BlackBull Markets Review 2024 - Institutional trading conditions (2024)

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Category: Reviews | Author: Trading Brokers

Founded in 2014, BlackBull Markets are an award-winning online broker based in New Zealand specialising in Forex and CFDs. They are a great choice for those of you who want to trade with institutional grade conditions in a regulated environment. They provide you with an enjoyable trading experience that includes user-friendly trading platforms, tight spreads, low fees, rapid trade execution speeds and excellent customer support. I have had an account with them for a few years now and have yet to have any issues.

Summary

BlackBull Markets were founded in 2014 by a team of experienced professionals with a background in forex, fintech development and data security. They have rapidly become one of the leading online trading brokers specialising in Forex, Commodities, Indices, Metals, Energies & CFDs. They have a great selection of over 26,000 tradeable assets with something for everyone to trade.

The company is based out of Auckland, New Zealand, which is home to a rapidly growing Fintech industry that is backed by the government. The ever-increasing popularity of BlackBull Markets has seen them expand their offices to New York, Kuala Lumpur, Jakarta and London. They take great pride in operating above board with the upmost honesty and integrity.

I find them to be up there with the very best brokers if you are looking for a secure and reliable trading environment. The customer support has always been excellent in my experience whilst the trading conditions are comparable to industry leaders such as IG.

Trading Conditions

BlackBull Markets are a true Electronic Communication Network (ECN) broker with Straight Through Processing (STP) and No-Dealing Desk (NDD). This means that there is no conflict of interest between us traders and the broker. When you place a trade, it gets sent directly to the market at the best available price at any time.

I like that BlackBull Markets have super-fast execution speeds with no delays. This is important if you are using trading strategies that try to take advantage on small price movements, such as scalping systems.

Global partners include prime liquidity providers (LPs) for deep pool liquidity and huge depth of market. This gives you institutional grade trading conditions with fast execution speeds and tight spreads from just 0.0 pips, backed by excellent 24/7 customer service and support.

Liquidity comes from multiple top tier international banks such as Goldman Sachs, Credit Suisse, JP Morgan, Merrill Lynch, RBS, SMBC, Commerzbank, Bank of America and BNP Paribas. The greater the range of liquidity providers, the better market prices a broker can offer you. Other brokers with on par liquidity worth considering include XM Group.

The depth of market allows up to 100 lot trades per click at 1:500 leverage with the proprietary trade-order aggregation system implemented for decreasing spreads whilst increasing execution speeds. This is great if you plan on trading large volumes and like to have the option of taking leveraged positions. It means that the broker can handle institutional trading volumes without sacrificing on quality.

The premium trading tools and services they provide have seen them win multiple awards for technology and innovation. They have everything that you would need for following the markets, placing and managing trades. Overall, I found the trading experience with BlackBull Markets to be enjoyable and stress free.

In addition to institutional grade products and innovative technologies, clients get personal account managers, daily market updates & analysis, educational resources, trading tools, social trading, a free VPS if you qualify and more. It’s great to have everything under one umbrella as it makes daily trading activities much more convenient.

BlackBull Markets have three dedicated state of the art Equinix servers located as close as physically possible to the three major exchanges for instantaneous market access. This gives the lowest achievable latency regardless of where you are located around the world. There is an ECN Bridge Equinix NY4 located in New York, an ECN Bridge Equinix LD4 in London and ECN Bridge Equinix TY3 in Tokyo. You don’t need to worry if servers go down as there are a further two Equinix servers in the case that backups are needed.

Regulation

The BlackBull Markets Group is registered with the New Zealand Financial Services Provider Registry (FSPR) and are a member of the New Zealand Financial Services Complaints Limited (FSCL) dispute resolution scheme. The purpose of the FSPR is to increase transparency, provide company information and help to meet AML/CFT international obligations. All companies who are registered with the FSPR must also be a member of an independent dispute resolution scheme. This is to ensure any complaints that you may have are dealt with in an impartial and independent manner. However, I think most traders will be more than happy with the services provided.

Black Bull Group Limited is a registered Financial Services Provider (FSP403326) and holds a Derivative Issuer Licence issued by the Financial Markets Authority. The Financial Markets Authority is the government agency responsible for regulation of financial markets in New Zealand. They are also regulated by the FSA (Seychelles). I am personally satisfied with this regulation although it would be ideal if they could expand regulation into other jurisdictions in the future. Plus500 for example are regulated across 5 continents.

In addition to this, they have a strict Anti-Money Laundering (AML) & Counter Financing of Terrorism (CFT) policies. This are to ensure that business practises are run ethically and above board. They are constantly striving to uphold the highest levels of conduct and operational standards with a well-constructed supervisory framework in place to actively protect your funds.

Funds

Your funds are held securely in segregated accounts for quick processing and to ensure that they are not used for any other purpose, thus giving you peace of mind. They use ANZ Bank as their banking partner who are one of the leading banks in the Australasia region and also have a global presence. I would feel confident in trusting them with my trading account.

BlackBull Markets established relationships with ANZ Bank and the FSPR help to ensure that they maintain the highest level of security for clients. Company files and audits must be submitted every year with the majority of this information publicly available for you to check and falling under legal body oversight.

Platforms

BlackBull Markets let you trade with the popular and highly acclaimed MetaTrader 4 and MetaTrader 5 trading platforms by MetaQuotes. I love these platforms as they are very easy to use and support automated trading with expert advisors (EAs). MetaTrader should be more than enough for most traders. I still use it and have always been happy with the platform so not felt the need to move up to another just yet.

For those of you who are running more complex trading strategies and need direct market access with the best possible setup, there is a FIX API trading option also available.

MetaTrader 4

MT4 is the platform of choice for many traders and levels of expertise. It is known for its user-friendly interface, quick learning curve and highly customisable features to personalise your trading experience.

MT4 features include real-time market quotes, 85 pre-installed technical indicators, tools for chart analysis, multiple chart timeframes, multiple order types, trading strategy templates, automated trading and more. You can study the markets using your own strategy templates to find signals. Whatever your prior experience, you should not have any problems entering and exiting positions in the market.

The BlackBull Markets MT4 is connected to the NY4 Equinix server that is located on Wall Street and can execute trades from 2-5 milliseconds. This server allows you to directly trade the markets with a vast array of liquidity providers supplying the best bid/ask prices available, with less slippage and tight spreads.

MT4 is freely available on desktop (Windows / Mac), web and mobile (iPhone / iPad / Android / Tablet). The mobile option is useful if you need convenient full accessibility to your account from anywhere in the world. You can manage orders, enter/exit positions and more, all whilst on the go from the palm of your hands. I am a fan of trading apps as I like to be able to take my phone out and check the latest markets news and prices as and when I need.

MetaTrader 5

In addition to the MT4 platform, BlackBull Markets provide the newer MetaTrader 5 (MT5) platform which is equally as good, just with some extra features for those who want to take their trading strategies to the next level. Whilst the overall look and feel remains the same, MT5 has more timeframes, depth of market pricing, additional indicators, a multi-currency strategy tester with tick data and much more. Whilst MT4 should be sufficient for most forex traders, MT5 is considered a better option for anyone who is looking to trade stocks. As it was released more recently compared to MT4, it could also be considered more future proof.

TradingView

BlackBull Markets is proud to offer clients the option to Trade directly in TradingView, the world’s leading charting and social trading platform.Whether you trade on desktop or mobile, TradingView’s beautiful charts can supercharge your trading experience. This platform is packed with all of the trading tools that you need to conduct comprehensive market analysis. You will also find thousands of add-ons for the platform whilst you can also code your own technical indicators and other tools.

FIX API Trading

BlackBull Markets offer a FIX API option for clients who wish to use their own FIX application. This allows you to bypass the MT4 application and trade with Direct Market Access (DMA), connecting directly to the ECN grid. DMA can increase transaction speeds and reduce latency. FIX API trading solutions are available to institutional account clients.

I personally don’t feel the need to use the FIX API for my trading as the MT4 platform meets all my needs. If you are an average day trader, then it should also suffice. If you are set on a FIX API broker, then Global Prime is another suitable option.

Tools

Whilst they offer the MT4 platform which has a vast collection of inbuilt tools, BlackBull Markets do not provide many other in-house stand-alone trading tools. Instead, they focus on offering additional services via partnerships with free access available to qualifying BlackBull Markets clients.

I wouldn’t worry too much about additional tools to be honest. The MT4 platform itself is packed with more tools than most traders need. You can even expand its capabilities with free and paid tools available from the MQL marketplace which you can easily access from within the platform itself. Not to mention, you can find a practically endless amount of MT4 tools online.

If you want to run your platforms 24/7 then there is a handy Virtual Private Server (VPS) option. You can even get it for free if you trade enough volume.

Virtual Private Servers

BlackBull Markets can provide you with Virtual Private Server (VPS) hosting connected by fibre optic cable to the Equinix Servers, so that you can keep the MT4 platform running remotely 24 hours a day without needing your computer switched on. A VPS can be customised to your requirements and reduce latency by up to 30%. They are often used by traders who cannot afford any downtime (99.99% uptime) or who need to run the trading platform 24/7, usually when running an expert advisor (EA).

BlackBull Markets clients can qualify for a free VPS is they have a prime account, minimum $2,000 deposit and maintain 20 lots of trading volume per month. I have a VPS that I use myself to run my automated strategies in the MT4 platform. It saves me needing MT4 always open on my laptop and only costs me around $30 per month. If you are trading enough volume and want a Free VPS, then you can look at Blueberry Markets as an alternative.

Social Trading

Social trading is becoming increasingly popular, and BlackBull Markets has collaborated with some of the greatest social trading providers on the market. You can track deals made by others in their BlackBull Markets trading accounts. Social Trading may be a perfect solution if you want to trade but don’t have the time or market knowledge or want someone else to trade on your behalf. Blackbull Markets provides social trading support with ZuluTrade and Myfxbook.

Note: Please do proper due diligence before following a strategy, as past performance does not promise a profitable future.

ZuluTrade

You can copy the trading activities of thousands of registered and skilled forex traders. BlackBull Markets’ clients may tailor trades to their preferences and risk tolerance by utilising ZuluTrade’s own performance evaluation algorithm as well as input from ZuluTrade’s informed community.

I found there to be a great selection of traders to follow with various strategies. However, I didn’t feel confident enough to copy trades after taking a look at some of the statistics such as the drawdown and profit factor. I much prefer to have an understanding of the market that I am trading and place my own trades.

Myfxbook

Myfxbook is a popular social trading platform that allows users to discuss, analyse, track, and compare their trading actions. In addition to putting yourself up as the principal trader in an auto trading network, you can use Myfxbook to set up auto-trading to follow your chosen traders. The Myfxbook interface’s usability and intuitive design simplify use and common sense inputs and outputs. Because Myfxbook is a BlackBull Markets affiliate, the MetaTrader 4 trading platform is fully linked with the Myfxbook system. This makes it easy for you to hook up the platform and follow other traders.

HokoCloud

Blackbull Markets also provide social trading via another social trading platform like Myfxbook called HokuCloud. You can connect your account to copy trading signals. However, I did not find there to be as large a selection as there was with ZuluTrade and Myfxbook.

PsyQuation

PsyQuation can analyse your trading, advising you on weak areas and ways in which they can be improved. You can set goals, control your trading via the dashboard, gain useful insights and set notifications. You can create a PsyQuation account and link it with your MT4 account. I found it to be a useful addition but not necessary. Instead, I would prefer to just trade on a demo account in order to improve my skills. You can open a free demo account with BlackBull Markets to trade risk free. PsyQuation is available through a limited amount of brokers, including Axi.

Autochartist

BlackBull Markets provide its customers with the popular trading plugin, Autochartist. Autochartist is a market analysis tool that uses advanced pattern-recognition technologies to uncover market possibilities. You can apply Autochartist’s knowledge to your favourite instruments today and begin receiving notifications when possible trade setups occur.

It’s like having a set of eyes constantly observing and analysing the market for you. This can save you plenty of time and stress waiting for the right opportunity to occur. You can just go about your day and take action as and when the software finds a valid signal on your chosen markets.

Although the Autochartist tool is great, it is not unique to BlackBull Markets. They work with plenty of other brokers if this software is something you would find useful. One of my top choices would be Tickmill.

Economic Calendar

There is an economic calendar widget on the BlackBull Markets website powered by MetaQuotes. This displays upcoming and historical news events that can be filtered by date. The calendar shows the relevant currency, news event and forecasts of releases.

Economic calendars can be great tools for conducting fundamental analysis. It is quite often the news that causes market movements. Therefore, I would always combine fundamentals with other technical indicators in the MT4 platform and price action patterns using candlestick charts to give my trading strategy that extra edge.

Education

The broker has thousands of videos on YouTube, they acquired a Professional Research firm a few years ago, and have their own in-house analysts for market commentary. There is a dedicated section on the website. The BlackBull Markets tutorial videos cover lots of topics such as how to use your trading account and how to conduct chart analysis. I did find some interesting articles that helped make me aware of some potential market moves that I would have otherwise overlooked. The broker also provides you with some useful trading guides and several market review articles each week under the market reviews section. If you want to learn as much as possible, you can take a look at XTB who have a dedicated trading academy.

Markets

BlackBull Markets offer access to trade a vast range of markets with an impressive 26,000 tradeable assets including 64+ major, minor and exotic currency pairs, indices from major markets, precious metals such as gold and silver, and commodities including energy, gas, and oil. Clients can trade from market open on Monday to market close on Friday, 24 hours a day 5 days a week. The brokers specific opening hours are different across the world due to time zone differences. They have a great selection of forex currency pairs and some major stock indices.

Note on spreads and commission, they depend on account type. For Institutional it’s bespoke and the broker do provide institutional trading conditions our truly institutional clientele, with spreads from 0.0 pips. Standard is a no commission account and Prime is a low spread account.

Forex

The foreign exchange market is the largest financial market in the world by daily trading volume and by value, averaging $5 trillion in exchanges per day. BlackBull Markets offer 64+ major, minor & exotic currency pairs available to trade 24/5, with flexible leverage of up to 1:500, spreads from 0.0 pips and institutional trading conditions.

Index CFDs

Traders can diversify their portfolio and access global equity markets with Indices trading through a range of Index CFDs including AUS200, GER30, US30, SPX500, UK100 and JPN225.

Indices are a market wide value of specified markets based on the relative value of companies within the market. They are traded as Contracts for Difference (CFDs) and commonly grouped together by similar industries.

BlackBull Markets do not charge a commission on CFDs and there are no additional mark-ups or re-quotes. They can be traded with ultra-low latency and straight-through processing on the proprietary trading technology provided.

Commodities

Traders have access to diversify their portfolio through a variety of commodities including energies, gas and oil. Leverage of up to 1:500 is available. Commodities are primary resources that fall into hard (e.g. gold, silver and crude oil) or soft (e.g. sugar, cocoa and livestock) categories. Commodities can be affected by political and environmental events.

Precious Metals

Traders can trade precious metals such as gold and silver which can help diversify a trading portfolio and are often seen as a safe-haven to some. Leverage is flexible as are the minimum trade sizes.

Energies

BlackBull Markets offer energies such as natural gas and oil with a low-cost pricing model and flexible leverage.

Accounts

BlackBull Markets have a set of flexible trading accounts to suit your individual requirements. All accounts have a minimum lot size of 0.01, leverage of up to 1:500 and access to all trading instruments. This is quite a high leverage but there are even higher options with FXPRIMUS, who have leverage up to 1:1000 available.

The trading accounts provide deep liquidity from multiple banks with raw interbank spreads that start from just 0 pips. This is great if you are using scalping strategies or automated systems that need the lowest spreads possible.

The main differences between each of the accounts are the spreads and commission fees. If you want low spreads and are happy to pay the $6 commission fee per standard lot, then the ECN prime account would be your best option. If you don’t require tight spreads and would prefer to trade without commission, the standard ECN account would be the way to go.

All of the accounts are compatible with the MT4 platform and have convenient methods of deposit and withdrawal. You can trade how and when you like, as all trading strategies are welcome including scalping, hedging and automated trading.

If you are a high volume trader then you may be eligible for rebates and a more customised offering through the Active Trader Account. Even if trading in high volumes, you can still expect tight spreads and reliable execution speeds.

The broker does require a minimum deposit of $1 which is the lowest you will come across. For example, FXTM have a minimum deposit of $10. If you want access to the lowest possible spreads on the ECN prime account, you will need to make an even larger deposit of $2,000. I personally prefer it when a broker gives you the same trading account options, regardless of your deposit amount.

Demo Accounts

Demo accounts are available if you would like to test the different trading platforms and conditions before opening a real account. I would always start on demo account to see how things go before making a financial commitment.

Islamic Accounts

If you follow the Muslim faith then there are Islamic friendly accounts available to you which comply with Sharia law. FXChoice are another broker who have Islamic accounts with a great selection of quick and easy funding options.

ECN Standard

The standard account requires a minimum deposit of $1 and runs on the Equinix NY4 server. Spreads start from 0.8 pips and the account is commission free.

ECN Prime

The prime account requires a minimum deposit of $2,000 and runs on the Equinix NY4/LD4/TY3 servers. Spreads start from 0.0 pips and there is a competitive $3 commission charge.

ECN Institutional

The institutional account requires a minimum deposit of $20,000 and has customisable server options. Spreads start from just 0.0 pips and commission is negotiable. The larger your trading volume, the better commission deal you will be able to negotiate.

Account Signup

Signing up for an account at BlackBull Markets is a quick and easy online process. You simply complete the short form on the website and verify your email. You then need to upload your proof of identity and address documents for KYC purposes. Once approved, you can fund your account and start trading.

Support

Customer support is available globally 24/7 via online chat, telephone and email. BlackBull Markets aim for a maximum 24-hour response time. With global offices, they have representatives in each major market to offer support and answers to general and technical questions. Clients also get personal account managers that are on hand to assist when need be.

I have always received great support from them and even had them reach out to me to see how things are going without being prompted to do so. I like this level of support but also sometimes I like to be able to get on with my trading undisturbed.

Funding

There is a choice of account funding and withdrawal options to suit each individual, including bank wire, credit/debit card, online payment processors and cryptocurrency. Some methods will be faster and more convenient than others.

I like the digital payment options as I tend to make deposits and withdrawals to and from my trading account via eWallets. I just find it much faster and don’t always want to wait around for a bank transfer to clear. If there is a market movement that I plan on taking advantage of, I want my funds available to trade with as soon as possible.

Some fees may be charged when using certain payment methods. Bank transfers may take a few business days to clear. Accounts can be opened in AUD, USD, EUR, GBP, CHF, JPY, NZD, CAD, SGD, HKD. The different currency options are beneficial as currency conversion fees do not apply when using an account in your own currency.

Conclusion

BlackBull Markets are expanding at a rapid pace, picking up multiple awards along the way. I like the fact that they are focused on providing exceptional trading conditions including tight spreads, fast execution speeds and competitive fees.The range of services and support they offer make them one of my favourite brokers. They simplify the whole process and are always available to help with anything you need.

The BlackBull Markets platforms and technologies are amongst the best in the industry and in place to make sure that clients can retain and grow their competitive edge in the global markets. I would not hesitate to trade with them, especially considering they operate in a regulated environment.

If you just want to trade forex on the MT4 platform, then BlackBull Markets will do the job. However, they have a limited range of stock indices. They also provide the MT5 platform which is ideal for trading stocks. Then there is ZuluTrade for anyone who is interested in social trading and copying the trades of others.

It doesn’t matter what your investment size is, all clients get an institutional level of treatment, regardless of your background. They are constantly furthering and bettering their brokerage service to the benefit of their clients. If you are still unsure whether they are a suitable option, you could always open a demo account and download the MT4/MT5 platform to see if they meet your expectations. I am certainly confident that you will not be disappointed.