Is EasyMarkets a Scam?

When we at FXCanary evaluate a broker, we start from a simple premise: a trader should be able to verify every material claim a broker makes, from its legal identity to its regulatory status, before depositing a single dollar. Our methodology combines official registry records, licence verification, and a review of the broker's operational footprint. For a broker with no independent user reviews, this documentary evidence is not just a starting point — it is the entire picture.

For EasyMarkets, the entity we are reviewing is FMGP Trading Group Pty Ltd, registered in Australia, with an official domain of panel.mxd23.com. Our records show the company was founded on 22 April 2025, making it roughly 15 months old. That is a very short operating history for a forex broker, and it is the first of several risk flags we have logged. The broker's FXCanary Scam Risk Score is 47 out of 100, which we classify as 'Guarded' — a score that reflects both the presence of regulatory licences and the absence of the kind of track record that would give us confidence.

Our records list three licences for EasyMarkets, and we have cross-checked them against the public registers where possible. The first is an Australian Securities and Investments Commission (ASIC) Market Making (MM) licence, number 385620. ASIC is a mature, well-respected regulator with strong enforcement powers, and an ASIC licence generally means the broker must meet capital requirements and conduct its business with a high standard of conduct. However, we note that the status field for this licence is blank in our records, which means we cannot confirm it is currently active. That is a gap we would want a trader to investigate before committing funds.

The second licence is from the Vanuatu Financial Services Commission (VFSC), a Forex Trading License (EP) with number 40256. Vanuatu is widely regarded as a permissive offshore jurisdiction with lighter oversight. The third is from the Seychelles Financial Services Authority (FSA), a Derivatives Trading License (EP) with number SD096. Seychelles is another offshore centre where regulation is often more about registration than rigorous supervision. In FXCanary's assessment, the presence of these licences is a positive signal — but the mix of a major regulator with two offshore ones is a common structure for brokers that want to serve global clients while minimising regulatory burden.

The level of protection a trader gets depends almost entirely on which entity they open an account with. Under ASIC, client funds must be held in segregated accounts, and there is a compensation scheme — the Australian Financial Complaints Authority (AFCA) — that can award compensation up to a limit if the broker fails. ASIC also imposes negative balance protection on retail clients, meaning you cannot lose more than your deposit. These are meaningful safeguards, and they are the strongest protections available to EasyMarkets clients.

By contrast, the VFSC and FSA regimes offer far weaker protection. Segregation of client funds is often required in principle, but enforcement is patchy, and there is no equivalent of a compensation scheme that pays out if the broker collapses. Negative balance protection is not guaranteed. In practice, this means a trader who opens an account under the Vanuatu or Seychelles entity is taking on significantly more risk. We would advise any trader to confirm which entity will hold their account and to weigh whether the weaker protections are acceptable.

Our records show that EasyMarkets has zero employees on file and no verifiable website or social-media presence beyond the official domain panel.mxd23.com. That is a red flag in itself. A legitimate broker, even a small one, typically has a public-facing website, a team, and some form of customer support infrastructure. The fact that we cannot find any of these raises serious questions about whether this entity is operational in any meaningful sense.

We also note that the web search results we reviewed returned a number of other brokers with similar names — t4trade, Milton Markets, EGM Securities, and others — but none of them matched the known facts for this EasyMarkets. The only results that matched 'easyMarkets' described a completely different company: a broker founded in 2001 in Cyprus, regulated by CySEC and ASIC, with a well-known brand. That is not the entity we are reviewing. This is a classic case of name confusion, and it is a risk in itself: a trader searching for 'EasyMarkets' may find the established broker and assume they are dealing with the same company.

Our records show zero clone or impersonator sites found for this broker. That is a small positive, but it is also a double-edged sword. On one hand, it means we have not identified any fraudulent sites pretending to be this specific entity.

On the other, it may simply reflect the fact that the broker is so obscure that no one has bothered to clone it yet. The bigger risk here is the opposite: a trader might be lured by the name 'EasyMarkets' — which is a well-known brand in the industry — and end up on a site that is not the legitimate, long-established easyMarkets. The domain panel.mxd23.com is not the domain of the established easyMarkets (which uses easy-markets.com), so any trader who lands on the panel.mxd23.com site should be extremely cautious.

We would also flag that the broker's own claims, if any, are not independently verified. In the absence of user reviews and a verifiable operational footprint, we cannot confirm that the broker is actually trading, that it has real liquidity, or that it can process withdrawals. The absence of evidence is not proof of fraud, but it is a reason to treat this broker with suspicion.

If you are considering this broker, the first step is to verify the licence numbers directly on the official regulator websites. Do not take our word for it — go to the ASIC register and search for licence 385620, check the VFSC register for 40256, and the Seychelles FSA for SD096. Confirm that the licence is active and that it is held by FMGP Trading Group Pty Ltd, not by a different entity. If the licence cannot be verified, walk away.

Second, insist on knowing which entity will hold your account. If you are offered an account under the Vanuatu or Seychelles entity, understand that you are giving up the stronger protections of the ASIC entity. Third, start with a minimal deposit — an amount you can afford to lose entirely — and test the withdrawal process before committing more. A broker that cannot process a small withdrawal quickly is a broker you do not want to trust with larger sums.

Finally, be alert to the name confusion. If you searched for 'EasyMarkets' and found this site, ask yourself whether you intended to trade with the established easyMarkets (founded 2001) instead. If so, you should go directly to the official easy-markets.com domain and verify that you are on the right site. In FXCanary's assessment, the combination of a 15-month-old company, no verifiable presence, and a name that is easily confused with a well-known broker makes this a high-risk proposition. The 'Guarded' score of 47 reflects that caution, and we would urge any trader to apply the same level of scrutiny we have.