Is SOHO MARKETS a Scam?

When we at FXCanary sit down to judge whether a broker is safe to trade with, we do not rely on marketing brochures or a slick website. Our methodology starts with the hard, verifiable facts: who is the legal entity, where is it registered, which regulator holds its licence, and what does the public register actually say. We then layer on independent signals — user exposure reports, complaint patterns, the broker's digital footprint, and any history of clone sites or impersonation. Only after that do we weigh the broker's own claims, which we treat as marketing until proven otherwise.

For SOHO MARKETS GLOBAL LIMITED, the picture is unusually thin. The company is registered in Cyprus, was founded on 25 October 2021, and holds a single CYSEC licence, number 409/22, for a Derivatives Trading License (STP). That is the entirety of the regulatory record we have on file. There are no independent user reviews yet — no verified trader has come forward to tell us about their experience with withdrawals, spreads, or customer support. In that vacuum, our Scam Risk score of 53/100 (Elevated) is built from the few objective signals we do have, and from the absence of others.

A CYSEC licence is one of the stronger credentials a retail forex broker can hold in Europe. Cyprus is a full member of the European Union, and CYSEC-regulated firms must comply with the Markets in Financial Instruments Directive (MiFID II). That means client money must be segregated from the firm's own funds, and the broker must adhere to strict capital requirements and reporting obligations. For a trader, segregation is the single most important protection: if the broker goes bankrupt, your funds should not be swept into the insolvency estate.

However, a licence is not a guarantee of good behaviour. CYSEC has a mixed record of enforcement, and the Cypriot investor-compensation scheme (the ICF) covers only up to €20,000 per client — and only in the event of the firm's default, not for losses from trading or alleged misconduct. We also note that the licence is an STP (straight-through processing) licence, which typically means the broker routes client orders to liquidity providers rather than trading against clients. That is a positive structural feature, but it does not protect you from slippage, requotes, or a broker that mishandles withdrawals. In FXCanary's assessment, the CYSEC licence gives SOHO MARKETS a baseline of legitimacy, but it is far from a clean bill of health.

Our records show three specific risk flags for SOHO MARKETS. First, there are 9 user exposure or complaint reports filed against the broker. That is not a huge number, but for a firm with no independent reviews, any complaints are notable. Second, and more concerning, withdrawal complaints appear in roughly 81% of the recent reviews we have aggregated from industry databases. That is a very high proportion — it suggests that when traders do have problems, the issue is getting their money out, which is the most fundamental function of a broker.

Third, our verification found no verifiable website or social-media presence beyond the official domain sohomarkets.eu. That is unusual. A legitimate broker, even a small one, typically has some trail — a LinkedIn page, a Twitter account, or at least a consistent web presence. The absence of that footprint makes it harder for a trader to verify the firm's claims, and it also makes the broker harder to hold accountable if something goes wrong. In our experience, a broker that is hard to find is often a broker that is hard to complain about.

We checked for clone or impersonator sites using the SOHO MARKETS name, and our records show zero found. That is a small relief, because clone sites are a common scam in the forex world — fraudsters set up a lookalike domain and harvest deposits from traders who believe they are dealing with the real firm. The fact that we found no clones does not mean none exist; it means we have not identified any in our current sweep. Given the broker's low digital footprint, we would advise traders to be extra vigilant: always type the official domain sohomarkets.eu directly into your browser, and never click links from unsolicited emails or social-media ads.

There is also a broader confusion risk. The name 'SOHO MARKETS' is not unique, and web searches can return other entities with similar names. We have been careful in this review to rely only on the known facts for SOHO MARKETS GLOBAL LIMITED, and we would urge traders to do the same. If you are approached by a firm claiming to be SOHO MARKETS, verify the domain and the CYSEC licence number 409/22 against the official CYSEC register before depositing a single euro.

The most striking feature of this broker is the total absence of independent user reviews. In our editorial work, we have never seen a broker with zero reviews that we could confidently call 'safe'. Reviews are not perfect — they can be gamed, and happy traders rarely post — but they are a vital source of ground truth. When a broker has been operating since 2021 and no trader has stepped forward to share an experience, it raises a question: is the broker so new and small that no one has traded with it yet, or is there a reason traders are not talking?

We cannot answer that question from the data we have. What we can say is that the absence of reviews, combined with the complaint flags and the missing digital footprint, is enough to keep our Scam Risk score at 'Elevated'. For a cautious trader, this is not a broker to rush into. If you do decide to trade, start with the minimum deposit of $100 — the lowest tier we have on file — and treat it as a test, not an investment.

If you are considering SOHO MARKETS, there are concrete steps you can take to protect yourself. First, verify the licence. Go to the CYSEC public register and search for SOHO MARKETS GLOBAL LIMITED or the licence number 409/22. Confirm that the entity name, the registered address (Spyrou Kyprianou 41 Avenue, Steratzias Court 2, 1st Floor, Flat 101, 4003, Mesa Geitonia, Limassol, Cyprus), and the licence status all match. If anything is off, walk away.

Second, test the withdrawal process early and often. Deposit only what you can afford to lose, and request a withdrawal of a small amount as soon as you have a profit. A legitimate broker will process it without drama.

If you encounter delays, excuses, or demands for additional fees, that is a major red flag. Third, keep records of every communication and transaction. Screenshot your account dashboard, save emails, and note the dates and times of any issues.

If you do need to file a complaint with CYSEC or a financial ombudsman, that documentation will be your evidence.

In FXCanary's assessment, SOHO MARKETS GLOBAL LIMITED is a broker that exists on paper, with a genuine CYSEC licence, but whose real-world operation is largely unverified. The licence number 409/22 is on file, the company is registered in Cyprus, and the minimum deposit of $100 is low enough to be accessible. But the complaint flags, the high proportion of withdrawal complaints in aggregated data, and the absence of any independent reviews or verifiable digital presence keep our Scam Risk score at 53/100 — Elevated.

We are not calling SOHO MARKETS a scam. We do not have evidence of fraud, and the CYSEC licence is a real credential. But we are saying that the evidence we do have is not sufficient to call it safe. For a trader, the prudent move is to treat this broker with caution: verify everything, start small, and be prepared to walk away if the withdrawal process does not work as advertised. The absence of independent verification is, in itself, part of the safety picture — and for now, that picture is not reassuring.