FSA licence SD013

We found no evidence that it is. The licence it advertises is real and in force, the operating company exists on an authoritative record with a company number and an incorporation date, and there is no pattern of confirmed withdrawal refusal in what we could establish. What Alpho is, is a thinly-disclosed offshore broker: your deposits sit behind a Seychelles licence with no compensation scheme, the funding terms are not published before signup, and the registered address is a corporate services provider's suite. That is a risk profile to price in, not fraud to run from.

Alpho states it does not offer services to residents of Afghanistan, Cuba, Crimea, Israel, Sudan, North Korea, Ethiopia, Iran, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Iraq, Laos, Syria, Uganda, Vanuatu and Yemen. Separately, its forex pages state that forex trading is prohibited for residents of India and for Indian nationals working in or outside India.

Yes. Alpho publishes two account variants: a standard Forex and CFD account and an Islamic account for Muslim traders, which carries the same range of symbols but is free of overnight interest and commissions in line with sharia principles. Both are denominated in USD.

51 forex pairs, roughly 665 share CFDs spanning US, German, Dutch, Spanish, Swiss, UK and other listings, 12 index CFDs and 4 commodities including gold, silver, Brent and WTI. There are no cryptocurrency instruments. Minimum trade size is 0.01 lots across forex and commodities.

MetaTrader 5 only, on the ALPHO-Live server. Alpho provides a Windows desktop installer, a Mac build, iOS and Android apps and a browser-based WebTrader at webtrading.alpho.com. MetaTrader 4, cTrader and any proprietary platform are not offered.

We cannot tell you, and that is the finding. Alpho publishes no deposits and withdrawals page, no fee schedule and no processing times on its public site, and its client agreement is only offered as a downloadable document. Deposits and withdrawals are requested through the MyAlpho client portal after registration. Treat undisclosed funding terms as a real risk and get the methods, fees, limits and timelines confirmed in writing before depositing.

Yes. A monthly maintenance fee of USD 10, or the currency equivalent, is charged on any trading account with no deposits, withdrawals or trading activity for a period of one month or more. It is deducted from the funds held in the account. This applies to existing and new accounts alike and is one of the more aggressive inactivity charges in the market.

Spreads are floating and tiered by trading volume. EURUSD is quoted at a typical Level 1 spread of 1.2 pips, falling to 0.3 pips at Level 7; EURGBP starts at 0.9 pips, gold at 0.4 USD and the German DAX 40 at 2.3. Share CFDs are charged a commission of 0.3% of volume with a 20 USD minimum instead. Note that the broker's own trading conditions page separately describes spreads as starting from 3 pips on the euro dollar, which does not match its instrument tables.

Up to 1:500 on all 51 currency pairs and on gold, 1:250 on silver, 1:100 on index CFDs and 1:33 on oil. Leverage that high magnifies losses as much as gains and Alpho reserves the right to reduce it at its discretion when market conditions require.

Alpho does not publish a minimum deposit anywhere on its public website. There is no deposits page and no account comparison table, so the figure is only disclosed after you register. Ask support to confirm it in writing before you fund an account.

Alpho is the trading brand of Octrado Ltd, a Seychelles limited liability company. Its registered office, as published in the site footer, is Room B11, First Floor, Providence Complex, Providence, Mahe, Seychelles, PO BOX 6007. The authoritative entity record for Seychelles company number 8417634-1 at that same address is filed under the name Gulf Brokers Ltd, incorporated 27 April 2016 and still active, which points to a renamed operator rather than a new one.

Yes, but offshore only. Alpho's own licence and regulations page states that it is a brand of Octrado Ltd, regulated as a Securities Dealer by the Seychelles Financial Services Authority under licence number SD013, granted under the Seychelles Securities Act 2007. That is a genuine licence, not a company registration, and we found nothing to suggest the number is fabricated. It is however a light-touch offshore regime: no statutory compensation scheme, no client-money insurance requirement and no mandated negative balance protection.