Full review
STARTRADER review
A complete assessment of STARTRADER - regulation, costs, platforms and who it suits.
Last checked
The record on STARTRADER is mixed, and part of that is genuinely about the broker while part of it is about how little it publishes. Both are set out below with the source for each. Regulated by ASIC (421210); FSCA (52464); Mauritius FSC (GB24203371); Seychelles FSA (SD049); UAE CMA (20200000241, Category 5 introduction/promotion only), offering MetaTrader 4, MetaTrader 5, STARTRADER WebTrader, STARTRADER App.
Our rating
One rating, identical across our sites - only the way it is shown changes. It averages six assessments: regulation, trading costs, platforms, markets, support and education.
What it costs to trade
- Spread from
- 0.0 pips
- EUR/USD spread
- Approx. 0.2 pips, ECN
- GBP/USD spread
- Approx. 0.4 pips, ECN
- Commission
- $3.50 per side / $7 round turn, ECN
- All-in cost, EUR/USD
- Approx. 0.9 pips
- Spread type
- Variable
- Overnight swap
- Both: overnight swaps may be charged or credited; swap-free accounts available
- Withdrawal fee
- None in most countries; international bank transfer charges may apply
- Currency conversion
- Currency conversion at applicable exchange rate
Costs below are the broker's published figures, which is not the same as what you will pay.
A quoted spread from 0.0 pips is a raw-spread figure, which almost always means a separate commission per lot. Compare the two together - a "zero spread" account with a high commission can cost more than a wider spread with none.
Quoted spreads are best-case figures on the most liquid pair, in normal conditions. What you actually pay widens around news and at the session open.
STARTRADER lists a minimum deposit of $50. Treat it as the cost of opening an account, not the cost of trading one - position sizing on a small balance is what tends to cause damage.
Markets and execution
- Markets
- Forex, Shares, Indices, Commodities, Metals, ETFs
- Currency pairs
- 50+
- Total instruments
- 1,000+
- Crypto CFDs
- Yes
- Maximum leverage
- 1:1000
- Execution model
- STP / ECN / no dealing desk
- Execution speed
- Under 100ms
- Order types
- Market, limit, stop, stop-loss, take-profit, trailing stop
- Servers
- Global financial data-centre infrastructure
Leverage up to 1:1000 is available on this entity. High leverage does not increase your expected return - it increases position size for the same deposit, and shortens the move needed to close you out.
STARTRADER covers forex, shares, indices, commodities, metals, etfs. A wider range matters less than depth in the instruments you actually trade.
Funding options: visa, mastercard, bank transfer, apple pay, google pay, e-wallets, cryptocurrency, local bank transfer. Check withdrawal routes as well as deposit ones - they are often not the same, and the difference only becomes apparent when you try to take money out.
Platforms and tools
- Platforms
- MetaTrader 4, MetaTrader 5, STARTRADER WebTrader, STARTRADER App
- Own platform
- Yes, STARTRADER WebTrader/App
- Mobile app
- Both proprietary and third-party
- Browser trading
- Yes
- Automated trading
- Yes; MT4/MT5 Expert Advisors and algorithmic trading
- Copy trading
- Yes, Copy Trade and Pro-Link
- Indicators
- 30+ MT4; 38+ MT5; custom indicators supported
- Third-party tools
- MetaTrader 4, MetaTrader 5, VPS
- API access
- Yes, institutional/partner connectivity
MetaTrader 4 remains the most widely supported platform for expert advisors. If you rely on an existing EA, this is usually the deciding factor.
MetaTrader 5 handles more asset classes and order types than MT4, but expert advisors are not compatible between the two - an MT4 EA will not run on it.
Regulation and safety
- Regulated by
- ASIC (421210); FSCA (52464); Mauritius FSC (GB24203371); Seychelles FSA (SD049); UAE CMA (20200000241, Category 5 introduction/promotion only)
- Regulator tier
- Tier 1
- Register entry
- ASIC Professional Registers, AFSL 421210
- Client money segregated
- Yes
- Held at
- Regulated banking institutions
- Negative balance protection
- Yes
- Compensation scheme
- Financial Commission compensation fund up to €20,000 per eligible client; no statutory compensation scheme for the Seychelles/Mauritius entities
- Audited by
- Independent external auditors
- Not available to
- United States and other jurisdictions where STARTRADER services are prohibited or restricted
This is the one claim on the page that can be checked against a public register, so it is the one to check.
STARTRADER holds a tier-one authorisation from ASIC. That matters more than any headline spread: it determines your leverage cap, whether losses can exceed your deposit, and what happens to your money if the firm fails.
It also operates an offshore entity (FSC and FSA). Which one you are onboarded to depends on where you live, and the two carry very different protections - worth confirming before you deposit.
ASIC caps retail leverage at 1:30, requires negative balance protection, and obliges the broker to hold client money in a separate trust account.
The FSCA licenses derivative providers in South Africa without a fixed retail leverage cap, so headline leverage is often higher than an FCA or ASIC entity may offer.
An FSC licence (Mauritius or Belize, depending on the entity) is an offshore authorisation with lighter reporting duties than a tier-one regulator.
Check the licence yourself: ASIC Connect, the FSCA list of regulated entities, the Mauritius FSC register of licensees, the Seychelles FSA list of regulated entities.
Accounts
- Minimum deposit
- $50
- Account types
- Standard, ECN, Prime ECN, Swap-Free, Demo
- Account currencies
- AUD, CAD, EUR, GBP, USD, NZD
- Islamic account
- Yes
- Demo account
- Yes
- Professional account
- Yes, Prime ECN
- Minimum trade size
- 0.01 lots
- Time to open
- Typically a few minutes
Deposits and withdrawals
- Deposit methods
- Visa, Mastercard, bank transfer, Apple Pay, Google Pay, e-wallets, cryptocurrency, local bank transfer
- Withdrawal methods
- Bank transfer, cards, e-wallets, cryptocurrency and supported original funding methods
- Deposit time
- Instant for most electronic methods; bank wire 3-5 business days
- Withdrawal time
- Same-day processing when submitted before cutoff; bank wire typically 3-5 business days
- Minimum withdrawal
- $50
- Local payment methods
- Local bank transfer; Apple Pay; Google Pay and jurisdiction-specific electronic payment methods
Support and education
- Support hours
- 24/5
- Contact channels
- Live chat, email, contact form
- Languages
- Multilingual
- Telephone
- +44 800 368 9785
- info@startrader.com
- Live chat response
- Typically under 2 minutes
- Education
- Extensive: trading guides, educational articles, platform tutorials, webinars and trading knowledge centre
- Research
- Market analysis, technical/fundamental commentary, trading insights, calculators and market news
The company behind the brand
- Legal entity
- STARTRADER Limited
- Company number
- 8427362-1
- Headquarters
- Dubai, United Arab Emirates
- Founded
- 2012
- Publicly listed
- No
- Parent company
- STARTRADER Group
- Employees
- 200+
- Also trades as
- STARTRADER; Star Trader
Questions people ask about STARTRADER
What can actually be verified about STARTRADER?
We check the licence against the regulator's own register and the company registration against the register that issued it, last on 27 August 2026. Everything else on this page, including spreads and execution figures, is what STARTRADER publishes about itself, and we say so rather than presenting it as independently confirmed.
When was this STARTRADER review last checked?
The facts on this page were last checked on 27 August 2026. The date comes from our own record rather than from when the site was last rebuilt, so it does not move just because something else on the site changed.