Summary

BlackBull Markets is an ECN (electronic communications network) multi-broker that was established in 2014. Headquartered in Auckland, New Zealand, it has offices in the Asia-Pacific, North America and other European regions. It also has trading servers in Tokyo, London, Shanghai, New York and Hong Kong. The broker of late rebranded from “BlackBullMarkets.com” to “BalackBull.com.” From these offices and trading servers, it caters to thousands of users from 180+ different countries spread across Europe, Asia and the rest of the world. The broker is regulated by a host of regulatory bodies around the world. 26,000+ Blackbull Markets trading instruments can be accessed by its clients, inclusive of 70+ forex pairs, 9+ indices, 10+ cryptocurrencies, 8+ metals, 26,000+ shares, 8 agricultural commodities and 5 energies. 

In this Blackbull Markets review, we will explore in detail the broker’s fees, account types, trading platforms and mobile apps. The process of opening an account, verification processes, deposits and withdrawals, spreads, leverage, customer support, and many more will also be discussed.

Regulations

The broker has four entities that are regulated by top-tier regulatory authorities. The primary regulator of BlackBull Markets is the New Zealand Financial Markets Authority (FMA) and the Financial Services Authority (FSA).

Black Bull Trade Limited: This entity is a New Zealand limited liability company incorporated and registered under the laws of New Zealand. It is located at floor 20, 188 Quay St., Auckland Central, Auckland 1010, New Zealand.

• NZBN: 9429049891041
• Company Registration Number: FSP1002113

BBG (Black Bull Group) Limited: This entity is a limited liability company incorporated within the legal framework of Seychelles. It is licensed and controlled by the Financial Services Authority (FSA) in Seychelles. Its registered address is at JUC Building, Office F7B, Providence Zone 18, Mahe, Seychelles.

• Company Number: 857010-1
• FSA License Number: SD045

BlackBull Group UK Limited: This entity is registered in the United Kingdom and it is situated at 6 Thornes Office Park Monckton Road, West Yorkshire, England, WF2 7AN.

• Company Number: 9556804

Black Bull Group Limited: This entity is also a New Zealand incorporated Limited Liability Company. It is located on Level 20, 188 Quay Street, Auckland 1010. It is a registered Financial Services Provider.  New Zealand with FSP1002113 as its registration number.

• Company Number: 5463921
• NZBN: 9429041417799
• Registration Number: FSP403326

Supported Countries

As at the time of writing this Blackbull Markets review, the brokers’ asserts that it has hundreds of thousands of clients in 180+ countries spread across: Germany, Norway, Sweden, Italy, Australia, Thailand, India, Germany, Norway, Italy, Denmark, Kuwait, United Arab Emirates, Saudi Arabia, Luxembourg, Qatar, South Africa, France, Singapore, Hong Kong, Sweden, New Zealand, Switzerland, United Kingdom and most other countries. However, the broker does offer its services to clients from the United States and Canada.

Available Assets

The broker offers its clients access to 26,000+ trading instruments, which include 70+ forex pairs, 10 cryptocurrencies, 10 indices, 15+ commodities and 26,000+ shares. Below is an analysis of these financial instruments.

Cryptocurrencies

The broker offers crypto CFDs. With cryptocurrency CFDs, clients get the opportunity to trade crypto assets without having to: own these assets outrightly, pay blockchain-based transaction fees, or manage a crypto wallet. The broker provides leverage up to 1:5 leverage on 10 major cryptocurrencies, including: Bitcoin, Ethereum, Bitcoin Cash, Ripple, Dogecoin, Litecoin, Cardano, Polkadot, Chainlink, and EOS.

Shares

The company offers its clients access to  trade and invest in 26,000+ shares. The brokers offer share trading across major US, Hong Kong, Australian and European markets. Clients can trade shares of: Tesla, Apple, Amazon, Netflix, Facebook, and many others without having to purchase the underlying asset first.

Commodities

Commodities are tradable physical raw materials. Clients can trade 15+ global commodities inclusive of metals (Gold future, Silver future, Copper and so on), energy CFDs (Brent cash, Brent crude oil futures, natural gas, west texas intermediate crude oil cash) and agriculture CFDs (cotton, cocoa, coffee, sugar, soybeans, corn, and wheat).

Indices

The broker offers its clients more diversity with Index CFDs. A total of 10 indices are tradeable with the firm, inclusive of: Dow Jones Industrial Average, the S&P 500, Nasdaq Composite, FTSE 100, Nikkei 225, as well as the AUS 200 and European indices like the CAC 40, the IBEX 35, the DAX 30, amongst others.

Forex Pairs

With leverage of up to 1:500, and an acclaimed spread starting from 0.0 pip, 70+ currency pairs are offered on all of Blackbull Markets accounts. Inclusive of these pairs are majors USD/CAD, AUD/CHF, AUD/JPY,  and many more.

Futures

Futures can be defined as financial contracts that enable clients to buy or sell a trading instrument at a predetermined price and future date. Clients can get access to trade Futures of commodities like coffee, indices like the Japanese Nikkia 225, and popular shares like Tesla and Netflix and many more around the world. 

Spreads

Spread is said to be the difference between a broker’s bid and ask price. In the table below is a review of some of the spreads of instruments offered by BlackBull Markets.

Leverage

BlackBull Markets offers its clients up to 1:500 leverage for currency pairs and commodities, 1:100 leverage for indices and 1:5 leverage for cryptocurrencies and shares. Clients also have the freedom to change the leverage on their accounts to suit their needs and risk tolerance.

Below is a tabular overview of some of the BlackBull Markets trading instruments, alongside their spread and leverage.

Fees & Commissions

In addition to fees like spreads, withdrawals fee, account maintenance and inactivity fee, every broker charges its clients certain fees for trading and non trading activities. It is worthy of note that fees and commissions differ per broker. In this section of the review, we will explore the BlackBull Markets fees and commissions clients are liable to incur while trading.

Trading Fees

Trading fees are charges that are  incurred before, during or after trading. In some cases, users must pay trading fees before trading can occur.

Spreads

Forex brokers earn primarily through their spreads. Spreads are little differences between bid and ask prices of assets. With its spread floating starting from as low as 0.0 pip on its ECN Standard account type, the broker claims to offer its clients tighter spreads as compared to other forex brokers. However, it is worthy of note that spreads are not fixed as they are subject to change throughout the day and spread differs per account type. ECN Prime accounts have a spread floating from 0.1 pips and ECN Institutional accounts have spreads starting from 0.0 pips. 

Commissions

BlackBull Markets commissions are exerted on certain trading activities. Again, its commission varies by account type. ECN Standard account types are not charged commission, but ECN Prime and Institutional account types have a commission of $6 and $4 per lot respectively. 

Overnight Fees/Swap

Overnight fee/swap refers to the interest that you either pay or earn for a trade position that you keep open overnight. This swap fee is charged or credited directly to the trading account.

Non-Trading Fees

Any charges that are incurred outside normal trading activities are known as non-trading fees. Below are non-trading fees charged by the broker.

Deposit and Withdrawal Fee

The company claims to charge no deposit fees, but it charges a withdrawal fee of $5 on all withdrawal options. Again, with deposits using bank wire transfer, clients may incur processing charges from their financial institution.  

Inactivity Fee

The broker does not charge inactivity fees. 

Trading Platforms

In line with the broker’s claims of providing its clients exceptional services, Blackbull Markets provides its clients with six (6) trading platforms inclusive of: MetaTrader 5 (MT5), MetaTrader 4 (MT5), WebTrader, TradingView, Blackbull Shares and Blackbull Trade.

On these Blackbull Markets trading platforms, clients get full access to the broker’s offerings, functionality and features like: Autochartist plugin, trading assistants, social trading, and much more. These platforms are available on desktop and on mobile in both iOS and Android versions. This section of the review will explore some of these trading platforms.

Desktop Trading Platform (WebTrader)

Blakbull’s WebTrader is an online desktop trading platform that runs on any web browser and operating system inclusive of: Windows, Linux and Mac. Through the WebTrader, users get to access their MT4 and MT5 accounts from their desktop, tablets or personal computers, equally enjoy all the benefits of the MetaTrader platform, access to all of BlackBull’s offerings, and seamlessly switch between devices without need to download additional software programs.

Design

BlackBull’s WebTrader design is simple, yet functional. Although it contains different settings that allow for user customization and flexibility, the design isn’t as modern as that of other brokers. Nevertheless, it allows for user customization, optimization and flexibility. It allows users to set their parameters such as: stops and limits, price alerts, trade sizes and contains a trading chart, live market prices and space for notes.

Features

Built with flexibility, the WebTrader allows users to incorporate extra features such as: VPS servers, FIX API, as well as social trading platforms like ZuluTrade. This gives clients room for better trading analysis and experience. It also comes with specialized indicators, charts and much more.

Charting Tools

The WebTrader comes with great charting tools ranging from indicators and  trend lines, to crosshairs and zoom tools. It also includes stops and limits, live market research and price alerts to notify clients of the current market conditions.

How to Open an Account and Trade on Blackbull Markets WebTrader

Below is the step-by-step guideline to opening an account with BlackBull Markets via the WebTrader

1. Visit the broker’s official website, blackbull.com and input your email in the space before the  “join now” option visible on the homepage, then click on it.
2. On the page that appears, input your email, name, phone number, country, password and then select “register”.
3. Complete your personal details on the tab that appears. This stage entails details like: full name, nationality, DOB, contact number, city, and account type.
4. Next, select your trading preferences, and set up your trading account.
5. Complete the employment section.
6. Next is the declaration page, tick appropriately and Click on “next”.
7. Finally, select your Photo ID and proof of address document and then click on “Next”.
8. Click on “Confirm” to upload the documents.
9. Upon a successful upload, click on “Fund now” to fund your account.
10. You will be directed to your client area so as to fund your account and start trading.

Mobile App

The broker offers its clients a native mobile app known as BlackBull Trade, through which they also get to access all its 26,000+ financial assets from their Android and iOS devices. Through BlackBull Trade, clients can trade stocks, options, futures and all the broker’s offerings. The Blackbull Markets mobile app allows clients to perform analysis, trade, modify and close orders, calculate profit/loss and manage their live trades and accounts from anywhere. 

Trading Interface

BlackBull Trade creatively combines and balances usage and flexibility with the depth of the necessary features and settings required to ensure trading and trading analysis can be carried out on mobile devices. Its interface is graphically pleasing and yet functional. Integrated into the app are features like: charts, news headlines from Reuters and customized watchlists. 

Charting and Tools

The mobile app supports charting; which is easy to set up, and zooming. It also includes selectable time frames, drawing tools, technical indicators such as: moving averages, Bollinger Bands, Fibonacci retracements, and other features such as: Real-time market data and Price alerts. 

How to Open an Account and Trade on BlackBull Markets Mobile App

1. Download the broker’s mobile trading app from the Google Play Store or App Store on your mobile device.
2. On opening the app, the option: sign up, and I already have an account pops up, select sign up.
3. On selecting the “sign up” option on mobile, it takes you to the BlackBulls website to create an account.
4. Follow steps 3-8 in the webtrader account opening section above to successfully create your account.
5. After setting up your account, activate your preferred mobile security option in the “settings” tab.
6. To begin trading, on your home page, select the trade option. 
7. After selecting the “trade” option, open your choice order; be it a buy or sell order,  on any financial markets of your choice.

Account Types

Asides demo account, BlackBull Markets Account are in three (3) account categories.  They are designed to fit the individual needs of 3 classes of clients; the beginner, expert and institutions. All of these accounts have leverage up to 1:500, full access to all the broker’s 26,000 tradable assets and offerings, and much more. However, it is worth mentioning that the spread floating across the account types differs. Each of these account types are reviewed below. 

Demo Account

The broker offers a free demo trading account like most brokers do. Beginner and experienced retail traders who want  to test their trading abilities, evaluate their expertise and get used to the trading environment before committing real funds can make use of the demo account. On the BlackBull demo account, clients equally get access to the full offerings and financial instruments. They also get to choose a demo balance of $5,000 to $100,000 in virtual funds.

ECN Standard Account

The ECN Standard account type is the first of the 3 main account types offered by the broker. The account is designed for beginner traders and comes with access to the BlackBull’s entire range of trade instruments at $0 initial deposit. With a maximum leverage of 1:500, availability of micro lot size of 0.01 lot, spread floating from 0.1 pip and no commissions, this account is perfect for traders looking for forex trading experience at great value.  

ECN Prime Account

The ECN Prime account is the second account option provided by BlackBull. The broker describes this account type as the ideal account for traders that are looking for a competitive edge as well as to get the most out of their trades. With leverage up to 1:500, full access to all the 26,000 tradable assets, spread floating from 0.1 pip, availability of micro lot sizes and a commission of just $6 per lot traded, the ECN Prime account type offers clients quality. However, it comes with a minimum deposit of $2,000.

ECN Institutional Account

ECN Institutional account is the third account option provided by BlackBull to its clients. The account is for large traders seeking institutional experience. Asides equally getting all the offerings of the broker, the account comes with extra specific features such as: 

• Customized MAM/PAMM trading options (MAM and PAMM is a kind of account managerial option that allows experts known as account managers to trade for multiple accounts for a percentage profit on each account).
• Access to free VPS, based on the conditions of 10 lots traded per month.
• Customisable commission structures.
•  24/7 Dedicated technical support.

This account also enjoys a spread floating of 0.0 pips, and a $4 per lot commission. However, a minimum deposit of $20,000 is needed to open the account.

Payment Methods

BlackBull provides its clients with an array of payment options to choose for either deposits or withdrawals. The provided methods are discussed below.

Deposit Methods

Deposit methods are mediums through which traders can fund their accounts. The deposit methods provided by BlackBull for its clients include Bank/wire Transfer; Mastercard and Visa debit cards and credit card; Unionpay; Fasapay; and e-wallets such as Skrill, and Neteller. E-wallets, credit cards and debit cards, crypto and astropay deposits are processed immediately, while bank transfers may take 12 to 48  hours to reflect. The broker claims to exert no charges on deposits. The broker offers clients the option of up to 9 base currencies to choose from when depositing. They include: USD, EUR, GBP, AUD, NZD, SGD, CAD, JPY, ZAR.

Withdrawal Methods

Clients can withdraw money from BlackBull Markets using the same methods they used in depositing. The broker charges a fee of $5 on withdrawal on any of the available withdrawal methods. The broker claims to process withdrawals in less than 24 hours.

How to withdraw Funds from BlackBull Markets

For clients to withdraw funds from their accounts, they have to first sign in to their account, visit the ‘My Wallet’ tab found on the left-hand side of the portal, and then find the ‘withdraw funds’ tab from which they would complete a 4-step process to request a withdrawal. These steps are:

1. Select the choice withdrawal method. 
2. Choose the preferred wallet from which to make the withdrawal. Please note: every withdrawal request is restricted to one wallet, and not a combination of two wallet balances.
3. Specify the withdrawal amount.
4. Finally, confirm the withdrawal request within the secure Client Area which will change the withdrawal status to pending.

Please note: to effect a withdrawal, one has to transfer funds from one’s trading account back to one’s wallet before withdrawal request can be placed.

A wallet is a fund management tool specific to BlackBull Markets. Wallets are akin to an intermediary through which clients make deposits, withdrawals, and internal transfers to any of their share and forex trading accounts. Every client is entitled to a maximum of 5 wallets, at one wallet per currency. All deposits and withdrawals go through wallets. 

Education

BlackBull Markets’ educational offering is quite laudable. Asides providing video analysis, trading guides, research material, latest trading news, and much more, it offers Forex Tutorials, Share Tutorials, Commodities Tutorials and Crypto Tutorials to its clients. These tutorials are in 3 categories (beginner, intermediate and advanced) so that traders can learn at their exposure level and advance to acquiring more knowledge.

The company also offers Platform Tutorials which help its clients better understand how to use and maximize the tools available on the platforms they offer. Users can  take advantage of the webners that the broker periodically holds for all levels of traders. In addition to the above educational services provided, the broker usually posts market reviews on economic events with high impact, expert commentary and much more. Economic calendar is also provided so that traders can always keep up with news that could impact the market.

Customer Support

The broker has a 24/7 customer support dedicated to cater to its clients questions and complaints, and is available via: call (+6495585142), live chat and email (support@blackbull.com). BlackBull can also be reached on social media channels, such as Facebook, Twitter, Youtube, Instagram, Telegram, WhatsApp and LinkedIn.

Reviews

In this section, we will be looking at what users have to say about the broker’s performance.

What Reddit Users Say About BlackBull Markets

The Reddit community’s comment about BlackBull is favorable. Clients who were asked if the broker was a good choice for Canadians all commented that the broker was indeed good.

What Quora Users Say About BlackBull Markets

The Quora community has nothing to say about BlackBull Markets.

Trustpilot Users’ Review About BlackBull Markets

After 141 reviews, BlackBull Markets sits with a rating of 4.0. 76% of trustpilot users gave the broker a 5-star rating as opposed to the 12% that gave it just 1 star. On trustpilot, a majority of users in their comment praised the broker’s support team for helping integrate seamlessly into the broker and helping with account issues. However, some others complained of the broker being a scam, and losing all their money, as well as not getting their withdrawals processed.

ForexPeaceArmy Users’ Review About BlackBull Markets

On ForexPeaceArmy, after a total of 87 reviews, BlackBull Markets holds a rating of 4.28. Again, most users on forexpeacearmy commended the broker for good trading conditions, support team, and multiple payment options. However, there were also complaints by some users about the brokers’ stop out, and massive slippage. 

Is BlackBull Markets Safe?

BlackBull Markets is regulated by a couple of top tier regulatory bodies like FMA New Zealand and FSA Seychelles, and does business in various jurisdictions worldwide. Asides this, the broker ensures that its systems, servers and technical environment is always secured and monitored by teams of expert security and technical operatives. Coming to client’s funds and assets, BlackBull Markets holds its clients’ funds in segregated accounts with a tier 1 bank (currently ANZ bank) to protect against unlikely events of liquidity.

Other Products and Services

In this section of Blackbull Markets review, we will be analyzing some additional products and services offered by the broker. 

FIX API

APIs (application programming interface) are software program interfaces that offer different services to other software programs and allow communication between two or more computer programs. FIX API is an API coding protocol used in placing live orders on the market during trading. BlackBull provides FIX API to its clients who seek to bypass the MT4 application and connect directly to BlackBull’s ECN grid using their own FIX. With FIX API, clients get to enjoy: 

• Straight Through Processing (STP).
• Direct Market Access (DMA).
• ECN integration.
• Direct connection to BlackBull Markets’ bridge provider.
• Design and run algorithms directly on their device.
• Faster connection speeds and lower latency.

Autochartist

BlackBull Markets provides its clients the option to integrate Autochartist into their MT4 and MT5 accounts. Autochartist is an analytical tool with built-in pattern recognition software program, which detects potential market opportunities on charts. With Autochartist, clients get to understand the market better, identify major chart patterns, (e.g wedges, triangles, channels,) and get alerts on Fibonacci retracements and excessive market  movement and volatility. 

Zulu Trade

ZuluTrade is a peer to peer social trading platform provided as an extra service by BlackBull for its clients. With ZuluTrade, clients get to copy the trading strategies of thousands of registered traders, across 192 countries, and also customize their trades and analysis by employing ZuluTrade’s proprietary performance evaluation algorithm, as well as get feedback from ZuluTrade’s trading community.

Affiliate And Referral Program

The company runs a referral and affiliate program. The referral program is known as “Refer a Friend”, while the affiliate program is known as “Introducing brokers”. 

The Refer a friend program sees existing clients who refer new clients, get up to $250 in referral earnings once the new client funds and trades his/her account. To enjoy the earning, existing clients must invite friends to trade with them from their “Refer A Friend” page in the customer area, and the “Refer a friend” bonuses will be deposited directly into their trading accounts if their friend meets the trading and deposit requirements within 90 days.

Moreover, BlackBull’s Introducing Brokers Program lets clients become partners in business with the broker, and make income through their networking efforts. The IB programme is perfect for  clients who have either a FX or Equities content website, forum or a group of traders that they would like to help get set up with BlackBull markets. Through the Introducing Broker program, clients can earn a steady income by introducing a handful of clients every month to BlackBull Markets.

Blackbull CopyTrader

The Blackbull Copytrader is a platform where copy trading takes place. Copy trading enables individuals in the financial markets to copy and execute trade positions of selected top traders. Using the CopyTrader platform enables users to leverage on the strategies and expertise of top performing traders. To copy trade, first log into your client area, click on CopyTrader, click on CopyTrader Platform, select a provider you wish to copy trades from and activate CopyTrade. A ranking list of providers whose trades can be copied is also provided by the broker on the platform. Due to the ultra-low latency trading ecosystem of Blackbull CopyTrader, copied trades are executed as closely to the expert trades as possible.

VPS Trading

Virtual Private Server (VPS) is a provider of virtualized server resources on a physical server that is shared with other users. It is a tool used to enhance trading experience. The VPS reduces delay in trade execution by up to 30%, reduces slippage and backs up data in an automated manner, among other advantages it offers. BeeksFX renders this broker with VPS service for a sum of $30 per month but as a client with Blackbull Market, you can get this service for free. The requirement for accessing free VPS service is to make a minimum deposit of $2,000 and trade a minimum of 20 lots across metals or forex pairs per month.

Bottom Line

In conclusion, BlackBull Markets offers an extensive range of services to its clients worldwide. With ample regulations, the forex trading broker offers secure and competitive trading conditions to clients, and more than 26,000 financial assets at low spreads and high leverage. Blackbull Markets fees include: spread, commision, swap rates and withdrawal fees.

The broker has a proprietary trading platform and also offers its clients access to all its offerings on other trading platforms via different account types. The Blackbull Mobile App is also known as Blackbull Trade. The Blackbull Markets account creation process is quite straightforward, although account verification is to be completed before withdrawals can take place. Concerning deposits and withdrawal, the broker floats multiple payment options; inclusive of credit/debit cards (Visa, MasterCard, UnionPay and Fasapay), Bank/wire Transfers, e-wallets (Skrill, Neteller, AstroPay) and Crypto to allow for easy deposit and withdrawal. 

In this Blackbull Markets review, we see that upon registration, clients are provided with standard demo accounts to help with gaining ample trading exposure without risk to real funds. The broker supports API trading and offers VPS hosting, making it an ideal choice for clients seeking advanced algorithmic trading on live accounts. Clients can expect to have  multiple trading tools and indicators at their disposal.

Last but not least is a well stocked educational section, with videos, articles and guides, and a 24/7 customer support catering to clients’ questions and trading challenges.