On August 21, 2023, the Spanish regulator CNMV has issued a warning against the offshore broker Startrader operated through Startrader LLC, registered in St. Vincent & The Grenadines, the website says. The broker does not have a license to offer its financial services. Startrader Limited in the Seychelles is registered as a securities dealer with the FSA and operates IV Markets. We have placed Startrader on the Red Compliance list.
Key Data
| Trading name | Startrader |
| Related scheme | IV Markets (www.ivmarkets.com) |
| Domain | https://startrader.com www.startrader.asia |
| Social media | LinkedIn, Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, YouTube |
| Legal entities | STARTRADER LLC (SVG) STARTRADER International PTY Limited (Hong Kong STARTRADER Ltd (Seychelles) |
| Contact data | [email protected] [email protected] |
| Jurisdictions | St. Vincent & The Grenadines (SVG) Seychelles, Hong Kong |
| Leverage | up to 1:500 |
| Related individual | Peter Karsten (LinkedIn) Marius Firescu (LinkedIn) Mario Saudino (LinkedIn) Lawrence Lee (LinkedIn) Carson Chan (LinkedIn) |
| Payment options | Bank Wire (BankTransfer/SWIFT), e-wallet, crypto |
| Payment processors | VISA, MasterCard, Bitcoin, Neteller, PerfectMoney, Skrill, SticPay |
| Trustpilot | No reviews |
| Authorization | FSA Seychelles for Startrader Limited (SD049) for IV Markets |
| Compliance rating | Red |
| Warnings | CNMV |
Short Startrader Narrative
Startrader is operated by StARTRADER LLC in St. Vincent & The Grenadines, according to its website. In addition, the website lists STARTRADER International PTY Limited in Hong Kong and STARTRADER Limited in the Seychelles as legal entities. It is noted that the Seychelles entity is registered by the FSA as a securities dealer but operates a broker under a different domain. This is IV Markets (www.ivmarkets.com).
Both brokers, Startrader and IV Markets, operate primarily in Asia, according to Similarweb analysis. Most recently, Startrader‘s website has also received visits from Turkey.
In a recent press release titled “STARTRADER Achieves Unprecedented Growth Under Visionary Leadership of Peter Karsten,” Startrader CEO Peter Karsten portrays his broker as one of the fastest growing brokers for global markets. This would be thanks to his visionary leadership.. We could not see that. With just under 70,000 visitors to the website every month, Startrader is one of the medium-sized brokers. Similarweb also shows that the number of website visits has decreased significantly.
Compliance Check
We were able to register with Startrader as an EEA resident without any problems. The EEA countries as well as most other countries on this planet are included in the drop down list. This gives EEA residents access to a maximum leverage of 1:500 although for retail investors in most western jurisdictions only a maximum of 1:30 is allowed.
However, no pre-KYC deposits were possible after registration.
Due to the lack of regulatory permission, regulatory violations as well as the warning by the Spanish CNMV, we have given Startrader a Red Compliance Rating.
Share Information
If you have any information about Startrader, IV Markets, their operators and facilitators, please let us know via our whistleblower system, Whistle42.
