Guardian Capital Asia (GCG Asia) Review - is it scam or safe?

RATING: 1 / 1 REVIEWS

Guardian Capital Asia (GCG Asia) is an offshore broker. Your money is not safe.

RECOMMENDED FOREX BROKERS

IG US FOREX.COM US

Trading Accounts and Conditions

Trading account	Min. deposit	Max. leverage	Spread
Standard*	N/A	1:100	0.1 pips (!?)

* These are the trading conditions we saw on the broker's demo account.

Guardian Capital Asia (GCG Asia) presents itself as a leading provider of online foreign exchange (FX) trading, CFD trading, and related services. The broker claims that there are multiple account options, including PAMM, MAM, ECN and more, but its website does not feature an account types section, nor discloses any trading conditions. What is worse, GCG Asia does not hold a valid forex broker license, hence the low rating we gave it.

It is possible that this broker is related to Goldland Capital Group (GCG), as their logos and abbreviations are very similar.

GCG Asia Advantages

Trading on the MT4

This broker offers its clients access to the MetaTrader4 (MT4), the preferred trading terminal of over 80 percent of forex traders. One of the key benefits of trading with MT4 is the great charting environment. It is further reiterated by the plethora of custom technical indicators and automated trading bots available via the MQL marketplace – a broker independent online store where people can test, buy, sell or lease newly developed tools.

>> Check out the best MT4 brokers <<

Good variety of assets

There is a good selection of trading options at GCG Asia, which is also an advantage for traders. The broker’s product portfolio includes nearly 30 currency pairs, CFDs on precious metals, energies and several cryptocurrencies – Bitcoin, Ethereum, Ripple, Dash, and Litecoin. Yet, if you are keen on trading Bitcoin and other digital assets, it is best to choose among reliable and licensed brokers.

GCG Asia Disadvantages

Not licensed, despite the claims

GCG Asia is allegedly owned and operated by Guardian Capital AG, a company based in Zurich, Switzerland. The broker claims to be regulated by the local financial markets and services regulator FINMA, however our check in the public register revealed that this is not true.

This is our main concern with this GCG Asia, as most unregulated brokers, especially those making false regulation claims, are usually engaged in some sort of fraudulent practices.

On its website GCG ASIA also claims to provide Negative balance protection, as well as client fund insurance of €2.5million, which is free to all clients. Considering that the broker is not licensed, we suspect that these are just more false claims.

Blacklisted by FINMA

We also found out that Switzerland’s financial markets and services regulator FINMA has blacklisted GCG Asia for conducting unauthorized activities in the country. FINMA keeps a close eye on the unregulated brokers and usually warns in a timely manner of those who make false claims of Swiss regulation or location

This is yet another red flag regarding this broker.

Does not disclose any trading conditions

Another clear-cut sign of trouble regarding GCG ASIA is the lack of any relevant information on trading conditions. Scammers would not share much essential information about their operation and trading conditions and the reasons for this are pretty obvious.

That is why we consider the lack of information on spreads, leverage provided, minimum investment requirement., as a great disadvantage on the part of GCG Asia.

Demo spreads too good to be true

When we tested the broker’s MT4 in demo mode, we found the benchmark EUR/USD spread floating around 0.1 pips, and no commission whatsoever applied.

Click to view full size.

Trading costs that low are just too good to be true. We suppose that the spreads on live accounts are higher, or commission applies. Yet another possible explanation is that this broker is simply a scam.

>> Compare the spreads of some top brokers in real time <<

Conclusion

Overall, the lack of regulation and the questionable trading conditions incline us to suspect that potential clients of Guardian Capital Asia (GCG Asia) may be exposed to substantial risk. Not only that the broker is not regulated, but it was blacklisted by the Swiss financial watchdog for illegally targeting local investors and wrongfully stating it is licensed.

As usual, we strongly advice traders to invest only with properly licensed brokers. One of the well-respected financial watchdogs that provides sufficient security on the forex and CFD market is the UK’s Financial Conduct Authority (FCA).

>> Check our list of FCA-regulated brokers <<

To sum things up, here are the advantages and drawbacks with regards to GCG Asia:

Pros	Cons
Trading on the MT4	Not licensed, despite the claims
Good variety of assets	Blacklisted by FINMA
	Does not disclose any trading conditions
	Demo spreads too good to be true

Latest news about Guardian Capital Asia (GCG Asia)

No news about Guardian Capital Asia (GCG Asia) . Check back later.

Broker	Advantages


	FXTM a regulated forex broker (regulated by CySEC, FCA and IFSC), offering ECN trading on MT4 an MT5 platforms. Traders can start trading with as little as $10 and take advantage of tight fixed and variable spreads, flexible leverage and swap-free accounts.
	easyMarkets is a CySEC and ASIC regulated broker offering access to over 300 trading instruments, tight fixed spreads, no slippage and a 50% deposit bonus.

	XM is broker with great bonuses and promotions. Currently we are loving its $30 no deposit bonus and deposit bonus up to $5000. Add to this the fact that it’s EU-regulated and there’s nothing more you can ask for.
	FXCM is one of the biggest forex brokers in the world, licensed and regulated on four continents. FXCM wins our admirations with its over 200,000 active live accounts and daily trading volumes of over $10 billion.
	FxPro is a broker we are particularly keen on: it’s regulated in the UK, offers Metatrader 4 (MT4) and cTrader – where the spreads start at 0 pips, Level II Pricing and Full Market Depth. And the best part? With FxPro you get negative balance protection.
	FBS is a broker with cool marketing and promotions. It runs an ongoing monthly $999 forex contest, offers a $5 no-deposit bonus for anyone willing to try out its services, and an FBS MasterCard is also available for faster deposits and withdrawals.
	FxChoice is a IFSC regulated forex broker, serving clients from all over the world. It offers premium trading conditions, including high leverage, low spreads and no hedging, scalping and FIFO restrictions.
	HotForex is a EU Regulated broker, offering wide variety of trading accounts, including Auto, Social and Zero spread accounts. The minimum intial deposit for a Micro account is only $50 and is combined with 1000:1 leverage - one of the highest in the industry.
	Exness is a leading forex broker, offering MT4 and MT5 platforms. Traders can take advantage from a true ECN environment and trade on ultra tight spreads, starting from 0 pips.

Broker	Country	Regulation	Platform	Min Deposit	Review
	US	CFTC, NFA	MT4, Web, in-house	$50	Review Website
	US	NFA, CFTC	MT4	$250	Review Website
	Cyprus, UK, Belize	CySec, FCA, IFSC	MT4, MT5, Web	$10	Review Website
	Cyprus, Australia	CySec, ASIC	MT4, Web, Mobile app	$100	Review Website
	Australia	ASIC	MT4, MT5, IRESSTrader	$100	Review Website
	UK, Cyprus, Australia	FCA, CySec, ASIC	MT4, MT5	$5	Review Website
	UK, Australia	FCA, ASIC	MT4, Trading Station, NinjaTrader	$50	Review Website
	UK, Cyprus, UAE, South Africa	FCA, CySEC, DFSA, FSB	MT4, MT5, FxPro Markets, cTrader	$100	Review Website
	Cyprus	CySEC	MT4, MT5, Web	$1	Review Website
	Belize	IFSC	MT4, MT5	$100	Review Website
	Cyprus, UK, South Africa, UAE	CySec, FCA, FSCA, DFSA	MT4, MT5, Web	$5	Review Website
	Cyprus, UK	CySEC, FCA	MT4, MT5	$1	Review Website
	Australia	ASIC	MT4, MT5	$100	Review Website
	UK	FCA	MT4, Web, MT4 for Mac	$100	Review Website