Darwinex Review: Services, Fees & Commissions

Darwinex is a pioneering online brokerage that adopts an innovative data-driven methodology to trading, fostering the growth of traders and investors by facilitating the establishment of credible track records. Founded in 2012 and regulated by the FCA, this London-based provider stands out for its transparent approach and fair trading conditions in a secure environment. 

Today, we'll cover the services that the platform has to offer, comparing it to competitors and diving into all the features and fees in order to help you determine if it is the right choice for your personal trading needs. Whether you are an experienced trader or a beginner looking to start exploring the world of online trading, our Darwinex review will help you make an informed decision.

Darwinex: Data-Driven Trading

The Overview: What is Darwinex?

Darwinex is a rapidly growing worldwide trading and asset management platform. The company originally started as Tradeslide Trading Tech Limited, before launching its trading name Darwinex in 2012, after which it has expanded to serve clients across 80 countries.

In 2017, Darwinex successfully launched its own alpha asset called DARWIN (Dynamic and Risk Weighted Investments), tripling its revenue and massively contributing to its current popularity in the world of online brokerages.

Darwinex offers trading in more than 1,000 instruments in forex, indices, stocks, cryptocurrencies and other commodities on direct market access platforms like MT4 and MT5.

Is Darwinex Regulated?

Darwinex is a trading name of the Tradeslide Trading Tech LTD, which is a broker and asset manager regulated and supervised by the Financial Conduct Authority (Reference number: 586466) in the UK. The company holds a Markets in Financial Instruments Directive (MiFID) passport to deliver its services to all EU countries. 

Darwinex is also a member of the Financial Services Compensation Scheme (FSCS), which covers investor funds up to £85,000 per claim, in case of insolvency, and the company invests in an additional insurance policy that further covers FSCS-eligible clients up to £5,000,000 per client. Pair this with negative balance protection and the segregation of investor and client money, and Darwin easily ranks among the most customer-friendly and secure trading platforms we’ve reviewed so far.

Darwinex Account Types

Darwinex currently offers one account type to all its retail customers, no matter the size of the account. Traders can choose between Classic, Stocks Darwin and Futures Darwin accounts depending on their needs, but when it comes to trading conditions and advantages, all of the options share the same offers. 

The Darwinex professional account is still available to certain customers who have a financial portfolio larger than $500,000, a history of carrying out large transactions, and previous working experience in the financial sector. Please note that professional customers are no longer eligible for the FSCS.
 
If you are just starting your trading journey and are not yet ready to risk your money, a Darwinex demo account option is available as well. Here, you can practice and learn in a risk-free environment with virtual funds used for simulated trading.

Darwinex Zero: Trading With Zero Risk to Your Capital

In April 2023, Darwinex launched its subscription service called Darwinex Zero, or D-Zero, which allows traders to raise investor capital from a virtual account, with zero risk. This cutting-edge service provides users with a virtual trading account that is used to attract potential investors to their trading strategies.

D-Zero is designed to help you build your track record and learn how to manage investor capital at scale, challenging you to grow and push toward building your own brand as an investment manager.

The sign-up process for Darwinex Zero is quick and straightforward, seeing as you’ll be trading in a virtual account. You will have an option to choose between MT5 and MT4 platforms for your account to trade in Forex & CFDs, with a Futures account on MT5 coming soon as well. The D-Zero application is available to Windows, Mac and users of both iOS and Android platforms.  

The sign-up price for both currently available account options is $95, with a $38 monthly subscription after you’ve completed the training stage and participated in DarwinAI SILVER for the first time. 

Every person that signs up will start their Darwinex Zero journey at the same level, Stage 0:  Training.

This initial stage is where the Darwinex proprietary risk engine will analyze and calibrate your virtual account trades over a minimum period of two weeks, assessing your ability to manage risk and determining your trading style. After you’ve progressed through the training and your strategy has built a track record, your DARWIN will be created and you will automatically move to the next stage.

Note that you will need to allow Darwinex to read and copy your trades, and the time limit to complete the training stage is set at 90 days.

In the second stage, you will participate in a monthly Seed Capital Allocation Programme called DarwinIA Silver, where you will be competing with other DARWINs in order to get capital allocations and further prove to Darwinex that investing in your strategy and talent is a way for the company to grow the seed capital allocations.

You will be able to receive an allocation of anywhere between $25,000 and $250,000, and manage it for 3 months, keeping 15% of the profit you generate, paid to you as performance fees. 

When your DARWIN passes a certain threshold, you will reach the DarwinIA Gold stage where you can receive monthly allocations of up to $500,000 to manage for 6 months. This is the stage where you compete with other elite managers in order to access investor capital.

If your DARWIN is successful and you rank in the DarwinIA Gold, you can sell it to these external investors in order for them to replicate its strategy, and ultimately to build your own brand and be able to leverage capital outside the Darwinex seed capital allocation programme.

Darwinex Trading Platforms

Darwinex provides traders with access to the most popular trading platform options available, along with its proprietary API and a number of algorithmic trading plugins to complement these platforms.

MetaTrader 4 (MT4)

MetaTrader 4 is the most popular and widespread trading platform in the world, allowing traders to manage positions, execute trades and access a wide range of indicators and advisers in order to automate their strategies.

Darwinex offers a downloadable MT4 platform for self-directed trading on CFDs and forex, providing dozens of analytical tools, live pricing, pending orders and also supports algorithmic robot trading through expert advisors.

MetaTrader 5 (MT5)

Darwinex users also have access to MetaTrader 5 platform, which is the newer version offering enhanced trading experience for more experienced traders. These enhanced features include advanced order types, 21 time intervals, improved backtesting capabilities, wider range of indicators and tools and much more.
Darwin API

If you are focused strictly on copy-trading of the DARWIN assets on the DARWIN Exchange, you will also have access to the company’s proprietary software developed by Darwinex Labs. The Darwin API allows investors to buy and sell strategies using algorithmic technology, as well as to recruit trading robots, backtest assets and portfolios and access both historical data and analytical toolkits.

Algorithmic Trading Plugins

Advanced traders and developers can make use of the API connectivity offered by Darwinex to integrate with third-party platforms and implement their own algorithms, while accessing market data in real-time. These auxiliary libraries include Zorro to MetaTrader and ZeroMQ to MetaTrader bridging solutions.

Available Markets

The Darwinex platform provides you with access to over a thousand instruments across multiple markets, with the most popular being Forex, Indices, Cryptocurrencies, Shares, Stocks, Commodiest and CFDs.

There are 40+ forex pairs currently available on the platform, along with all the most prominent cryptocurrencies on the market. You can also trade in metals such as gold and silver, as well as in oil and natural gas.

Darwinex Deposits & Withdrawals

You can fund your Darwinex account in a variety of ways, including credit/debit cards, bank transfers and e-payments services like Skrill.

While deposits using Visa, Mastercard and Visa Electron have no commission fees and immediate processing times, using a bank transfer can incur commissions based on your bank of choice and processing times are 1-3 business days. Using Skrill for a deposit will incur a 0.5% commission fee. 

You can open an account in EUR, USD and GBP. The minimum deposit for all first deposits is 500 EUR/USD/ GBP for individual and joint Darwinex accounts, and 10,000 EU/USD/GBP for corporate Darwinex accounts. All subsequent deposits have a minimum amount of 100 EUR/USD/GBP.

Withdrawals also have a minimum amount of 10/EUR/USD/GBP. 

Any deposits lower than 500 EUR/USD/GBP will incur a fee from Darwinex, and all deposits made via credit/debit cards and bank transfer must be made from an account that is in the name of a registered Darwinex user.

Education & Training 

The amount of educational material on the platform is not that impressive when compared to some other competitors, but both beginner traders and novice investors have some very useful things to find on Darwinex.

There is an online training school where traders can learn how to improve their education and skills, while the Darwinex Investors Programme is aimed at novice investors that started to manage their passive investments in DARWINs. 

You can access the programme through dedicated mobile apps and there is even a rewards-based system for tracking your learning achievements. If that’s not enough, the website also features an extensive FAQ section that does a good job of covering most of the highly sought-ought questions, and there is also a community forum where ideas and knowledge are shared.

In Conclusion

All in all, Darwinex represents one of the most advanced, cutting-edge online brokers on the market. By providing a secure and transparent platform that pioneers technical advances like D-Zero, it is a perfect place for traders and investors of all experience levels, even though we would recommend it the most to seasoned customers, due to the higher minimum deposit.