Risk scorecard
Each area is scored 0 (clean) to 10 (worst). Higher means more risk.
Regulation
4/10 · ModerateGenuine in-force FSCA Category I licence (FSP 53183, Authorized) verified on the regulator's own register, with the counterparty holding client money confirmed as an approved OTC derivative provider; marked down because Space Markets itself holds intermediary authority only and its trading pages do not say so.
Identity & transparency
4/10 · ModerateEntity, registration number, address and named key individual all reconcile with the FSCA register, and the ODP counterparty and a 30 percent remuneration conflict are disclosed; marked down because the client agreement and FAIS disclosures print a registration number that contradicts the register.
Withdrawals & conduct
7/10 · HighA coherent fund-integrity pattern with transactional detail, 9,000 dollars of profit cut to a 1,000 dollar payout and 7,000 pounds held past six months, offset by confirmed successful withdrawals, replies to 89 percent of negative reviews and at least one documented resolution.
Reputation
6/10 · HighTrustpilot sits at 2.9 out of 5 across 83 reviews with profit reversal as the dominant unresolved theme and a review-aggregator verdict of not recommended, but there is no regulator warning and no enforcement action anywhere.
Website claims
7/10 · HighThe site states that scalping is never permissible while selling a zero-spread Sniper Account on 1:1000 leverage and publishing sniper-entry training, prohibits expert advisors while selling MetaTrader 5, and told a reviewer publicly that scalping is allowed; no fabricated licence or founding year though.
Operational history
4/10 · ModerateVerified track record of roughly three and a half years, with the domain registered 15 March 2023, the company registered March 2023 and the licence granted September 2023, and no advertised history exceeding what the records support.
Who they are
A quick desk file on the company behind the brand.
- Brand: SPACE MARKETS, trading at spacemarkets.io
- Legal entity: Space Markets (Pty) Ltd, South African registration number 2023/651612/07
- Registered: 5th Floor Sasol Place, 50 Katherine Street, Wierda Valley, Sandton, Gauteng 2196, South Africa, the same address printed on the FSCA register
- Website: spacemarkets.io, with the client portal at my.spacemarkets.io
- Only licence: FSCA FSP 53183, a Category I licence authorised 28 September 2023, covering intermediary services in derivative instruments
- Who holds your money: Flare FX (Pty) Ltd, a separate company at the same Sandton address, listed as an approved OTC derivative provider by the FSCA, holding client funds in a segregated third-party funds administrator account
- Key individual: Mpho Sebothoma-Jele, named on the FSCA register
- Offers: MetaTrader 5 forex, indices, shares, commodities and synthetics, from a R50 minimum deposit, with leverage to 1:2000 and 1:10000 on synthetics, plus a 100 percent deposit bonus account
- Not accepted: clients in the United States
- Age claim: none overstated. The company was registered in March 2023, licensed in September 2023 and visible to clients from 2024, and the site claims no longer history than that.
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 Sector Conduct Authority (FSCA), South Africa
Found by our investigation (1) — the broker does not list these on its own site
FSCA register of OTC derivative providers, South Africa
Found by us — not listed by the broker
Why we reached this verdict
How the evidence adds up.
Two things are true at once here, and both belong in the answer. The regulatory side is sound. The conduct side is not.
- The licence is genuine and it is this company's own. The FSCA register returns SPACE MARKETS (PTY) LTD for FSP 53183 with status Authorized, registration number 2023/651612/07 and a Sandton address identical to the one on the website. Nothing is borrowed from another firm.
- The money-holding entity is properly licensed too. South Africa requires a separate OTC derivative provider licence to act as the counterparty to a CFD trade. Flare FX (Pty) Ltd, named as the principal in the ODP client agreement, is listed as Approved on the FSCA register of OTC derivative providers at the same Sasol Place address. Client funds sit in a segregated third-party funds administrator account under South African law. That is a materially better arrangement than the offshore structures common in this market.
- But the contract contains a trap, and it is being used. The FSP client agreement defines scalping as entering and exiting a position in under 10 minutes, lists it as a prohibited trading practice, and states a zero-tolerance policy under which the firm may treat the results of such transactions as void and cancel, close and unwind them. Automated expert advisors are prohibited on the same list, on a platform sold for MetaTrader 5.
- Client accounts match the clause. On Trustpilot, one client describes making 9,000 dollars in a week and receiving 1,000 dollars, refused on scalping grounds. Another describes profits deducted for scalping abuse for not holding trades 10 minutes, with no email and no call. A third reports 7,000 pounds unreleased for over six months, with finance and compliance never responding. A fourth describes withdrawals delayed then denied and profits revoked under allegations not documented in any published terms.
- The marketing points the other way. The same site that states scalping is never permissible sells a Sniper Account at zero spread and zero commission on 1:1000 leverage, publishes training titled Sniper Entries and Exits, and offers leverage to 1:10000. In February 2026 the company told a reviewer publicly that scalping is allowed subject to its trading rules, which its own agreement does not support.
- What is absent matters too. No FSCA warning, no entry on any regulator alert list, no enforcement action, and no report anywhere of a demand for an extra payment to release funds. The advance-fee mechanic is simply not present, and some clients confirm being paid quickly.
That combination does not meet a scam threshold, and calling it one would be wrong. It does rule out a clean verdict: a verified licence covers identity, never conduct, and the conduct evidence here is specific, repeated and unresolved. The figure of 52 percent reflects a real licence carrying a real risk to profitable clients, with the complaint pattern weighted double because it concerns client funds rather than service quality.
Evidence ledger
Every finding, with its source and how strongly it points.
E1The FSCA register returns SPACE MARKETS (PTY) LTD for FSP number 53183 with status Authorized, FSP type Company - Private, registration number 2023/651612/07 and date authorised 28/09/2023. The registered physical address, 50 Katherine Street, Wierda Valley, Sandton 2196, is the same address published on the website, and the key individual is named as Mpho Sebothoma-Jele.
E2The FSCA register of OTC derivative providers lists FLARE FX (PTY) LTD with status Approved, at 5th Floor, Sasol Place, 50 Katherine Street, Sandton, the same building as Space Markets. This is the licence that permits market-making in CFDs in South Africa.
E3A search of the same FSCA OTC derivative provider register for Space Markets returns no results, confirming that Space Markets itself is not an approved derivatives counterparty. Its FSCA approvals are Category I, and for derivative instruments the only approval is intermediary services, not advice and not dealing.
E4The ODP client agreement names FlareX FX (Pty) Ltd as the entity authorised to originate, issue, sell and make a market in OTC derivatives, with client funds held in a segregated third-party funds administrator account opened and administered by it, under South African law with jurisdiction in the High Court, Western Cape. The FSP client agreement defines the Principal as an ODP duly authorised by the Authority.
E5The FSP client agreement defines scalping at clause 2.1.44 as entering and exiting a trade for a period of less than 10 minutes during active trading times, defines a qualifying trade at 2.1.40 as one held not less than 10 minutes, lists scalping and automated expert advisors among prohibited practices at 19.1, and at 19.2 states a zero-tolerance policy under which the firm may treat any result of such transactions as void and cancel, close and unwind any transaction with immediate effect.
E6Trustpilot shows 2.9 out of 5 across 83 reviews for spacemarkets.io, with a repeated fund-integrity theme carrying transactional detail: one client describes making 9,000 dollars in a week and being paid 1,000 dollars, refused for scalping; another describes profits deducted for scalping abuse for not holding trades 10 minutes, with no email and no call; a third reports 7,000 pounds unreleased for over six months with finance and compliance never responding; a fourth describes withdrawals delayed then denied and profits revoked under allegations not documented in any published terms. Reports cluster between February and September 2026.
E7The account types page states that under no condition is scalping permissible while offering a Sniper Account at 0.0 pips spread, zero commission and 1:1000 leverage, a Synthetics account at 1:10000, a Standard account at 1:2000 and a Space 100 account with a 100 percent bonus, all from a R50 minimum. The homepage publishes training titled Sniper Entries and Exits, Master Precision Trading Like a Pro, and prohibits expert advisors while selling MetaTrader 5.
E8In a public reply dated February 2026 the company stated that scalping is allowed on Space Markets provided it complies with its trading rules and conditions. That contradicts both the absolute prohibition printed on its own pages and clause 19.1.1 of its client agreement.
ModerateTrustpilot, company replyE9No regulator warning or enforcement record names this operation. The FSCA has published no caution against Space Markets (Pty) Ltd, and searches across the major alert lists return no entry for the brand, the legal entity or the domain spacemarkets.io. A separate FSCA caution about SpaceX Investment concerns an unrelated operation and was excluded.
E10Domain records show spacemarkets.io registered on 15 March 2023 through eNom, last changed 12 August 2026 and expiring 15 March 2027, running on nameservers ns1.w3rcg.co.za and ns2.w3rcg.co.za. The date sits days before the company registration and years before any claim the site makes, so there is no age misrepresentation.
E11The FSP client agreement and the FAIS disclosures both print the company registration number 2018/079334/07, which does not match the 2023/651612/07 recorded on the FSCA register and published in the website footer. A binding client agreement identifying the contracting company by the wrong registration number is a real documentation defect.
E12The FAIS disclosures identify Flare FX (Pty) Ltd as the FSCA-authorised ODP, name Rori Consulting (Pty) Ltd as external compliance officer, confirm professional indemnity cover, publish support contacts, and disclose that Space Markets receives more than 30 percent of its total remuneration from Flare FX. Disclosing that conflict is a mark of transparency rather than concealment.
E13Withdrawals do complete for part of the client base. Specific reviewers confirm funds received, including one who grew a R100 bonus account to R950 and was paid, and one reporting consistently fast payouts. One complainant updated their review to confirm the withdrawal was released after escalation, and Trustpilot records replies to 89 percent of negative reviews, typically within a week.
E14A live MetaTrader 5 server registered in the broker's own name, SpaceMarkets-Live, is recorded in third-party trading-server data, which is consistent with a real trading operation rather than a simulated platform. No report describes a demand for any extra payment, tax or fee before funds are released, so the advance-fee pattern is absent from this case.
ModerateA third-party broker directory, and the complaint review across all platforms swept
The other side
The strongest case in this broker’s favour.
The case for Space Markets is stronger than the complaint list suggests, and it deserves stating plainly.
- Every identity check passes. Name, registration number, address and key individual all reconcile against the FSCA register. A clone cannot do this, and most of the brokers that generate complaints of this kind cannot either.
- It did the hard part of South African compliance. Many firms selling CFDs to South Africans skip the OTC derivative provider requirement entirely. Here the principal is an approved ODP, client money is contractually segregated with a third-party funds administrator, the governing law is South African and the forum is the High Court. A wronged client has a real address, a real regulator and a real court.
- Minimum-duration rules are not unique to this broker. Many brokers restrict latency arbitrage and very short-term strategies, and enforcing published trading conditions is legitimate in principle. The clause is disclosed in the agreement a client accepts, not hidden after the fact.
- Withdrawals demonstrably work for many clients. Specific reviewers confirm funds arriving, including one who grew a R100 bonus account to R950 and was paid, and another praising fast payouts. One complainant updated their review to say the withdrawal was eventually released after escalation.
- The firm engages rather than hides. Trustpilot records replies to 89 percent of negative reviews, typically within a week, with named support channels. A company intending to disappear does not usually staff a complaints queue.
- No age deception at all. The domain was registered in March 2023, the company in the same month, and the licence followed in September 2023. Nothing is backdated, and there is no invented founding year, which is the single most common lie in this sector.
- Some of the criticism is not about money. Complaints about spreads, stop-loss placement and having to complete identity checks before opening a demo account are product grievances, and we have not let them influence the fund-integrity assessment. One negative review also carries a recovery-service plug, which is a known contaminant, and we discounted it.
What would change this
What we would need to see to revise the verdict.
This verdict is built on a conduct pattern, so it moves if the conduct or the record moves.
- Toward a clean verdict: removing the blanket 10-minute scalping prohibition, or replacing clause 19.2 so that profits from a disputed trade cannot simply be voided, with the change reflected in a dated agreement.
- Stopping the sale of a zero-spread Sniper Account and sniper-entry training while a rule voids trades held under 10 minutes. Aligning the product with the contract would remove the contradiction that drives these disputes.
- A clear statement on the trading pages, not only inside the client agreement, that Space Markets is a Category I intermediary and that Flare FX (Pty) Ltd is the licensed counterparty holding client funds.
- Six to twelve months of Trustpilot history with no new profit-reversal or blocked-withdrawal reports, or documented resolution of the outstanding cases, including the 7,000 pound balance.
- Correcting the registration number in the FSP client agreement and the FAIS disclosures to the 2023/651612/07 on the FSCA register.
- Toward a worse verdict: an FSCA public warning, a debarment or any enforcement step naming Space Markets (Pty) Ltd or Flare FX (Pty) Ltd.
- Any credible report of a client being asked to pay a tax, fee or verification charge before funds are released. That single pattern would change this report substantially.
- Loss of the Flare FX approval on the FSCA OTC derivative provider register, or the FSP licence moving off Authorized, while the site keeps taking deposits.
Check it yourself
Official registers and warning lists. Verify every claim first-hand.
FSCA register of authorised financial services providers
Enter FSP number 53183 to see the Space Markets licence, its status and the categories it actually approves.
FSCA register of OTC derivative providers
Search Flare FX to confirm the company that holds client money is an approved derivatives counterparty.
Space Markets legal documents
Where the FSP and ODP client agreements and the FAIS disclosures are published.
Space Markets FSP client agreement
Clause 19 lists the prohibited trading practices, including the 10-minute scalping rule.
Space Markets ODP client agreement
Names Flare FX as the principal and describes the segregated client funds account.
Trustpilot reviews for spacemarkets.io
The public complaint record, including the profit-reversal and withdrawal cases cited here.
Frequently asked questions
Quick answers about this broker’s safety.
Is Space Markets a scam?
No, not in the sense most people mean. Space Markets (Pty) Ltd holds a real FSCA licence (FSP 53183) in its own name, and the company holding client money is an FSCA-approved OTC derivative provider. It is not a clone and it is not an unlicensed operation. We still rate it high risk, because clients repeatedly report that profits were cancelled and withdrawals refused under a rule treating any trade closed inside 10 minutes as prohibited scalping.
Is Space Markets a fraud?
No regulator or court has found fraud. There is no FSCA warning, no entry on any regulator alert list, no enforcement action and no fraud-related court record naming Space Markets (Pty) Ltd or spacemarkets.io. What we found instead is a contractual pattern: profits voided and withdrawals refused on scalping grounds. We assess the risk to profitable clients as high, but that is our assessment, not a finding of fraud.
Is Space Markets regulated?
Yes, onshore. The FSCA register lists SPACE MARKETS (PTY) LTD under FSP number 53183 with status Authorized, authorised on 28 September 2023. The FSCA is South Africa's statutory conduct regulator, not an offshore authority, although some third-party sites describe it that way. It is a mid-tier regulator with no investor compensation scheme.
Can I withdraw my money from Space Markets?
Often yes, and several clients confirm fast payouts. The risk is concentrated on profitable accounts. Multiple clients describe withdrawals delayed then denied, or only partly paid, after a profitable run, with the firm citing prohibited trading practices. One reports 7,000 pounds unreleased for more than six months.
Why would Space Markets cancel my profits?
Its FSP client agreement defines scalping as entering and exiting a trade in under 10 minutes during active trading times, lists it as a prohibited trading practice, and states a zero-tolerance policy allowing the firm to treat the results of such trades as void and to cancel and unwind them. Automated expert advisors are prohibited on the same list. If your trades close quickly, the contract permits the outcome clients are describing.
Who actually holds my money at Space Markets?
Flare FX (Pty) Ltd, a separate South African company at the same Sandton address. The ODP client agreement names it as the principal and counterparty to every trade, and places client funds in a segregated third-party funds administrator account. Flare FX is listed as Approved on the FSCA register of OTC derivative providers.
Is my money safe with Space Markets?
The custody arrangement is better than most of this market: an FSCA-approved counterparty, contractual segregation with a third-party funds administrator, South African governing law and the High Court as the forum. The exposure is not that the money vanishes, it is that profits can be cancelled under the trading-rule clauses, and that recovering a held balance has taken some clients months.
Is Space Markets a clone of another broker?
No. The entity name, registration number 2023/651612/07, licence number and street address all match the FSCA register entry, and no part of its identity belongs to another company. This is a genuine South African firm trading under its own credentials.
What does an FSCA Category I licence actually allow Space Markets to do?
It approves advice and intermediary services across listed product classes, and for derivative instruments it approves intermediary services only. It does not authorise the firm to act as the counterparty or market maker in OTC derivatives. That requires a separate OTC derivative provider licence, which Space Markets does not hold and Flare FX does. Some third-party sites call FSP 53183 a derivatives trading licence, which overstates it.
How old is Space Markets?
About three and a half years. The domain spacemarkets.io was registered on 15 March 2023, the company was registered in South Africa in March 2023, the FSCA licence followed on 28 September 2023, and clients describe the brand becoming available during 2024. The site claims no longer history than that, which is to its credit.
Who owns and runs Space Markets?
The FSCA register names Mpho Sebothoma-Jele as the key individual for FSP 53183. Compliance is outsourced to Rori Consulting (Pty) Ltd, named in the FAIS disclosures. The same disclosures state that Space Markets receives more than 30 percent of its total remuneration from Flare FX, the counterparty, which is a disclosed conflict of interest.
What should I do if Space Markets has blocked my withdrawal?
Ask in writing for the exact clause relied on and the specific trades it applies to, then escalate to the compliance contact in the FAIS disclosures. If that fails, complain to the FSCA, which supervises this firm and can act, and address Flare FX (Pty) Ltd as the contractual counterparty. Several clients were paid after escalating. Never pay a fee to release your own funds, and ignore anyone offering paid recovery.
What should I check before depositing with Space Markets?
Read clause 19 of the FSP client agreement and decide honestly whether your strategy ever closes a trade inside 10 minutes or uses an expert advisor. Confirm FSP 53183 yourself on the FSCA register and Flare FX on the FSCA OTC derivative provider register. Then treat the 1:2000 and 1:10000 leverage and the 100 percent bonus as the risk amplifiers they are, and start small.
What we recommend
The practical takeaway from everything above.
Treat this as a licensed broker with a specific, avoidable danger, and act on the danger rather than the label.
- If you are considering depositing: read clause 19 of the FSP client agreement before you fund anything. If your strategy closes trades inside 10 minutes, or uses an expert advisor, this broker can void the results, and clients report that it does.
- If you already trade here: hold positions beyond 10 minutes during active trading times, keep withdrawals frequent and small rather than letting a balance build, and keep your own dated record of trades and payout requests.
- If a withdrawal is blocked or profits reversed: ask in writing for the specific clause relied on and the trade list it applies to. Escalate to the compliance contact in the FAIS disclosures, then complain to the FSCA, which does supervise this firm and can act. Clients who escalated have been paid.
- If funds are held with no answer: the counterparty is Flare FX (Pty) Ltd, an FSCA-approved OTC derivative provider, and the agreement places disputes under South African law in the High Court. Address correspondence to that entity as well as to the brand.
- Never pay anything to release your own money, and ignore anyone who contacts you offering to recover it for a fee. One review on this broker already carries such a plug.
- For our own records: the status on file should move off noRegulation. This broker is onshore regulated, and the page should also show the correct 2023 registration number, the September 2023 licence date and the Flare FX counterparty relationship. Given fund-access reports dated September 2026, this case warrants a human check and a re-scan inside 90 days.
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 14, 2026. If any detail here is out of date or incorrect, or you represent this broker, please contact us.
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