I-Coin (i-coin.io) is an offshore and shady crypto broker. They are probably a scam and in my I-Coin review, I’ll explain the reasons why.
The website of this broker is quite ordinary but looks good. You can access most of the sections easily through the navigation menu at the top. However, I noticed that they have stuffed their website with fluff (useless text) which is usually a sign that they are a scam. I have seen it happen so many times that I’m almost certain that I-coin is a scam just by seeing so much useless text on their site.
Another shady thing is that I-coin didn’t let me register on their website. I tried to sign up there multiple times but they denied my request by saying that they don’t accept traders from my region. It’s possible that the trader chooses its traders to keep its shady operations running.
Did You Know?
Crypto is a digital currency specifically constructed to act as a medium of exchange through internet. The crypto is not reliable on any central authority, such as a government or bank, to regulate or maintain it. As, the crypto trade allows beyond the national boundaries business.
I-Coin License and Regulation
The regulation status of a broker is the most important way to determine if they are reliable or not. When I checked the regulatory status of I-Coin, I found that they don’t have a license.
Their parent company is based in the offshore region, the Commonwealth of Dominica. Offshore areas don’t have financial regulators so it’s certain that I-Coin is an unlicensed broker.
Moreover, the Terms and Conditions of the broker claim that it’s the user’s responsibility to see if they are eligible to trade with this broker. Fraudsters use this strategy to get away with their wrongdoings as they put all the legal burden on the client.
You should only trade with regulated brokers. Regulated and licensed brokers have to follow the strict rules and regulations of their license provider which ensures that they won’t act against your interests. Reputed regulators such as CySEC and FCA even have insurance provisions in case the broker turns out to be a fraudster. For example, a CySEC-regulated broker’s client can get up to 20,000 EUR as insurance compensation if the broker runs away with their funds.
You won’t get such benefits with an unregulated broker. That’s why I don’t recommend doing business with I-Coin.
I-Coin Trading Conditions
The trading conditions of a broker can tell you a lot of things about its trustworthiness. Let’s see if the trading conditions of this broker are good for you or not:
Trading Platform
The trading platform of I-Coin is very generic. I didn’t find anything interesting there. They don’t provide you with many features instead, it tries to appear complex to deceive novice traders.
In my opinion, it’s best to trade with a broker that uses Metatrader 4 or 5. Metatrader has a very positive reputation in the industry because of its numerous features and benefits. This is the main reason why Metatrader is the most popular trading platform among forex brokers. With Metatrader, you wouldn’t need to worry about such stuff.
Minimum Deposit
The minimum deposit requirement for this broker is $250. Note that I couldn’t verify this claim as they didn’t let me set up an account on their site.
However, their minimum deposit requirement is too high. The industry standard in minimum deposits is around $50 and some even go as low as $10!
Suspicious crypto brokers tend to keep their minimum deposit requirements high so they can get a hold of as many funds as possible.
Check out: Accretive Wealth Partners
Regulated brokers keep their minimum deposit requirements very low to let you test out their service quality. On the other hand, shady brokers keep high deposit requirements so you are forced to make a big monetary commitment.
I-Coin Leverage
I-Coin claims to offer the maximum leverage of 1:40. In a normal forex setting, it might have worked but I-Coin is a crypto broker. In crypto trading, the highest leverage is usually 1:10 so their offered leverage is much riskier.
If you’re a beginner in crypto trading then you should stay away from high leverage ratios. The Canadian and US financial regulators don’t allow their forex brokers to offer more than 1:50 leverage ratios to their clients. That’s because a high leverage ratio can wipe out all your deposited funds in an instant and put you in a lot of debt.
So considering that I-Coin offers a leverage ratio 4 times higher than the industry average, I don’t think it would be worth it to start trading with them. It’s much riskier and can wipe out all of your funds in a few minutes.
I-Coin Payment Methods and Charges
Transaction Methods
According to their Terms and Conditions, you can add funds to your trading account through Wire Transfer, credit or debit cards. You can expect to receive your funds 10 days after making a withdrawal request. The withdrawal methods are the same as the deposit options. The minimum amount you can withdraw with debit or credit cards is $100 while with bank transfers this limit is $30.
Fees
I-Coin charges different fees for different withdrawal methods. They charge a withdrawal fee of $50 for withdrawal requests ranging from $1000 to $4999. If your withdrawal is smaller than $250, then I-Coin charges a $25 commission.
If your pending withdrawal request is under $30, I-Coin charges you $25. I don’t think how greedy these people can get. It’s obvious that I-Coin is a cash grab and a scam.
The broker doesn’t mention any dormant fees which is another issue. Considering they are talking about wiping out all of your funds, it wouldn’t surprise me if they used hidden fees to take away your funds.
Bonuses
Even though this broker doesn’t specify any specific bonuses on its website, it has a dedicated page for Bonus Acceptance Policies. So it’s clear that they offer bonuses to their clients.
I don’t recommend joining a forex broker because of their offered bonuses. These bonuses don’t provide you with any monetary rewards. Instead, they impose additional restrictions on your withdrawal conditions so you can’t get your funds easily. This is why the FCA (Financial Conduct Authority) doesn’t allow its licensed brokers to offer bonuses to their clients.
Many shady brokers use bonuses to deceive new users.
Is I-Coin a Scam? Yes!
There are many kinds of scammers operating in the forex industry. Shady forex brokers tend to attract new users to their websites through promotional offers and ads. They focus on attracting inexperienced traders so they can deceive them easily.
Such brokers have unfair terms and conditions so when the person signs up on their site, they accept those conditions. These brokers then steal the funds their users deposit in their accounts through hidden fees and charges.
This is a big reason why I don’t recommend trading with brokers based in offshore areas. These areas don’t have proper financial regulators such as CySEC or FCA. Without proper regulation, the clients of such brokers face numerous financial and privacy risks. You should always do thorough research before signing up with a forex broker.
I-Coin Review: Conclusion
I-Coin is a shady crypto broker with a very greedy fee structure. There’s no reason for me to recommend this broker to anyone. You should stay wary of such a scam as it can steal your funds and ruin your finances. Such brokers can even steal your data!
I hope you found my I-Coin review useful. If you’ve had a bad experience with any forex broker, you can share your experience below.
