KVB Kunlun Review

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Founded in 2001, KVB Kunlun Financial Group Limited (KVB Kunlun) became a listed forex broker (HKEX:8077.HK) after its IPO on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange in July 2013. KVB Kunlun is a wholly-owned subsidiary of China’s largest investment bank CITIC Securities (HKG:6030), following its acquisition of the broker in 2015.

Through its wholly owned subsidiaries that operate using the KVB Kunlun brand, the broker provides its own proprietary trading platform alongside the popular MetaTrader 4 (MT4) platform developed by MetaQuotes Software Corporation.

Through its international entities, KVB Kunlun has obtained money services licenses in Canada and in Hong Kong where it is regulated by the Securities and Futures Commission (SFC) with several licenses that include leveraged forex. KVB Kunlun is regulated by the Australian Securities and Investment Commission (ASIC) where it holds an Australia Financial Services License (AFSL).

The group has an entity regulated by the Financial Markets Authority (FMA) in New Zealand where it holds a derivatives issuer license and several registrations with the Financial Services Provider Register (FSPR). Finally, the firm has regulatory status in China with the China Banking Regulatory Commission (CRBC).

Ratings Summary

Trust Score

Trading with a forex broker traders can trust is crucial to success. Unfortunately, forex fraud and scams are common in the industry.

Here at ForexBrokers.com, we maintain the largest independent regulatory database available on the web. Using 28 different variables, we have created a proprietary 1-100 score (the higher the better) of overall trustworthiness, which we call the Trust Score. Here is our trust summary of KVB Kunlun .

Offering of Investments

The following table summarizes the different investment products available to KVB Kunlun clients.

Commissions & Fees

Forex trading costs at KVB Kunlun consist of the spread, and the broker acts as a principal when executing off-exchange products, including forex and CFDs.

Overall, there aren’t many pricing options when it comes to account types, and while KVB Kunlun doesn’t publish average spreads for forex, it lists a minimum target spread of 1.3 pips for the EUR/USD pair, which is not as competitive as leading industry peers (even if it were an average spread).

Customer Service

For our 2018 Forex Review, 129 customer service phone tests were conducted over three months. The data collected is institutional grade. On average, three questions were asked for each test. To score each test, the tests were divided into three separate groups and scores were given for the time taken to connect with each support representative and the ability of each representative to professionally (and thoroughly) answer each question. A Net Promoter Score was also given for the overall experience.

Results:

• Average Connection Time: 2-3 minute
• Average Net Promoter Score: 3.5 / 10
• Average Professionalism Score: 3.6 / 10
• Overall Score: 4.5 / 10
• Ranking: 39^th (43 brokers)

Research

KVB Kunlun has a team of registered financial advisers, and provides risk hedging and consulting to its corporate FX clients. Services offered include trading strategy analysis and technical analysis, as well as risk-management simulations.

However, KVB Kunlun does not score highly overall when it comes to research as it lacks the usual research tools such as an economic calendar, daily blog updates, trading signals, sentiment tools and related resources brokers usually integrate in their platforms and website.

Platforms & Tools

KVB Kunlun is primarily a MetaTrader 4 (MT4) broker offering the standard, out-of-the-box MT4 platform experience, branded as ForexStar. You can find full details on the MT4 suite developed by MetaQuotes Software Corporation, in our MetaTrader guide.

While MT4 comes standard, with little variation in functionality from broker to broker, there can be significant differences in how the platform is set up for trading spreads and commissions, execution, and other tools, features, and administrative areas.

Besides spreads, the range of instruments, and account types, here is a summary of the differences in features between KVB Kunlun’s available MT4 platform setup and the default MetaTrader experience:

• News headlines stream only for live account holders

Mobile Trading

Since KVB Kunlun is primarily a MetaTrader-only broker when it comes to forex trading, iOS and Android versions of the MT4 app come standard (branded as Forex Star) and are both available for download from the Apple iTunes store and Android Playstore, respectively.

Other Notes

Besides forex trading on MT4, KVB Kunlun offers its Hong Kong Securities Trading platform, which is available for web in Java or an HTML version. This platform gives investors access to exchange-traded shares in Hong Kong and 32 international shares under its Global Securities Brokerage.

For exchange-traded securities, clients using the Hong Kong Securities Trading platform can choose between a margin account or a non-margin account.

The fee for streaming real-time exchange data using KVB Kunlun’s Hong Kong Securities Trading platform is HKD360 per month, and the minimum commission per trade is HKD100 or a maximum 1% of the trade value.

Final Thoughts

Investors and self-directed traders looking for wealth-management solutions from a publicly listed broker regulated throughout Asia-Pacific – including mainland China – get a choice of forex and CFD trading on MT4 and Hong Kong exchange-traded securities from the KVB Kunlun brand group of companies.

Research is not KVB Kunlun’s strong point, as it is not offered to retail traders, and is available only to corporate FX customers. Alongside research, customer service is another weakness of the broker.

KVB Kunlun slashed the number of CFDs it offers by half, with just 13 left to trade, and its securities trading products are segmented away from forex and CFD offerings on MT4. With a target spread of 1.3 pips on the EUR/USD, pricing is just, “ok”.

Expanding its research tools to retail traders and centralizing its tradeable instruments into one platform would be a positive first step to boost KVB Kunlun’s offering.

Methodology

For our 2018 Forex Broker Review we assessed, rated, and ranked 43 international forex brokers. Each FX broker was graded on 140 variables. Learn more.

Forex Risk Disclaimer

"There is a very high degree of risk involved in trading securities. With respect to margin-based foreign exchange trading, off-exchange derivatives, and cryptocurrencies, there is considerable exposure to risk, including but not limited to, leverage, creditworthiness, limited regulatory protection and market volatility that may substantially affect the price, or liquidity of a currency or related instrument. It should not be assumed that the methods, techniques, or indicators presented in these products will be profitable, or that they will not result in losses."Learn more.

Reviewed by Steven Hatzakis Steven Hatzakis is the Global Director of Research for ForexBrokers.com. Steven previously served as an Editor for Finance Magnates, where he authored over 1,000 published articles about the online finance industry. Steven is an active fintech and crypto industry researcher and advises blockchain companies at the board level. Over the past 19 years, Steven has held numerous positions within the international forex markets, from writing to consulting to serving as a registered commodity futures representative.