Alpari Nigeria Review 2023

Alpari has excellent customer support but is not regulated by any tier 1 or tier 2 regulatory authority. We consider Alpari less safe for Nigeria traders. Read our comprehensive review before opening your account.

Regulated By: FSA (Mauritius)

Headquarters: 5th Floor, 355 NEX Tower, Rue du Savoir, Cybercity, Ebene 72201, Mauritius

Foundation Year: 1998

Min Deposit: $5

Open Account Note: Forex & CFD Trading is Risky.

Alpari is one of the oldest international forex brokers in the world. It was incorporated in 1998 and has served thousands of forex and CFD traders around the globe.

Alpari broker offers a decent number of trading instruments through multiple types of trading accounts. They have a local office in Nigeria and also accept deposits and withdrawals through local banks in Nigeria. The spreads are slightly higher than some of the regulated brokers.

Alpari is not well regulated though. They are not regulated with any Top-tier regulation, so safety is a concern.

Read our detailed review on Alpari for traders in Nigeria. We have covered each benefit and limitation of the broker, specifically for the Nigerian clients.

Alpari Nigeria – A quick look

Is Alpari Safe?

Alpari is one of the oldest CFD brokers in the world & it is based in Cyprus. The broker was previously regulated by top-tier FCA but the regulatory license was revoked after facing heavy losses on trading Swiss francs against the Euro. Currently, it is only regulated by one Offshore regulatory authority.

Alpari is regulated by the Financial Services Commission of Mauritius with registration number C113012295 Code FS-4.1, Code SEC-2.1B under the legal name of Exinity Limited.

The license allows the broker to provide forex and CFD trading services to traders in various countries of the world. However, Alpari is not regulated by any other tier 1 or tier 2 regulatory authorities which puts it behind many competitors in Nigeria in terms of safety.

It is a privately owned firm that is not regulated by any major regulators except FSC (Mauritius). Due to no major regulatory license, the third-party risk of trading at Alpari is significantly high.

Alpari Fees

The fee structure at Alpari is complex due to the availability of multiple account types. The spreads and commissions on the available currency pairs and CFDs are different for each aailable account type.

Trading fees

The trading fees at Alpari depend on the account type opened by the trader. Following is the description of trading fees at Alpari for each account type.

Traders must note that Alpari charges variable spreads on all the instruments and the spreads may change depending on the market condition.

1. Micro Account: It is the basic commission-free account type that allows trading on 25 currency pairs and 2 spot metals. The spreads start from 1.2 pips per lot and the average typical spread for EUR/USD was found to be 1.7 pips per lot.
2. Standard Account: The spreads on this account type start from 0.9 pips per lot but the average typical spread was 1.2 pips per lot for EUR/USD currency pair. Traders do not have to pay any commission with the standard account type.
3. ECN MT4 & MT5: The ECN account at Alpari is available in MT4 and MT5 versions. A commission of 1.5$ per trade order is involved with both variants of the ECN account. The spreads start from 0.1 pips per lot and the average typical spread for EUR/USD was found to be 0.3 pips per lot for the MT4 and 0.4 pips per lot for the MT5 version of the ECN account.
4. Pro Account: It is the most cost-effective account type at Alpari as spreads are low and no commission is involved in trading fees. The spreads start from 0.1 pips per lot and the average typical spread for EUR/USD was found to be 0.3 pips per lot.

The following table compares the Average typical spread at Alpari with the Standard, ECN, and the Pro account for major trading instruments.

Swap Fees: The swap rates or overnight charges are incurred to traders if any position is kept open overnight. It is important to check the swap rates for each instrument before leaving their position open overnight.

The Swap rates at Alpari for all the instruments are the same for every account type. Although, each instrument has a different swap rate for a long and short positions. The swap rate for EUR/USD with the Standard account type at Alpari is -0.61 and -0.06 for long and short position respectively. It is higher than some of the regulated forex brokers in Nigeria.

Non Trading Fees
The non-trading fees involve the money charged from the traders without executing trade orders. At Alpari, the non-trading fees are low as the account opening is free and traders in Nigeria can deposit and withdraw through local banks without any additional cost.

Although, if no trades are executed for 6 months consecutively, an inactivity fee of 5$ is charged per month until a new trade order is executed. The inactivity fee is the only non-trading fee that can be charged from traders in Nigeria at Alpari.

Overall, we found non-trading fees to be attractive but the trading fees are slightly higher for the Standard and Micro account types. The ECN and pro account types are more economical in terms of fees but require a higher minimum deposit.

Compared to other CFD and forex brokers in Nigeria, we found the spreads at Alpari to be higher than some of the competitors by a very small margin.

Trading Platform

Alpari international offers the most popular trading platform for forex and CFD trading. The MetaTrader 4 and MetaTrader 5 trading platforms are available on multiple devices to offer a convenient and resourceful trading experience.

The trading platforms are available for web, desktop, android, and iOS devices and offer various charting and analysis features to the traders.

The MT4 and MT5 trading platforms are quite popular among forex and CFD traders around the world. Nearly all the available regulated brokers in Nigeria offer MetaTrader trading platforms. The unavailability of the cTrader platform can be a drawback for Alpari.

Customer Support

The customer support at Alpari is very helpful, attentive, and useful. We raised multiple queries through multiple methods at different times to review customer support. Traders can connect with the following methods with the customer support executives at Alpari.

1. Live chat: The live chat at the official website of Alpari international is quite impressive. The support executives are readily available and each query we raised through live chat was resolved within a few seconds.



2. Telegram: Alpari also provides customer support service through the telegram app and traders can raise their query at @AlpariINTL_bot on telegram. We found the service at Telegram to be a bit slower than the live chat window.
3. Email: Traders in Nigeria can also clear their queries through emails by emailing at [email protected]. They generally revert back within 1-3 hours but may take longer at times.



4. Local Nigerian Phone Number: Traders in Nigeria can connect with the support executives through a local phone number. This is a major advantage for Nigerian clients in terms of customer support.

Overall, Alpari offers impressive customer support service through multiple methods of connectivity. Compared to other regulated brokers in Nigeria, Alpari has better support services than many of its peers.

Alpari Account Types

Traders in Nigeria can choose between 4 types of live accounts at Alpari. They also offer a demo account type where traders can trade with virtual currency and gain experience regarding forex trades.

Each live account type can be opened with Naira as base currency which is a major advantage for traders in Nigeria. The other options to choose the base currency are USD, EUR, and GBP.

Following is the description of each account type at Alpari:

1. Micro Account: This is an ideal account type for the beginner or new traders as the minimum deposit is the lowest (₦1,000) and the lot size for the currency pairs is 1000 (micro lots). It is a commission-free account type but spreads are highest at Alpari with the micro account. Traders have access to 25 currency pairs and 2 CFDs on spot metals with a maximum leverage of 1:400. The Micro account is only supported on the MT4 trading platform.



2. Standard Account: It is also a commission-free account type that can be chosen to trade with standard lots i.e. 100,000 units in 1 lot. The minimum deposit for this account type is ₦20,000 and the maximum leverage is 1:1000. This account type gives access to the highest number of trading instruments at Alpari. It is exclusively available with the MT4 trading platform.
3. ECN Account: This is the only account type at Alpari that involves a commission of 1.5$ for a single side trade and is available for MT4 as well as the MT5 trading platform. The minimum deposit for the ECN account type is ₦20,000 but the spreads are different for the MT4 and MT5 variants of this account type. The maximum leverage is 1:1000. Most of the available instruments can be traded with this account type although, the MT5 version of the ECN account does not allow trading on Cryptocurrency CFDs.



4. Pro Account: This is the most cost-effective account type at Alpari as it does not charge any commission and the spreads start from as low as 0.1 pips per lot. However, the low fees trading with a pro account con only be availed after a gigantic initial deposit of $25,000. The account type is ideal for high-volume traders. The maximum leverage is 1:300. Traders can trade with 54 currency pairs and 3 spot metals CFDs with the pro account.

We liked the variation in the account types as every type of trader can have a suitable account type at Alpari. The fact that each account can be opened with NGN as a base currency is a major advantage for traders in Nigeria.

Alpari Research and Education

Alpari has a decent offering for assistance in forex and CFD research. Although, we couldn’t find sufficient tools to educate the clients or guide them through the trading procedure and platform usage. Following are the tools available for Nigerian traders at Alpari.

Alpari Research Tools

1. Market Reviews: The market review section under the analysis tab contains articles concerning forex and other capital markets. It includes the latest news and affairs along with their possible impact on the concerned capital markets. These articles are generally published on a daily basis.



2. FX Street & Economic Calendar: The economic calendar includes details and a schedule of the important events that can affect the prices of currency pairs. The news updates are provided by FXStreet which is a third-party financial news provider. The news feed from FXStreet is available for every registered client without any additional cost.
3. Autochartist: The autochartist tool allows traders to get trading signals according to preset patterns and expert recommendations. Alpari claims to provide more than 400,000 trading signals per month with a forecast accuracy of 80%.

Alpari Education Tools

At the time of this review, there is not adequate learning material that can help a client to learn forex trading from scratch. There are articles under the ‘getting started’ section that contains a step-by-step guide to trade forex and CFDs of cryptocurrency, commodities, indices, etc. It also includes articles that explain market analysis, trading platforms, trader psychology, and technical and fundamental analysis.

Compared to other regulated forex and CFD brokers in Nigeria, the offerings in the research and education segment are below average for traders in Nigeria.

Alpari Trading Instruments

Alpari offers a wide variety of currency pairs and CFDs. Following are the types of trading instruments available at Alpari:

1. 61 Currency pairs: The standard account type at Alpari gives access to trade with 61 currency pairs including major, minor, and exotics. The number of available currency pairs is different for each account type.
2. CFDs: The total available CFDs on capital markets at Alpari includes 5 metals, 3 commodities, 10 stocks, 11 indices, and 4 cryptocurrencies. The availability of these instruments is also different for each account type chosen by the trader.

The unavailability of trading instruments for different account types can be a concern for traders in Nigeria. Alpari offers a decent number of trading instruments but none of the account types allows trading on all the available instruments.

Deposits and Withdrawals at Alpari

Alpari incurs different commissions for deposits and withdrawals depending on the method of payment selected by the client. The details of available funding and withdrawal methods at Alpari are discussed below.

Compared to other regulated brokers in Nigeria, Alpari offers more methods for transactions than many of the regulated brokers.

Alpari Deposit Method

1. Local Bank Transfer: Alpari accepts local bank deposits in Nigeria with no added commission. Request are processed within 24 hours. NGN deposits can be made through Diamond Bank, First Bank Plc, Guaranty Trust Bank, and Zenith Bank.

2. Bank Wire Transfer: The bank wire transfer does not involve any commission from the broker’s side. The bank may incur additional commission. Deposits are processed within 1-3 hours with this method but also depend on the bank used.

3. Credit/Debit Cards: Alpari accepts VISA and Mastercard as deposit methods but incurs a commission of 2.5% for the same. NGN deposits are automatically converted to base account currency according to the prevailing conversion rates for every method.

4. Cryptocurrency: Deposits can also be made through Bitcoin, Ethereum, Litecoin, Zcash, and Tether. There is no additional commission for this method. Alpari also funds the account with the amount produced via network commission for the respective cryptocurrency. Hence, choosing this method can be slightly advantageous at Alpari.

5. E-wallets: Skrill, Neteller and a few more e-wallets can be used to deposit at Alpari. The commission is different for each wallet chosen by the client.

Alpari Withdrawal Method

Withdrawals can be made through any of the available methods regardless of the deposit method used. The processing time is impressive but a commission is charged for every available method.

1. Local Bank Withdrawal: Alpari allows withdrawal through local bank transfers from select banks in Nigeria. No commission is charged for this method and payments are processed within 24 hours.

2. Credit/Debit Cards: The credit and debit cards issued by any of the payment systems can be used for withdrawal. A commission of 1.2% is incurred on the withdrawal amount along with standard fees of EUR 2.9.

3. E-wallets: Withdrawals through Skrill will incur a commission of 2.5% but no commission is charged for Neteller withdrawals. Each wallet transfer involves a different commission fee that can be checked on the official website of Alpari.

4. Cryptocurrency: The standard commission for withdrawals through all the accepted cryptocurrencies is 0.1%. The minimum commission amount is 3 USD while the maximum is 10 USD.

Compared to other regulated forex and CFD brokers in Nigeria, we found Alpari to be slightly expensive in terms of deposits and withdrawals. The commission is higher for deposits as well as withdrawals. Transaction through local bank transfer is the best option for traders in Nigeria.

Alpari Bonus

Alpari has recently launched a promotional cashback program in which traders will receive 5$ for each successful trade order executed. A total of $10,000 can be earned through this scheme which is 100% withdrawable.

Alpari also offers a 30% deposit bonus for new clients at the time of the review in Jan 2023. Apart from this, it also has a referral program in which existing clients as well as newly referred clients are rewarded 50$ each on every successful referral.

Compared to other brokers available in Nigeria, we found Alpari to be fairly attractive in terms of bonus offerings.

Do we Recommend Alpari?

Yes, up to some extent. Alpari can be chosen by traders in Nigeria for forex and CFD trading as it is the oldest forex broker and claims to have served more than 2 million clients globally. Although it cannot be an ideal choice as it is only regulated by one regulatory authority.

The availability of local offices, local bank deposits/withdrawals, and local phone numbers for customer support can be advantageous to traders in Nigeria.

Frequently asked questions: Alpari Nigeria