AME Capitals

AME Capitals is an offshore broker specializing in margin CFD trading. The company claims to offer a wide range of services, including copy trading, auto trading, investment opportunities in bonds and stocks, trust management, IPOs, and even services tailored for market makers and institutional clients. It’s rather surprising that the firm doesn’t hold a top ranking among its competitors. Given their broad range of advertised benefits, you might assume it is a well-known, international brokerage, but that’s misleading. Our goal is to identify signs of a scam and determine whether it’s prudent to engage with an organization. Online reviews haven’t provided conclusive answers, so independent research will be necessary.

Overview of AME Capitals

Upon initial inspection, the firm appears to be professional and trustworthy. However, it’s crucial to conduct comprehensive research on any broker to minimize the risk of falling prey to scammers.

Broker History

So, AME Capitals is incorporated in the offshore locale of Saint Vincent and the Grenadines and additionally has offices in Singapore and London. The official website states that the company has been in operation since 2014 and offers insurance coverage for its clients up to $50,000. It lists prominent partners like HSBC, Bitfinex, Binance, Credit Suisse, and Kraken, among other titans in the investment, banking, and cryptocurrency sectors. However, a crucial omission is the lack of any regulatory licenses; the broker is not regulated by any authoritative body.

Amecapitals.com Website

The broker’s official website is unwieldy and not user-friendly, making it challenging to find information. The absence of a standard “About Us” section means that information about the firm’s operations is scattered across various parts of the site. While the website doesn’t follow the typical template used by most Forex companies, its design and user experience are subpar, lacking in visual appeal and aesthetics. AME Capitals offers its visitors bland, non-specific text. Moreover, crucial details are missing; for instance, if insurance coverage is mentioned, there’s no information about who provides it or where one can find the corresponding policy or certificate.

Many advantages without explanations and evidence. AME Capitals did not think that it was better to specify details and specifics than to describe fake advantages and mountains of meaningless text. Furthermore, navigating the website is a cumbersome experience; users have to hop from one section to another to find the information they’re looking for.

The AME Capital’s site only offers content in English and Russian. In short, an extremely inconvenient resource where you can spend time but still not find answers to important questions.

Registration Process and Personal Account

Opening an account with AME Capitals is a multi-step process. Initially, you’re asked to specify the type of account you want to open, along with providing your email and password. The second step involves entering your phone number, full name, and date of birth. Following this, you’ll be prompted to input your residential address: country, city, postal code, and street. Finally, you must agree to the user agreement to complete the account setup.

Following the initial registration steps, AME Capitals immediately requests document verification to confirm the provided details. To gain access to the user dashboard and assess its features and interface, we uploaded fake images, banking on the system allowing us access. Surprisingly, such a tactic succeeded.

The user dashboard leaves much to be desired, offering only minimal features and data. While it could be attributed to the unverified user status, it’s highly suspicious that the company immediately requires KYC procedures without giving you the chance to test their services via a demo account. Interestingly, although a demo account appears to be available, there is no option to actually open one. You’ll find such an option under the “Live” tab, however. In essence, AME Capitals restricts any user activity until the verification process is complete.

As you’ve already understood, KYC verification is mandatory with AME Capitals. Initially, they require you to upload proof of identity along with a monthly paid invoice. Additionally, if you opt for a credit card as your deposit method, the broker will request a photo or scan of the card to confirm that it belongs to you.

Trading Platform

Unfortunately, access to the platform is restricted without completing the verification process, making it impossible to test the trading terminal in practice. It leaves us reliant on information provided on their website, which isn’t the wisest course of action. Trusting unlicensed Forex companies is risky, as they can make any claims they like without substantiation.

The AME Capitals platform features a comprehensive suite of tools including technical chart analysis, fundamental analysis, automated trading, various types of trading orders, four modes of order execution, multiple indicators, and 21 timeframes. In addition to its web version, the firm also offers a mobile app. However, based on publicly available information and screenshots, it appears that the software is outdated and primitive, lagging behind even popular platforms like MetaTrader.

Most likely this seems to be a custom-developed trading platform, it would be prudent to offer a demo account. It would allow traders to familiarize themselves with the terminal’s interface and features before depositing real money. Customer-centric and reputable companies usually provide a well-known alternative platform as an option, such as MetaTrader, to give users some choice. However, AME Capitals has chosen not to offer this flexibility to its users.

Contacts

For customer support and communication, the broker offers a UK-based phone number (+442037693927). They also provide an online chat feature, but it is accessible only to registered users. Additionally, they have established three separate email addresses to handle different types of inquiries:

1. The support: support@amecapitals.com.
2. The legal department: compliance@amecapitals.com.
3. For ideas and suggestions: inbox@amecapitals.com.

We decided to verify the provided information, and here’s what we found out. All three email addresses listed on their website are nonexistent.

Moreover, we checked the locations of AME Capital’s offices. Checking out St. Vincent and the Grenadines location seemed pointless, as it’s quite clear that there’s no actual physical office, and registration, if it even exists, is likely done remotely. The Singapore address led us to a firm named “Straits”, which offers virtual addresses for a mere 10 Singaporean dollars per month. The situation with the British address is even more intriguing, it simply doesn’t exist.

AME Capitals even have Google Maps links under their purported office locations, clearly showing that the offices don’t exist on the map. It underscores the critical importance of verifying even basic contact information. Fabricated details are a significant red flag.

Analysis of Services Offered by AME Capitals

Next, let’s look at the available services from the broker, trading conditions, and methods of transferring money. It’s interesting to see what the company has prepared for us here.

Funding and Withdrawal

Deposits and withdrawals at AME Capitals are commission-free. Currently, the broker supports a variety of payment methods, including Credit/Debit cards, Bank Wire Transfers, Webmoney, Qiwi, and cryptocurrencies such as BTC, ETH, and USDT. They also offer several payment gateways like Interkassa, SkyCrypto, Rubpay, Payport, OdeonPay, and Enso Pay, as well as partner crypto exchanges such as MoonPay, Mercuryo, and CEX.io. The time required for the funds to be credited will vary depending on the payment method chosen. Keep in mind that additional fees may be levied by the payment systems themselves.

Trading Conditions

Clients can choose from six offered tariffs. The higher the account type, the greater the minimum deposit requirement, as well as access to a broader range of market classes and additional services. The entry-level account at AME Capitals starts with a minimum deposit of $500, and higher-tier accounts come with increased deposit thresholds:

1. Forex. Leverage up to 1:500, spread 0,01, personal support, and webinars. Based on the name, only forex is available to traders, which seems odd. Why not provide users with all asset classes?
2. Raw material. From $5,000, leverage up to 1:400. The difference between this tariff and the first one is the leverage and the availability of commodities. At the same time, the minimum amount differs by 10 times – what is the point of such a condition? We have the impression that the trading conditions were drawn up by a person who has never even traded.
3. Metals. From $15,000. The leverage is even lower, now 1:300, and obviously, metals are being added. The same complaints about this tariff.
4. Stock. From $25,000. Leverage up to 1:200. Similar nonsense from AME Capitals.
5. Indices. From $100,000. And here is where traders already have access to some conferences.
6. Portfolio. From $500,000. Essentially, it’s no different.

To be honest, the conditions seem absurd and illogical. One has to wonder how AME Capitals generates revenue, especially when the “commission” is listed as zero and the “spread” is indicated to be just 0.01. Typically, brokerage firms earn through commissions. However, given the absence of any such charges or spreads, it begs the question: How does this broker make money? One possible explanation could be unethical practices such as stealing money from traders, and draining them in various ways. It implies a dealing desk business model with conflicts of interest. Evidently, the broker isn’t designed to let its clients profit; instead, its operations seem structured to ensure that traders lose money.

One cannot overlook the extremely high leverage offered, which indicates a glaring absence of regulatory oversight. Financial authorities generally restrict leverage to ratios no higher than 1:30. In addition, the firm follows the problematic practice common among dubious brokers: “Pay more, get more benefits.” As for the types of tradable assets, only CFDs are available, ruling out any spot or futures trading. The platform doesn’t offer trades routed to actual market liquidity; instead, all activities are confined within the platform itself. These are substantial limitations that raise red flags about AME Capitals.

Unique Features

The broker helps newcomers get started with guides and educational materials. Well, of course, because who else but inexperienced traders would fall for this fraudulent company. In fact, inexperienced traders are the target audience for AME Capitals. Therefore, you can see instructions on the website on how to open an account, how to enter the terminal, how to set up a bot for automated trading, how to start copying other traders’ transactions, and so on. The educational section includes a large book on trading and financial markets.

In addition, the broker claims to offer services in investing in stocks, IPOs, bonds, and trust management, as well as tools for banks and financial organizations. However, it is just text, and in reality, such services have never existed here and never will.

Is AME Capitals Trustworthy and Reliable?

After scrutinizing the trading terms and the information disclosed by the company, it becomes increasingly clear that we’re dealing with a dubious broker. Red flags abound – from fake contact information and addresses to irrational trading conditions, not to mention a business model that inherently poses a conflict of interest. The next logical steps in our investigation involve determining the company’s operational longevity and ascertaining whether AME Capitals holds any valid licenses.

Assessing Legitimacy

The firm indicates its registration in the offshore country of Saint Vincent and the Grenadines. While the SVGFSA does indeed list a record for AME Capitals, stating it was registered in May 2023, there are a couple of alarming details to consider. Firstly, the company’s operating period is extremely short, not even spanning a year. Secondly, being registered in a jurisdiction like Saint Vincent and the Grenadines serves more as a red flag than a confidence booster. Registering a legal entity there is notoriously simple, time-efficient, and cost-effective. Practically anyone can set up a company remotely due to the streamlined registration process. Moreover, the SVGFSA isn’t known for robust client protection, perhaps extending such safeguards only to residents of Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, and there aren’t many of those.

AME Capitals also lists addresses in Singapore and the United Kingdom, which implies that the broker should be licensed by both the Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS) and the UK’s Financial Conduct Authority (FCA). However, upon checking the respective regulatory registries, we found no evidence of such licensure.

We’ve previously pointed out that AME Capitals provides false contact information and business addresses. The broker’s claimed partnerships with major cryptocurrency exchanges and banks are likewise fabricated. This misinformation appears to be part of a marketing strategy aimed at lending more weight to the fraudulent broker.

Established Track Record

AME Capitals confidently states that it was established in 2014. However, the domain was only registered in December 2022, and the legal entity was created in May 2023. It suggests that the website may have been set up earlier, but the brokerage services were only promoted after the company’s registration in Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, casting doubt on the broker’s claimed history.

Regardless, the broker is disseminating fake information about its foundation date, when in reality, it has only been operational for a mere three months. Such a short period hardly establishes it as a serious or credible firm.

Implications for Traders

There’s nothing secure about dealing with AME Capitals. It is a classic offshore brokerage scam offering margin CFD trading on terms that are both unfavorable and unrealistic. Not only is it risky to trade with this platform, but it’s also financially disadvantageous. How did SVGFSA allow scammers to register a legal entity? Apparently, they’ll register anyone who can pay, making it clear that offshore companies from SVG should not be trusted.

Strengths and Weaknesses of AME Capitals