Overview/ background
Halifax brings its distinctive culture and vision to the Forex trading arena. Based in New Zealand, this brokerage offers dedicated account managers to help guide traders through the platform with platform walk-throughs, CFD and Forex trading courses, and 100% risk free demo trading activity. There are various workshops and webinars available to help enhance your knowledge of the financial markets.
Halifax New Zealand LTD is primarily a Forex CFD and stock brokerage with its main offices in Wellington NZ, and Auckland NZ. The people behind Halifax have extensive experience in global equities markets, share markets, and fund management. Key personnel at the company include CEO Andrew Gibbs, compliance manager Tracy Gibson, account managers Roger Barley and Robert Lean.
Account Types
The process of applying for a new account at Halifax is 100% free. Clients simply need to choose from the available account options, complete the forms and have their ID validated. To get started, traders must enter their personal details, and choose the financial instruments they wish to trade. It’s important to choose the right trading platform to determine what your account needs will be. There are derivative products such as options, futures, CFDs, and Forex, and there are non-derivative products such as shares, currency conversions, bonds, and exchange traded funds.
We found two primary types of accounts available at Halifax: live accounts and demo accounts. With the live account, clients are required to maintain sufficient funding to cover the margin for their trading activities. The preferred balance is $5,000 at minimum all the time. The account opening page provides further information on how to register a live account. The demo account option is a great way to trade under real market conditions at zero risk. The demo account is free to register for and allows you to trade with virtual money. Once again, there are 3 user-friendly trading platforms available and clients must select a platform to start trading.
Trading Platform/ software
The account selection process requires clients to choose their preferred platform. Various options are available including Trader Workstation (Forex & CFDs, options, indices, bonds, Exchange Traded Funds, stocks, and futures), Halifax Plus – MT5 (this all-encompassing platform is designed for clients wanting to trade bonds and energy, contracts for difference (CFDs), metals, currency pairs, and indices). Other options include Halifax Pro – MT 4. MetaTrader 4 is the world’s leading platform for Forex trading. It provides a wide range of automated trading options, live charting functionality and features, rapid executions of trades, and more. MetaTrader 4 is ideally suited to Forex traders.
Deposit options
Once you’re ready to deposit into your live trading accounts, you’ll have to choose your preferred funding method. The process is a little different at Halifax, since clients are required to complete a form to verify their Halifax account email. You will need to enter your account number and email before funding your account. Payments that are made in New Zealand and Australia during business hours will take around 30 minutes to process. Otherwise, it can take a business day to get payment processed. Deposit options include China Transfer, bank transfer notice, card payments, and POLi Bank payments.
Markets
The range of markets available at Halifax includes Exchange Traded Funds (ETFs), Contracts for Difference (CFDs), currency pairs, options, shares, and futures. Each of these markets contains multiple financial instruments. The following options are available:
Shares – trade shares from indices across 14 countries and 36 exchanges with dedicated account managers and auto trading options.
Futures Trading – 200 futures contracts from 22 exchanges globally including bonds, currencies, agricultures, oils, indices, and metals.
Currencies – 160+ currency pairs including majors, minors and exotic pairs. NZD/USD, GBP/USD, AUD/NZD, GBP/EUR etc.
Options Trading – interest rates, energy, indices, and stocks.
CFDs – 9,000 CFDs across multiple sectors including commodities, indices, stocks, and Forex.
ETFs – there are some 2,500+ commodity, regional index, and sector ETFs available.
Each of these financial markets is geared towards different types of investors/traders. The investment horizon for shares is the short to long-term, futures short to medium-term, Forex short to medium-term, options short to medium-term and CFDs short to medium-term. ETFs are good for the short to long-term. Shares and ETFs are ideal for beginner traders, while futures are better suited to intermediate traders, like Forex and CFDs. The pricing for shares is a minimum of $18.95 per trade, or 0.189%. For Forex, spreads from as low as 0.5 pips + commission are levied.
Bonuses
At the time of our review, we were unable to source any bonuses or promotional offers at this brokerage. Clients are advised to contact New Zealand customer support at 0800-557-777 for further information about any possible bonuses or promotional offers they may have.
Customer Support
Forex traders can contact customer support through multiple channels. These include the New Zealand telephone number (0800-557-777), the international telephone number (+64-9-309-0088), and email [email protected] . Clients can source additional assistance on Facebook, LinkedIn, and G +. The FAQ (frequently asked questions) section provides useful information on a range of topics, including accounts, platforms, markets, and services.
Safety
In terms of safety and security, Halifax New Zealand Limited is fully licensed and regulated with FSPR 146605. This company is fully regulated in different jurisdictions. In Australia, it goes by the name Halifax Investment Services PTY Limited and is fully licensed by ASIC within AFS license #225973. In New Zealand, it is regulated by the Financial Markets Authority. In America, Halifax America LLC is regulated by the CRD authority with license #172567. Halifax America LLC is also registered with the Securities Exchange Commission (SEC 8-69511) with entity number 201405910183. The company is also regulated by the National Futures Association with ID #047-9264.
Ease of Use
Halifax is relatively easy to navigate, thanks to clearly demarcated sections for trading, full-service, education, clients, and about us. The trading platforms include MetaTrader 4 and MetaTrader 5, and these are the gold standard in Forex trading. For questions, queries or concerns, clients can get in touch with customer support, although live chat may not always be available.
Final Thoughts
We were pleasantly impressed with the range of services provided by Halifax. This New Zealand-based company offers comprehensive coverage of the financial markets with a wide range of instruments, currency pairs, commodities, stocks, options, and metals.
