While I was browsing my TikTok feed, someone on TikTok brought up that OctaFX was in the Securities Comission Investor Alert List. This company originated from England.
I did a check to confirm this fact and apparently indeed OctaFX is on SC's alert list.
Whoever has surfed Youtube in Malaysia would see the OctaFX advertisements being blasted in their face and that is also how I got to know about this company. I think the OctaFX marketing budget is quite big as they have personalized Malaysia ads where you see influencers raving about this app. OctaFX also seem to have a referral system and hence lots of people are promoting it. My friends tell me also this app OctaFX is also heavily promoted on CariGold forum.
While I've never used OctaFX, it seems to be some sort of international broker in forex, CFD (contract of difference) and cryptocurrencies. OctaFX's most prominent feature is its copy trading function allowing users to copy trades of other people. For example, if someone buys A, then the system buys A for you. The premise of the idea of copy trade is you copy a successful trader instead of doing it yourself.
This post is not to call out OctaFX as I'm not a user, so I am not qualified to judge this platform but the fact that it's on SC's alert list means investors and the public have to be careful and do their homework before using this platform. I think the reason for being on the SC list is because OctaFX is carrying out trading activities without an operating approval/license in Malaysia. SC Malaysia is quite clear and transparent to note that being on the Investor Alert List doesn't mean that the company is a scam but instead some of these companies lack operating license in Malaysia. These companies are basically out of reach from the Malaysian law if anything goes wrong.
The charges SC Malaysia is raising against OctaFX are:
• Carrying out capital market activities of dealing in derivatives without a license; and
• Operating a recognized market without authorisation from the SC.
I double check the SC website to make sure it's not a clone company and the website matches the one listed on SC Malaysia. The alert was posted only recently in year 2020.
Interestingly OctaFX also falls prey to real scammer companies and identity theft. A few scam platforms are using OctaFX name to lure people to sign up to fake OctaFX sites which SC Malaysia also did flagged out in their Investor Alert list.
📍Updates 20220831
After being on the SC list, Bank Negara has also flagged out OctaFX into their Financial Consumer Alert List.
There's another trading platform called Olymtrade..investors need to be careful, I'm sure the company does not have approval to operate in Malaysia.
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