AC Markets Advanced Trader

Overview

AC Markets has been established since 2002, and operates from Switzerland. It is heavily regulated by the Swiss Authorities which should mean it is a very sound company. We had a lot of difficulty with the website, and below is one of the screenshots. Dialog boxes kept disappearing behind others, as you can see, and for some reason this page showed double.

This happened with both Internet Explorer 8.0 and Mozilla Firefox. We used the online help a couple of times, and Ashley opened a demo account for us.

In April 2009, AC Markets offices in Geneva were raided in a suspected financial fraud case. There's been no further action to date, but the company has been criticized for creating many fake postings to the Internet from "satisfied customers", in an attempt to increase their ratings.

Opening an Account

As mentioned above, we had difficulty making their website work. Here's the sign-up screen, giving a choice of platforms, and we used the AC Markets Advanced Trader. Entering information on the right didn't get us anywhere because it was no submit button. The green button on the left just cleared the fields.

When we contacted customer service through the online chat, we got a demo account set up and were told that the AC Markets Advanced Trader platform was Java based and needed no download. In contradiction to this, the screen below shows the start of the download.

We were left feeling that things could have been a little better, both from a website design and service point of view, but must say that the response was always prompt and pleasant.

Basic Trading

Here is the trading screen.

It's basically informative and clearly laid out, and would form a good foundation for your trading, but again could have been better. You'll note the scroll bars on the Windows which mean you have to scroll around to see all the information. This is on a 1366x768 screen, which is fairly high definition. Nonetheless, these Windows can be moved and stretched to a preferred layout.

Pros v. Cons

• √ A sound company, with Swiss registration and a US office.
• √ Seem to operate fairly.
• √ Comprehensive trading tools available.
• √ Online support from AC Markets helpful.
• x Difficulty opening accounts.
• x Difficulty with website.
• x Previous allegations of fraud.
• x Deceitful reviews.

Summary

Difficulties with the technology may have been an isolated case, but were frustrating. Once online, the platform appears competent but not exceptional.

• Price: Free.
• Ease-of-use: 3/5.
• Value for money: 4/5.