Summary

Blackbulls Markets was founded in New Zealand in 2014 by Michael Walker and Selwyn Loekman. The platform is regulated by two bodies: the Seychelles FSA and the New Zealand FMA. Its 26,000+ trading instruments include 70+ forex pairs, 2,280+ share CFDs, 26,000+ real shares, 22+ commodities, 10+ crypto CFDs, and 10+ Indices.

In this comprehensive Blackbull Markets review, we will begin with an overview of the platform’s pros and cons. We will then examine its assets, stock trading, regulations, fees and commissions, account types, and trading platforms. We will then look at the payment methods available, users’ opinions on online social platforms, and the safety of the broker.

Available Assets

Blackbull Markets has a portfolio of about 26,000+ trading instruments. The most diverse class are the CFDs, which include Forex, share, commodity, index, Futures, and cryptos, all tradable at great spreads and leverages. There are also real shares on the platform, and they come from a very broad range of global markets. In this review section, we will overview these assets.

Shares

These make up the overwhelming bulk of the trading instruments you will find on the platform. About 2,280+ share/equity CFDs are available at a max leverage of up to 1:5. They include ones from major European, Australian, US, and Hong Kong markets. An additional 26,000+ real shares are available through the Blackbull Markets share trading platform.

Indices

If you wish to trade indices, Blackbull Markets has a portfolio of 10+ index CFDs you can choose from. These indices enable you to speculate on the performance of specific stock markets, and they include well-known stock indices like the Dow Jones Industrial Average and the S&P 500. In addition, the leverage to trade index CFDs is up to 1:100.

Forex

You can also access the market for various globally traded currency pairs on Blackbulls Markets. Its portfolio of 70+ forex pairs covers all the known types, namely major, minor, and exotic pairs. And with the various levels of trading activity and relative volatility between these types, you can greatly diversify your risk profile.

The pip increments vary wildly between assets, as does the leverage. However, the maximum leverage at which you can trade forex here is up to 1:500.

Commodities

Naturally occurring materials and resources collected and processed for commercial or industrial use are known as commodities. They constitute another instrument in which you can trade on Blackbull Markets. These commodities range from agricultural produce like cocoa, cotton, soybeans, and coffee to energy resources like coal, crude oil, and natural gas. Additionally, there are also base metals like iron and aluminum. You can access and trade up to 18+ of these, though you would only really be dealing with their CFDs and not the assets themselves. You can also speculate on 4+ precious metals. These include Gold, Silver, and Copper, and they are tradable at a leverage up to 1:500.

Cryptocurrencies

Cryptocurrencies are very risky assets to trade and have seen less trading activity since the 2022 crypto crash. However, they can still make a great addition to your trading portfolio if you are willing to shoulder the risk. For example, on Blackbull Markets, you can trade up to 10+ crypto asset CFDs against the dollar, including Bitcoin, Bitcoin Cash, and Cardano.

Futures

Blackbull Markets allows traders to trade based on the potential price of assets through its portfolio of about 21+ futures on different assets. The leverage for these asset futures caps at up to 1:500.

Stock Trading at Blackbull Markets

By far the broadest group of markets you can access on Blackbull Markets, there are 26,000+ shares from various markets. You can access two types of shares on the platform, and we will discuss them in this review section.

First, there are the share/stock/equity CFDs, which are leveraged and are tradable Monday to Friday. Since they are CFDs, you can only really speculate on the underlying price trends of the listed assets, but you won’t have any ownership of said assets. The available assets here include share CFDs of Apple, Tesla, Google, and Amazon.

There are also 26,000+ real shares that you can trade through Blackbull Markets’ share trading offering. These include shares from over 80+ of the top-performing markets around the globe. These are not leveraged, but they are tradable at great prices. However, the fees are pretty unfriendly on your finances.

Available Stock Exchanges at Blackbull  Markets

Blackbull Markets’ expansive portfolio of trading instruments derives from a vast range of global stock markets. Here are some of the major worldwide exchanges from which these real and CFD shares derive.

Stock Trading Fees & Commission at Blackbull Markets

Fees for stock trading on Blackbull Markets are generally quite small, as the platform aims to make trading affordable for its clients. There are three fees you get to pay here: the foreign exchange (FX), transaction, and share trading fees.

However, the value of these two fees depends on which market you are trading in, as does whether or not you get to pay the conversion fee. For trading the New Zealand market, for instance, no FX charges apply. However, you do get to pay a transaction fee of 0.2% for amounts under 10,000 NZD, 0.12% for amounts between 10,0000 NZD and 20,000 NZD, and 0.08% for amounts over 20,000 NZD. For the Australian market, the FX fee is the product of the trade value multiplied by 0.02%, while the trade value multiplied by 0.08% gives you the transaction fee. For the US market stocks, the trade value multiplied by 0.002% gives the FX fees, while the number of shares multiplied by 0.005 USD is the transaction fee.

Additionally, there are share trading fees, which differ according to the amount invested and the source of the shares. For US shares like Nike and RocketLab, respective investments up to $10,000 and $5,000 attract fees of $40 and $10, respectively. For the Australian market, investments under $10,000 attract share trading fees of $14, while a $20,000 investment will incur $24. For the New Zealand market, it’s $12 and $12.50 for $1,000 and $5,000 investments respectively, $25 for $10,000 investments, and $50 for $20,000 investments.

Stock Trading Leverage at Blackbull Markets

The real shares on Blackbull Markets are not leveraged, so you can’t use leverages when dealing with them. However, the share/equity CFDs are leveraged at a maximum of up to 1:5. Jurisdictional limitations have no practical relevance here, as the two regulatory bodies covering the platform have very high limits for leveraged trading.

Regulations

Blackbull Markets is a global broker with its head office in New Zealand, where it was founded. However, in addition to the office in New Zealand, what other offices does the broker have in other parts of the world? This section of our Blackbulls review will overview these offices and their relevant regulators.

BlackBull Group Limited: With the trading name, Blackbull Markets, this company is registered and incorporated in New Zealand. Its office is located at Level 20, 188 Quay St Auckland 1010.

• NZBN: 9429041417799
• FSP: 403326

BlackBull Trade Limited: This is the head office of the broker, and it is situated in New Zealand, at Level 20, 188 Quay Street, Auckland Central, Auckland 1010. It is registered under and licensed by the New Zealand Financial Markets Authority.

• NZBN: 9429049891041
• FSP: 1002113

Blackbull Markets (Seychelles) LLC:  This office of the Blackbull trading platform is located in Seychelles, at the JUC Building, Office F7B, Providence Zone 18, Mahe. It is registered as a trading broker and licensed by the Seychelles Financial Services Authority.

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

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

• Company Number: 9556804

Fees and Commissions

The structure of Blackbull Markets’ fees and commissions is relatively unfavorable, with some of its fees and commissions being low and the rest being roof-high. As with every other broker, there are two types of fees you will encounter on Blackbull Markets: trading and non-trading fees. We will now examine the fee system on the platform under this grouping.

Trading Fees

Activities such as placing orders, converting currencies during trades, etc., are grouped as trading activities, and the fees that these activities incur are known as trading fees. These fees also cover costs related to your trading activities, such as spreads. Here are the trading fees that you get to pay on Blackbull Markets.

Spread

The spreads make up the bulk of the commissions for many brokers. They are defined as the difference between the bid and ask prices of assets, and they are usually written as a decimal number expressed in pips. Blackbull Markets spreads are largely very low, with the minimum spreads from 0.0 pips for the ECN institutional account type. ECN Prime and ECN Standard accounts have their spreads from 0.1 pips and 0.8 pips, respectively.

Commissions

When you open or close a trade, you incur a fee known as the trading commission. This fee is charged per trade and is also dependent on the volume of your trade. As a trader on Blackbull Markets, how much commission you pay per lot for any trade depends on your account type. If you use an ECN Standard account, you don’t have to worry about commissions. However, you must pay $4 per lot for any trades on an ECN Institutional account and $6 per lot for trades on an ECN Prime account.

Swaps/Rollover Costs

Swap fees are charged when you hold a position overnight, and most brokers charge them. Blackbull Markets also charges swap fees, but these are not published alongside its instrument on the website. They can only be accessed by opening an account. The problematic nature of that duly acknowledged, we were able to gather that the platform measures its swaps in points, with the swap rate for AUD/CAD on long positions being -5.382 and that for short positions being 0.0456.

Financing Rates

Blackbull Markets charges financing rates for margin trading positions held long, which are a tad high. They may vary from asset to asset; for instance, the rate for Apple share CFD is 3.7%, and that for the EUR/GBP forex pair is 2.9%.

Non-Trading Fees

All other activities not classified as trading activities fall under non-trading activities, and the fees they incur are known as non-trading fees. These activities are more passive in nature, such as account maintenance, administration, etc. Here are the non-trading fees you will find on the Blackbull Markets trading platform.

Deposit and Withdrawal Fees

These are the fees that a platform charges you per transaction for funding or withdrawing from your account. Blackbull Markets has a no-fee policy for deposits, so you don’t get charged anything for funding your account. However, withdrawing your funds is quite expensive as the withdrawal fee per transaction is $5.

Account Types

What type of trading you can do, what benefits you can enjoy, and what platform features you can access can be determined by what account type you operate. If the platform options are diverse, you are more likely to find one that suits your specific trading needs. There are five Blackbull Markets accounts you can choose from, and we are going to review each of them briefly.

The main ones are all  ECN accounts: the Standard, Prime, Islamic, and Institutional accounts. There is also a share trading account for trading real shares.

Demo Account

This account type is for practice trading, and it is designed to allow traders to simulate real trading in a risk-free environment. It features a full replica of the live markets, access to all the advanced trading tools and features, and a base account balance of $100,000 in virtual funds that can be increased by the same amount with every click of “add funds.”

ECN Standard Account

If you are fresh out of the demo trading account, or you have trading experience and would like to trade live at minimum risk and in standard conditions, this account type is for you. The ECN Standard account is the perfect choice for beginners, with its $0 minimum deposit and leverage up to 1:500. It shares the same minimum lot size as the other account types at 0.01 lot, and the account holder will not be charged any commissions. However, the spreads start from 0.8 pips, much higher than the other account types.

ECN Prime Account

An upgrade from the standard account, this one is for traders with significant skill and experience with trading who wish to undertake more advanced, higher-risk trading. This account type offers an edge in trading with low spreads from 0.1 pips and access to all tradable instruments on the platform. However, it has a commission of $6 per 100k traded, and the minimum deposit is $2,000.

ECN Institutional Account

This account type is for those who want to trade on an institutional level, like businesses or trading conglomerates. It offers a number of perks, such as free VPS service access for trading 10 lots per month, 24/7 technical support, customizable commission structures, custom option servers, and slightly lesser commission at $4. However, it has a high minimum deposit requirement of $20,000.

Islamic Account

People of the Islamic faith are forbidden by religious law to take or pay interest. Trades who are of this faith, being obliged against swaps and interests, have a special account designed to enable them to trade without interest or swaps. This swap-free account allows them still to access all the cool features of the platform.

Share Trading Account

This account type is for those interested in trading real shares instead of the share CFDs available on the other account types. As the shares tradable here are not leveraged, this account type does not come with leverage.

Trading Platforms

Here, we will examine the Blackbull Markets apps and their availability on mobile and desktop devices.

Desktop Trading Platform

If you wish to do desktop trading on the Blackbull Markets, there are many options. To begin with, you can use the platform’s proprietary Share Trading platform, Blackbull Shares. Otherwise, you can use the TradingView, MT4, MT5, or Webtrader programs. In this Blackbull Markets review section, we will explore the Blackbull Shares platform.

Platform Overview

Blackbull Shares is a proprietary shares trading platform that offers a user-friendly interface and advanced trading capabilities. The platform allows great versatility with up to 70+ order types, including stop orders, market orders, and limit orders. It also brings to bear a number of other neat features we will now look at.

Technical Indicators

On Blackbull shares, you gain access to a host of advanced technical indicators, including Bollinger Bands, Moving Average Convergence Divergence, and Relative Strength Index.

Charting Tools

The platform features new, advanced charting tools, complete with annotation and drawing tools.

Research and Analytics

The platform also enables traders to gain insight into market patterns with advanced and customizable research and analytics capabilities.

Data Feed

Blackbull Shares’ comprehensive data and news feed allows you to stay on top of the market trends with live financial and market updates.

How to Open an Account and Trade on the Blackbull Shares

To start trading on the Blackbull Shares desktop trading platform, you must first open an account on the platform. The account opening typically takes a short while to complete, and verification of ID can take a while longer. These are the steps to opening your Blackbull Shares trading account.

1. Enter the Blackbull Shares page and click on Register now’ in the middle of the page.
2. You will be directed to the sign-up page, where you will start by providing your email, names, and mobile number and clicking ‘Get Started’ to proceed.
3. Fill out the fields on the next page, providing details like your phone number, nation of residence, and Tax ID number.
4. On the next page, you will have to set your account parameters, including the account type and base currency. Once done, hit the Proceed button.
5. The final registration stage is the ID verification stage, where you must upload relevant proof-of-address and proof-of-ID documents.
6. Once you have verified your account, you can then proceed to fund it from the wallet section of the Blackbull Shares dashboard. There, you must select the wallet to fund as well as the amount to fund.
7. Once you have set the specifics of the transaction, you can authorize it.

You can now trade shares on your account by following these steps.

1. Find the asset that you want to trade and click on it.
2. Set the amount that you will like to buy as well as other parameters, such as Stop Loss and Take Profit.
3. Overview the trade details, then place the order.

Mobile Apps

You can also trade with Blackbull Markets on your mobile app through three apps: MT4 & 5 and the Blackbull Trade mobile application. In this section of the review, we will shine the spotlight on the Blackbull Trade app, especially since it’s the platform’s proprietary app. So, what’s the world on this app, then?

Blackbull Trade is a web and mobile application that allows you to trade with Blackbull Markets without the need for a third-party platform like MT4 or 5. The app comes with many advanced features to make your trading more seamless, such as trading bots and price analysis features. Let us look at these features more closely.

Watchlist

This feature allows you to keep close tabs on selected assets on a single page that shows you all the relevant information you need.

Charting Tools

The range of advanced charting tools available on the platform allows you to track various assets in a variety of ways and with special attention to a whole range of factors affecting their price movements.

Automated Trade Execution

The app contains a range of features that will enable you to introduce some degree of automation to your trading. However, these are mostly weaker forms like stop loss and take profit.

How to Open an Account and Trade on the Blackbull Trade App

Opening your account on Mobile is pretty straightforward, and you need only follow the exact steps we outlined for the opening of the desktop account. The only difference in procedure is that on the trading preference page, you should select Blackbull Trade as your preferred platform. Once you have opened your account, you can then fund your account and trade by following these simple steps.

1. Access the ‘My Wallet’ section in your Secure Client Area and select the wallet you would like to fund.
2. On the next page, select the funding method you would like to use and click ‘Next’ to proceed.
3. Specify the amount of funds you would like to transfer; note that the applicable fee will be displayed on the page.
4. The next page will contain an overview of all the payment details. Once you are satisfied that the details are accurate, tap ‘confirm’ to fund your account.
5. Having funded your account, you can now trade shares by searching out the one you wish to buy or sell.
6. On the order interface, set the amount you want to trade as well as other controls like stop-loss and take-profit.
7. Overview your order details and click on ‘Buy’ or ‘Sell’ accordingly.

Payment Methods

Deposits and withdrawals at Blackbull Markets can be executed through several different methods, which we will review here. The available methods include debit cards, credit cards,  bank transfers, e-wallets, and cryptocurrency transfers.

Deposit

If you are depositing money into your Blackbull Markets trading wallet, you will be able to do it through e-wallets like Neteller and Skrill, as well as bank transfers and Visa Credit cards and debit cards.

In any case, there are no fees for depositing, which makes deposits super affordable. This table contains the available deposit methods and their processing times.

Withdrawals

All the same channels for deposits on the Blackbull Markets trading platform also work for making withdrawals. However, there is a little snag in the fact that the cost of withdrawals is quite high, at $5, for all methods.

Account Base Currency

The base currency is the single underlying currency in which the financial information pertaining to you will be rendered. It is also the currency in which your transactions will be executed by default unless you need to convert to another currency. There are usually conversion costs to pay when there is such a need.

On the Blackbull Markets trading platform, there are eight available account base currencies, and these are the USD, GBP, JPY, NZD, EUR, SGD, CAD, THB, CNY, BRL and AUD.

Research and Education

If you must learn, improve, and hone your trading skills over time, you need access to helpful educational materials and research tools. So, in this review section, we will look at the research and education resources the Blackbull Markets trading platform offers.

Blackbull Markets’ education hub is pretty robust in scope, as it offers access to a very wide variety of educational content and other resources. New traders can get acquainted with the basics of trading through the one-hour, instrument-specific beginner courses. Other resources include the library of platform tutorials, traders’ education videos numbering up to 3,000+, and many educational podcasts and market analysis pieces.

Another really useful educational and research resource on Blackbull Markets is the Blackbull Research special service, which allows you to access jargon-free, institutional-grade stock recommendations. And finally, the Market Analysis feature of the platform allows you to access timely expert analysis of current or past market trends.

Customer Services

Customer support is a very crucial aspect of any trading platform; traders regularly run into issues and will require assistance. And so, in this section of our Blackbull Markets review, we will look at the customer support performance on the platform.

Customer support on the Blackbull Markets trading platform is quite broad in scope, as there are several available channels of communication here. Additionally, the service is quite prompt, with responses on live chat typically within a few minutes and email responses arriving in under 30 minutes. Phone call responses typically take less than a minute.

In addition to phone, email, and live chat, Blackbull Markets also maintains social media handles on LinkedIn, Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, Youtube, WhatsApp, and Telegram. And should you wish to try and find answers to a query of yours without contacting the customer support agents, you could always search your queries in the search box and view the related results or visit the FAQs section.

Online Reviews

In this section of our review, we will now turn to the online community and see what other users of Blackbull Markets have to say about the platform. We will be gauging user sentiments from four major online platforms: Reddit, Quora, TrustPilot, and ForexPeaceArmy..

What Reddit Users Say About Blackbull Markets

There are very few users’ opinions about Blackbull Markets in the Reddit space. However, the few available ones are quite mixed. Like this user, some find the platform to be quite risky and expensive. The user is not pleased about the apparent lack of protection against cash sweeps, and he thinks the fees are expensive.

This other user finds the general offering okay, but he sarcastically remarks about losing money through a new pay-by-phone method.

What Quora Users Say About Blackbull Markets

There are currently no user opinions about Blackbull Markets on Quora.

TrustPilot Users’ Review About Blackbull Markets

Blackbull Markets has overwhelmingly sunny reviews on TrustPilot, with an average rating of 4.1 stars from 141 users. Most of the positive comments commend the swiftness and  friendliness of the support staff. No, really, nearly all of them are about customer service. Some find the staff to be particularly patient, even with clients asking obnoxious questions.

However, among the many shining commendations of the customer support team, there are also others who find other things to commend. For instance, this user likes everything from the user-friendliness and easy deposits/withdrawals to the Islamic account option and the huge leverages.

But then, there are also a few bad comments, and they are very bad. For example, this user declares the platform a scam that was under investigation at the time of his writing. He calls for a straight-up class action lawsuit against the broker.

ForexPeaceArmy Users’ Review About Blackbull Markets

With an average rating of 4.28 stars out of 87 reviews, the user sentiment on ForexPeaceArmy is nearly as positive as that of TrustPilot. Some users find the platform, in general, to be awesome, commending everything from customer support and payment methods to trading conditions.

Others are happy with the spreads and the deposit speeds.

However, you will also find others who have concerns about the platform. Take this user, for instance, who finds the execution times great but notes that there is a serious slippage problem.

Other Products and Services

In addition to the services we have discussed throughout this Blackbull Markets review, the broker also offers a few other services worth mentioning. We will now overview them in this section.

Multiterminal Trading

Through the MT4 Multiterminal platform, Blackbull Markets allows you to trade on multiple accounts simultaneously, increasing your efficiency and productivity. This service is also great if you are running a trading conglomerate.

MyFxBook

MyFxBook is an affiliated trading site whose features you can access from Blackbull Markets. It allows you to track, analyze, compare, and share your trading activities and follow those of others.

VPS Trading

Virtual private servers provide a way to maximize speed and reliability by giving you access to a dedicated server space you don’t have to share with other users. The platform’s VPS service comes from a top-tier hosting service, BeeksFX, for $30 a month.

ZuluTrade

ZuluTrade is a leading peer-to-peer social trading platform you can access through Blackbull Markets. It allows you to learn by observing and mimicking the trading strategies of thousands of talented and skilled traders from around the globe.

Referrals and Affiliate Programs

The broker offers three different related programs that are relevant here. The referral program allows you to earn up to $250 by referring new traders to the platform using your referral code. With the Introducing Broker program, you can earn money using your networking and teamwork skills for the platform. Finally, the CPA Affiliate program allows you to earn up to $1,000 using your own social platforms to generate organic traffic for Blackbull Markets.

Autochartist

Autochartist is a feature you can set up to help you accurately predict trends and respond more effectively to them. Autochartist contains a suite of automated charting tools to help you achieve this aim.

API Trading

With the API trading service offered in the form of  FIX API, you can bypass the Blackbull Markets MT4 app and connect directly to the platform’s ECN grid.

Is Blackbull Markets Safe?

Finally, we turn to the matter of Blackbull Markets safety. Is the platform safe and trustworthy for traders? There are many factors to review here, and we will see how the broker performs with regard to each of them.

The first factor to consider is the licensing and regulation, which is not very strong in Blackbull Markets. The platform has only two regulators, one of which is the Seychelles FSA, a low-tier regulator. There is also the issue of security for client funds, an area in which the broker performs quite well. In line with the relevant laws and regulations, the company keeps all the client funds in segregated bank accounts to protect them in case of financial trouble. This way, clients are protected from loss due to financial troubles on the part of Blackbull Markets. And with the ECN system in place, the platform cannot interfere with your trades.

Finally, there is multifactor security, which the platform does not seem to have. However, it has solid verification requirements in place to verify clients’ identities before letting them on.

Bottom Line

In all, our Blackbull Markets review finds that the pricing, leverages, and spreads on the platform are very competitive despite their high fees. Their account options are also very flexible, offering various features and perks to suit various types of trading.

The account opening procedure is straightforward and quick to complete, though verification may take anywhere from an hour to 24 hours. Education and research are pretty robust, given the many resources that are available to use. This includes the FAQs, which may also be considered part of the customer support system – another area where Blackbull Markets does quite well. The promptness and friendliness of the responses all but make up for the fact that agent support is unavailable on weekends. And, of course, there are security measures like ID verification requirements, SSL Certification and encryption, and the use of segregated accounts to secure clients’ money.

However, on the downside, the regulation is not very solid, and the high leverages mean you face a higher risk.