles FSA register of licensed Securities Dealers
Open the Securities Dealer tab and expand Smarttool Trading SC Limited to see the trade name AXIA.Trade and both listed websites.
CNMV Spain, warning naming Smarttool Trading SC Limited
Spain's regulator lists the company as an unauthorised entity, dated 26 February 2024.
CNMV Spain, the same warning listed by brand and web address
Shows the warning covers AXIA TRADE and the page axiainvestments.com/es/.
FSMA Belgium, republished warning
Belgium's regulator carries the Spanish warning against the company and the axiainvestments.com website.
Seychelles FSA alert on misuse of licence SD034
Confirms SD034 is a genuine licence belonging to a licensed entity, and warns about a separate site falsely claiming it.
Trustpilot reviews for axiainvestments.com
Read the one-star reviews and the company's replies for yourself.
Reviews.io reviews for axiainvestments.com
A second, independent review platform with 301 reviews.
Global LEI record for Smarttool Trading SC Limited
Confirms the company exists in Seychelles with registration number C8424753. This proves the company is real, not that it is well regulated.
Frequently asked questions
Quick answers about this broker’s safety.
Is Axia Trade a scam?
On the evidence we gathered, treat it as a probable scam. We rate the risk at 78 percent. The company and its Seychelles licence are genuine, but Spain's regulator has publicly warned against it, and clients on three review platforms consistently report that withdrawals are refused, delayed for months, or that balances vanish.
Is Axia Trade regulated?
Only in Seychelles. We found Smarttool Trading SC Limited on the Seychelles FSA register of licensed Securities Dealers, listed with the trade name AXIA.Trade and both of its websites. It holds no licence from the FCA, ASIC, CySEC, BaFin or any other major authority.
What is the Seychelles FSA licence SD034 actually worth to me?
Very little in practice. A Seychelles Securities Dealer licence permits the firm to deal in securities and derivatives, but it comes with no investor compensation scheme and no deposit guarantee. If your money is not returned, there is no fund to claim against and you would be pursuing a Seychelles company under Seychelles law.
Can I withdraw my money from Axia Trade?
Many clients say they could not. Across Trustpilot and reviews.io the dominant complaint is that depositing is easy and withdrawing is not, with requests rejected or unanswered for weeks and months. If you have a balance, request a full withdrawal in writing now and keep every record.
Axia asked me to pay a tax or fee before releasing my withdrawal. Is that normal?
No. It is never normal. A demand for any payment before your own funds are released is the advance-fee pattern, and it is the clearest sign that the money is being taken rather than held. Do not pay it. Contact your bank about a chargeback and report the firm to your regulator.
Who owns and operates Axia Trade?
The operator is Smarttool Trading SC Limited, a Seychelles company with registration number C8424753 and LEI 213800MYEJFF5BL2O614. Its own privacy policy says it is in the same group as OBR Investments Limited in Cyprus, and that Marketvalley Limited in Cyprus acts as its payment agent.
Is Axia Trade a clone of another broker?
No. We ran the clone test and it passed. The name, both websites and the contact email on the Seychelles FSA register all match the operation we examined. Interestingly, the reverse happened: in July 2025 the Seychelles FSA warned that a separate site was falsely claiming this broker's licence number SD034.
How long has Axia Trade been operating?
About seven years. The axiainvestments.com domain was registered in March 2019, smarttoolsc.com in October 2019, and the company's LEI record dates from May 2019. Because the Seychelles company registry is not searchable online, we could not confirm the incorporation date, so treat seven years as an upper bound.
Why do regulators in Spain and Belgium warn about this broker?
Because it was offering investment services to residents there without authorisation. Spain's CNMV listed Smarttool Trading SC Limited, the trade name AXIA TRADE and the page axiainvestments.com/es/ as an unauthorised entity on 26 February 2024, and Belgium's FSMA republished that warning. The firm's own footer says it does not serve the European Economic Area, yet its Spanish-language site is still live.
The site says its group company is CySEC regulated. Is that true?
Not any more. The privacy policy we read on 20 August 2026 still presents OBR Investments Limited as holding CySEC licence 217/13. CySEC resolved on 9 February 2026 to withdraw that authorisation after the firm renounced it, and the Cyprus investor compensation fund removed its membership. A withdrawn licence is being advertised as current.
What do the review scores actually say?
They are among the worst we see. Trustpilot shows 1.3 out of 5 from 96 reviews for axiainvestments.com and 1.3 out of 5 from 69 reviews for axia.trade. Reviews.io shows 1.59 out of 5 from 301 reviews, with only 16 percent of reviewers recommending the firm. Positive reviews exist, but they are a small minority.
I already deposited with Axia Trade. What should I do first?
Request a full withdrawal in writing today and save every email, chat transcript and screenshot with dates and amounts. Then contact your bank or card issuer about a chargeback, quoting the CNMV warning. File complaints with the Seychelles FSA and your own national regulator. Do not send more money for any reason.
Should I use a recovery service to get my money back?
No, not one that asks for an upfront payment. Recovery-fee offers deliberately target people who have already lost money and are a second fraud. Work through your bank, the card schemes and your regulator, and take independent legal advice if the amount justifies it.
What should I check before depositing with any broker?
Find the licence number on the regulator's own register, not on the broker's website, and confirm the register shows the same company name and the same web address. Check whether the licence covers your country. Read the one-star reviews on at least two platforms. If deposits are pushed by a phone account manager, walk away.
What we recommend
The practical takeaway from everything above.
Our advice is to stay away, and to act quickly if you already have money there.
- Do not deposit. A Seychelles Securities Dealer licence gives you no compensation scheme and no deposit guarantee. If the money does not come back, there is no fund to claim from.
- Never pay a fee, tax, commission or insurance charge to release a withdrawal. No regulated broker anywhere works that way. A request like that means the money is being taken, not held.
- If you have a balance, request a full withdrawal now, in writing. Keep every email, chat log, ticket number and screenshot, and record the exact dates and amounts.
- Go to your bank or card issuer. Ask about a chargeback and quote the CNMV warning of 26 February 2024. Card schemes have deadlines, so do this early rather than after months of promises.
- Report it. Complain to the Seychelles FSA, which licenses the firm, and to your own national regulator. If you are in Spain or Belgium, reference the existing CNMV and FSMA warnings.
- Ignore anyone who offers to recover your funds for an upfront payment. Recovery-fee offers target people who have already lost money and are a second scam.
- Do not send more money to trade your way out. Several clients describe being told exactly that, and then losing the additional deposit as well.
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 August 20, 2026. If any detail here is out of date or incorrect, or you represent this broker, please contact us.