I have read the fee schedules and client agreements behind 31 broker reviews on this desk since 27 August, and ATFX is the first brand where the English-language website and the contract a new client actually signs belong to two different companies on two different continents. The footer of atfx.com/en opens, as it has for years, with AT Global Markets (UK) Limited and its Financial Conduct Authority number, 760555. The page carries the UK's spread-betting risk warning. Its "Terms of Business" link opens a UK document versioned August 2018. Its login button points to portal-uk.atfx.com. Yet the same footer, a few lines further down, states that the UK company "does not accept retail clients under its UK Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) license." FX News Group, working from the company's filings, reported in August 2022 that retail activity at the UK arm was wound down during 2021.
So who does a retail trader outside Australia and the EU sign with? Not the firm named first on the page. The answer sits in a 2026 document we found only on ATFX's South African legal page: the Standard Terms of Business, version 25 June 2026, a legal agreement between the client and AT Global Markets Intl Ltd, a Mauritius company regulated by the Financial Services Commission under licence C118023331. That contract makes negative balance protection something a client asks for and the firm grants at its "sole and absolute discretion". It also sends every dispute to the courts of Mauritius. None of that is visible from the page a global English-speaking visitor lands on, and the price ladder built on top of it has a second surprise: ATFX's $7.00 Raw lot on EUR/USD costs exactly what IC Markets charges on its Raw account, but needs a $20,000 deposit where IC asks for nothing.
Key facts
- AT Global Markets (UK) Limited, FRN 760555, has been authorised since 11 July 2017; the register carries nine clone-firm warnings, one of them for "ATFX" — FCA Financial Services Register, read 29 September 2026
- The retail contract for non-Australian, non-EU clients names AT Global Markets Intl Ltd (Mauritius, company 157819) as principal to every trade, under Mauritius law — ATFX Standard Terms of Business, version 20260625, clauses 3.1 and 40
- ATFX's MENA-facing Raw account charges a $7 commission and needs a $20,000 deposit; its Raw Pro charges $5 and needs $50,000 — ATFX en-ae Raw account page and Raw Pro page, both retrieved 29 September 2026
- IC Markets' Raw Spread account on MetaTrader charges $3.50 per side, $7.00 round turn, with a $0 minimum deposit; its Raw Pro charges $3.00 round turn from $5,000 — IC trading accounts overview, retrieved 29 September 2026
- Dormant accounts pay $10 a month after six months of inactivity, and the Mauritius contract lets the firm take the whole remaining balance and close the account without notice once it falls below the fee — Standard Terms of Business, clause 34.3
Five entities, one logo
ATFX describes itself on every page as "a co-brand shared by a group of entities". The footer of the English global site, read on 29 September 2026 from a connection that ATFX's site did not geo-redirect, lists the UK company, a Cyprus investment firm, the Mauritius dealer, ATFX MENA Financial Services LLC in the United Arab Emirates (a "Category 5" licence, number 20200000078), an introducing broker in Jordan, a limited liability company in St Vincent and the Grenadines for which no licence is given, and a Cambodian subsidiary. The Australian and South African pages add their own local companies.
We checked the retail-relevant ones against each regulator's own record where we could reach it.
| Entity | Regulator and number | Who it serves | Register check, 29 Sep 2026 |
|---|---|---|---|
| AT Global Markets (UK) Limited | FCA, FRN 760555 | Professional clients only | Authorised since 11 Jul 2017, confirmed on the FCA register |
| ATFX Global Markets (Cy) Ltd | CySEC, CIF 285/15 | EEA retail, via atfxgm.eu | Licensed 17 Dec 2015, confirmed on CySEC's CIF list |
| AT Global Markets (Australia) Pty Ltd | ASIC, AFSL 418036 | Australian retail and wholesale | Current, start date 2 May 2012, confirmed in ASIC's September dataset |
| AT Global Markets Intl Ltd | FSC Mauritius, licence C118023331 | Retail clients elsewhere | Not verified: register unreachable |
| AT Global Markets SA (Pty) Ltd | FSCA, ODP licence (FSP 44816 per its footer) | Legacy SA provider | Listed as "Approved" on the FSCA's OTC derivative provider register |
The Mauritius licence number is ATFX's own statement, repeated consistently across its footers and its June 2026 contract; we could not confirm it on the FSC register from our systems.
The pattern here is not new to this desk. Our ThinkMarkets review found ten licences funnelling into one Seychelles contract, and our HFM review found a UK licence doing very little of the group's retail work. ATFX goes a step further: the UK licence does none of it, yet it still heads the page.
What the English site hands you, and what it leaves out
Consider what a trader from outside Australia, the EU and the UK sees. The English site's Legal page offers a UK Standard Terms of Business marked V08.18, an RTS 28 execution-quality report for 2018, UK spread-betting key information documents dated 1 September 2018, and CFD key information documents dated 27 October 2020. All belong to the UK company, and the UAE-facing legal link redirects to the same page.
The document that governs a Mauritius account is not on it.
We found it linked from the South African legal page, alongside a tripartite agreement dated August 2026. That agreement explains the South African route: a newly authorised intermediary, AT Global Capital Markets Africa (Pty) Ltd (FSP 55142, registration number 2025/091437/07), introduces the client, while AT Global Markets Intl Ltd in Mauritius acts as "Principal Counterparty" and "the Client's sole counterparty". The older South African provider remains Approved on the FSCA's list, but the new paperwork routes trades offshore. The UAE page tells the same story more bluntly: a visitor from outside the Gulf sees a notice directing "retail and professional inquiries regarding AT Global Markets Intl Ltd" to a support address.
Three clauses in the Mauritius terms deserve a trader's attention before funding. Clause 3.1 says the firm "will act as the Principal in executing any Transaction", which makes ATFX the other side of every trade. Clause 29.3 describes negative balance protection as a request: a client who ends up below zero "should inform the Firm's trade audit team", which then decides in its "sole and absolute discretion", and the protection does not apply at all to professional clients or to losses the firm links to a breach of the terms. And clause 40.2 gives the courts of Mauritius exclusive jurisdiction. Compare ATFX's own EU page, which promises negative balance protection outright, or the Australian PDS of 10 February 2026, where it is guaranteed by ASIC's product intervention order.
Dany Mawas, appointed ATFX's CEO Africa in May, framed the regional model this way in the company's announcement of 25 May 2026: "Africa requires local leadership supported by global infrastructure, and that is exactly what we aim to strengthen further." The tripartite agreement is what that sentence looks like in a contract. The local leadership is a South African intermediary. The infrastructure, and the counterparty risk, sit in Ebène.
Two accounts called Raw
ATFX publishes at least two separate account ladders in English, and they do not agree with each other.
On the global /en pages the line-up is Micro, Classic, Premium and Raw. The Micro account opens with $100 and quotes EUR/USD from 2.6 pips. Classic needs $1,000 and quotes 1.8 pips. The Premium page returned a 404. The /en Raw account needs $10,000, lists a EUR/USD spread range of 0.1 to 0.4 pips, and describes its fee as "Commission up to $7 per lot", which is a ceiling rather than a price.
On the UAE-facing /en-ae pages, which carry the Mauritius entity's name in their access notice, the line-up is Standard, Edge, Raw and Raw Pro. Requesting the global Edge or Standard specification URL redirects to these pages. Here Standard opens at $200, Edge at $10,000, Raw at $20,000 and Raw Pro at $50,000. The Raw page lists "$7 commission" and a minimum EUR/USD spread of zero, and then, two paragraphs later, promises that a Raw user can "trade CFDs and pay competitive spreads with no commission". Its headline says "leverage up to 1:400", while the specification table beneath it lists 1:200 as the most any major currency pair gets. Standard advertises "average spreads from 1.1 pips" above a table whose minimum spread for EUR/USD is 1.2.
Neither page says whether $7 is per side or per round turn, which IC Markets and Tickmill both spell out. Below we read it the generous way, as $7 round turn; per side, the Raw lot would cost double.
The price ladder against two peers
The chart converts every account into one number: what a standard lot of EUR/USD costs to open and close at the broker's own published minimum spread, with commission added. EUR/USD pays $10 per pip per lot, so a 1.2-pip minimum is $12. Minimum spreads are best-case figures, so real fills usually cost more.
| Account (entity) | Min. deposit | EUR/USD min. spread | Commission, round turn | Cost per lot | Source, retrieved 29 Sep 2026 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| ATFX Micro (/en page) | $100 | 2.6 | none | $26.00 | atfx.com/en Micro |
| ATFX Classic (/en page) | $1,000 | 1.8 | none | $18.00 | atfx.com/en Classic |
| ATFX Standard (Mauritius, via /en-ae) | $200 | 1.2 | none | $12.00 | atfx.com/en-ae Standard |
| ATFX Edge (Cyprus, CySEC) | $5,000 | 0.5 | $6.00 | $11.00 | atfxgm.eu accounts overview |
| ATFX Raw (/en page) | $10,000 | 0.1 | up to $7.00 | $8.00 | atfx.com/en Raw |
| ATFX Raw (Mauritius, via /en-ae) | $20,000 | 0.0 | $7.00 | $7.00 | atfx.com/en-ae Raw |
| IC Markets Raw Spread, MetaTrader (Raw Trading Ltd, FSA Seychelles SD018) | $0 | 0.0 | $7.00 | $7.00 | ic.com accounts overview |
| Tickmill Raw (Tickmill Europe Ltd, CySEC 278/15) | 100 | 0.0 | $6.00 | $6.00 | tickmill.com accounts overview |
| ATFX Raw Pro (Mauritius, via /en-ae) | $50,000 | 0.0 | $5.00 | $5.00 | atfx.com/en-ae Raw Pro |
| IC Markets Raw Pro, MetaTrader (Raw Trading Ltd) | $5,000 | 0.0 | $3.00 | $3.00 | ic.com accounts overview |
Two tier traps sit in those peer rows, and we avoided both. Tickmill's Raw commission is $3.00 per side on MetaTrader; our link to tickmill.com/accounts was geo-routed to the EU site, whose Tickmill Europe schedule shows that figure, and the UK schedule matches it. IC Markets charges $3.50 per side on MetaTrader but $3.00 per $100,000 on cTrader, so we used the MetaTrader figure, since ATFX offers only MetaTrader 4 and 5. IC marks its Raw Pro tier "early access". Our IC Markets review and Tickmill review cover both schedules in depth.
Read the chart by deposit rather than by price and the problem is plain. ATFX's $7.00 lot on the Mauritius Raw account matches IC Markets exactly, but it costs a $20,000 minimum balance to reach, against IC's $0 and Tickmill's 100 base-currency units for a $6.00 lot. ATFX's best price, $5.00 on Raw Pro, needs $50,000; IC's Raw Pro reaches $3.00 with a tenth of that. A trader with $1,000 at ATFX lands on Classic at $18.00 a lot, three times what the same money buys at Tickmill.
At 20 lots a week, the gap between ATFX's $18.00 Classic lot and Tickmill's $6.00 Raw lot is $240 weekly, or $12,000 over 50 weeks, before swaps. Our EUR/USD forecast sets out the levels that pair is trading around.
The EU and Australian doors are cleaner
The onshore operations read differently. The Cyprus site, atfxgm.eu, runs a two-account menu: Standard from $200 with a 1.2-pip minimum on EUR/USD and no commission, and Edge from $5,000 with a 0.5-pip minimum and "$3 p/side p/lot". Leverage stops at 30:1, negative balance protection is listed without conditions, and the firm is a member of Cyprus's Investor Compensation Fund. One oddity: its CFD warning says "the majority" of retail accounts lose money, where Tickmill Europe's site prints a specific figure, 73%.
The Australian company has held its licence since May 2012, and its PDS of 10 February 2026 sets out a $10 monthly dormant fee after six months and confirms that the fee cannot push a retail account below zero. The Australian retail schedule, though, is expensive: one commission-free account quoting EUR/USD from 1.8 pips at 30:1, the same $18.00 lot as the global Classic, with no raw-pricing option shown for retail clients. Visitors from outside Australia see an "Account Registration Unavailable" notice.
Small housekeeping gaps run through the group's web estate. The South African accounts page's "Open account" button links to a raw template placeholder, "[acf_options_url_with_params field="en_za_client_portal_link"...]", rather than a URL. The legacy site atfxgm.com still carries the UK footer with a 32 Cornhill address, while the FCA register records Tower 42 on Old Broad Street. Linton White, CEO of ATFX Africa, said in ATFX's 26 January 2026 announcement of two regional awards that they reflect "our commitment to transparency, service excellence, and continuous improvement".
Funding, dormancy and the clone problem
ATFX's funding page lists no deposit fees for bank transfer, card or e-wallet. Withdrawals are free above 100 in the account currency; below that, the firm charges 5. The dormant-account rule in the Mauritius terms is the sharper edge: after six months with no positions, no trades and no deposits or withdrawals, the account pays $10 a month, and when the balance falls below that fee ATFX "reserves the right to deduct the entire remaining balance" and close the account "without prior notice".
RelatedGO Markets Review 2026: Its 500:1 Micro Account Links Offshore
The FCA register adds a warning of its own. It lists nine clone-firm entries against the UK company between October 2019 and August 2022, including "ATFX" itself and "ATFX Global Markets". The Cyprus site carries a fraud notice naming the only two domains it operates. A brand whose lead licence belongs to a business that no longer takes retail money is easier for impostors to borrow.
Verdict: real licences, the wrong one on the label
ATFX is not a thin offshore shell. It holds a current ASIC licence dating back to 2012, a CySEC licence from 2015, an FCA authorisation that is in good standing for professional business, and an approved South African derivatives provider licence.
For the rest of the world, the picture is weaker. The English global site leads with a UK licence that cannot serve retail clients, links to UK documents last revised between 2018 and 2020, and leaves the Mauritius contract that actually applies to be found on the South African page. That contract makes ATFX the principal to every trade, treats negative balance protection as discretionary, and puts disputes before Mauritian courts. Pricing is competitive only for large balances: the $7.00 Raw lot needs $20,000 and the $5.00 Raw Pro lot needs $50,000, while IC Markets and Tickmill publish equal or lower prices from $0 and 100.
Rating: 2.5 out of 5. We credited the depth of genuine licensing and the clean EU offer, and deducted for the mismatch between the page and the contract, the conflicting Raw account schedules, the deposit walls in front of competitive pricing and the discretionary negative balance clause.
Who it plausibly suits: an EEA resident on the CySEC entity, or an Australian client who values a local licensee over price. What would change this view: a global site that names the Mauritius entity first and links its current terms from the Legal page; one published Raw schedule with the commission basis stated; and negative balance protection written into the Mauritius contract as a right.
Frequently asked questions
Is ATFX regulated by the FCA?
Its UK company, AT Global Markets (UK) Limited, FRN 760555, is FCA-authorised and has been since 11 July 2017. It does not accept retail clients; ATFX's own footer says so, and FX News Group reported the retail business was wound down during 2021. UK retail traders cannot open an ATFX account under the FCA licence.
Which ATFX company will I sign with?
It depends on residence. Australian clients contract with AT Global Markets (Australia) Pty Ltd, AFSL 418036, and EEA clients with ATFX Global Markets (Cy) Ltd, CySEC 285/15. Most others, including South African and Gulf clients, trade with AT Global Markets Intl Ltd in Mauritius under its Standard Terms of Business dated 25 June 2026.
How much does ATFX charge per lot on EUR/USD?
At published minimum spreads, from $26.00 a round-turn lot on the global Micro account down to $5.00 on Raw Pro. The Mauritius Raw account costs $7.00 with a $20,000 minimum deposit. The EU Edge account costs about $11.00, being a 0.5-pip minimum plus $3 per side. Figures were read from ATFX's sites on 29 September 2026.
Does ATFX offer negative balance protection?
On the EU and Australian entities, yes, as a regulatory requirement. Under the Mauritius Standard Terms of Business, clause 29.3, a client in negative balance must ask the firm's trade audit team to waive it, and the firm decides at its sole discretion. Professional clients are excluded from that process entirely.
Does ATFX charge an inactivity fee?
Yes. After six months with no trading, open positions, deposits or withdrawals, the Mauritius and Australian entities charge $10 a month, or 10 AUD, GBP or EUR. Under the Mauritius terms, once the balance falls below the fee, the firm may take what remains and close the account without notice.
Disclaimer
This review is analysis for information only and is not financial advice or a recommendation to open an account with any broker named. Contracts for difference are leveraged products and can result in rapid losses; your capital is at risk. All figures were taken from the named sources on 29 September 2026 and may have changed since. The Traders Spread did not open a live account with ATFX for this review, and the Mauritius licence could not be confirmed on the FSC's own register at the time of writing.