CFDs are complex instruments and come with a high risk of losing money rapidly due to leverage. Between 74-89% of retail investor accounts lose money when trading CFDs. You should consider whether you understand how CFDs work and whether you can afford to take the high risk of losing your money. This content is intended for information and educational purposes only and should not be considered investment advice or investment recommendation.
While ADSS markets its proprietary OREX trading platform alongside MetaTrader, we found the broker to be underwhelming. Customer service quality is terrible, and ADSS trails industry leaders in key areas, including trading tools and research.
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Minimum Deposit:
£100
Trust Score:
90
Tradeable Symbols (Total) :
2200
Top Takeaways
Here are our top findings on ADSS:
Overall Summary
Please Note: ADSS was not included in our last annual review. As a result, this broker’s ratings may be outdated. Read our best forex brokers guide for a breakdown of the top rated forex and CFDs brokers.
| Overall | |
| Trust Score | 90 |
| Offering of Investments | |
| Commissions & Fees | |
| Platforms & Tools | |
| Research | |
| Mobile Trading Apps | |
| Education |
Is ADSS Safe?
help
90
Trust Score
ADSS is considered low-risk, with an overall Trust Score of 90 out of 99. ADSS is not publicly traded and does not operate a bank. ADSS is authorised by two tier-1 regulators (high trust), one tier-2 regulator (average trust), and zero tier-3 regulators (low trust). ADSS is authorised by the following tier-1 regulators: Securities Futures Commission (SFC) and the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA). Learn more about Trust Score.
Regulations Comparison
| Year Founded | 2011 |
| Publicly Traded (Listed) | No |
| Bank | No |
| Tier-1 Licenses | 2 |
| Tier-2 Licenses | 1 |
| Tier-3 Licenses | 0 |
| Trust Score | 90 |
Offering of Investments
The following table summarizes the different investment products available to ADSS clients.
Cryptocurrency: Cryptocurrency trading is available through CFDs, but not available through trading the underlying asset (e.g. buying Bitcoin). Note: Crypto CFDs are not available to retail traders from any broker’s UK entity, nor to UK residents.
| Forex Trading | Yes |
| CFD Trading | Yes |
| Tradeable Symbols (Total) | 2200 |
| Forex Pairs (Total) | 56 |
| US Stock Trading (Non CFD) | No |
| Int’l Stock Trading (Non CFD) | Yes |
| Social Trading / Copy-Trading | Yes |
| Cryptocurrency (Physical) | No |
| Cryptocurrency (CFD) | Yes |
| Crypto Disclaimer (UK) | Note: Crypto CFDs are not available to retail traders from any broker’s U.K. entity, nor to U.K. residents (except to Professional clients). |
Commissions and Fees
ADSS commissions and fees vary depending on the account type established, and the range of available account types differ depending on the ADSS brand that you choose, which is related to your location and the applicable regulatory jurisdiction.
UAE-based accounts: From its UAE-based hub, ADSS offers two accounts: Classic, and Elite. The Classic version had its minimum deposit reduced to $100, making it more affordable for the most conservative traders, yet carries higher spreads than the Elite account type. In the Classic account, target spreads drop to 1.6 pips on the EUR/USD. In contrast, ADSS’s most competitive offering is the Elite account, akin to a VIP-style account, which requires a $200,000 deposit or trading volume of more than $500 million per month and comes with perks beyond discounted spreads.
Hong Kong accounts: At ADSS Hong Kong, the firm lists an average spread of 1 pip for the EUR/USD pair from its OREX platform, and offers a bullion account, in addition to securities and futures trading from its TREX platform which requires a deposit of at least $3000.
ADSS Fees Summary
| Minimum Deposit | £100 |
| Average Spread EUR/USD – Standard | 1.00 |
| All-in Cost EUR/USD – Active | N/A |
| Active Trader or VIP Discounts | Yes |
| Execution: Agency Broker | Yes |
| Execution: Market Maker | Yes |
Platforms and Tools
ADSS goes beyond the normal MetaTrader-only broker to customize its offering by providing add-ons as well as Autochartist and VPS hosting.
OREX web: ADSS’s flagship OREX web platform has a greater product range compared to its MT4 platform offering and is simple, minimalistic, and generally easy to navigate. However, during our testing, we found that the OREX web version still contains unfinished modules, such as the alerts and economic calendar sections labeled “coming soon.”
OREX desktop: While the firm also offers OREX Optim, a desktop version of the platform, it relies on Silverlight, which is an outdated plugin, making it inaccessible to download using mainstream browsers. As a result, I do not recommend the Orex Optim desktop version.
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Research
ADSS has just an average selection of research content across its website and trading platform, ranging from sentiment widgets to earnings calendars, in addition to industry-standard news from top-tier providers such as Dow Jones.
Social copy trading: While the broker is not an industry leader for social copy trading, ADSS does offer copy trading through its Prime and Classic accounts.
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Mobile Trading
Besides the native MT4 mobile app, ADSS offers its proprietary OREX platform for mobile Android and iOS devices. Our testing focused on the OREX mobile app.
OREX Mobile app good stuff: The OREX mobile app contains general and economic news together with an earnings calendar. Charting also is respectable once launched into full-screen mode and includes 63 indicators and 25 candlestick patterns. Lastly, the Market Insights section contains sentiment analysis, including probabilities weightings (e.g., the confidence level of the signal strength).
OREX Mobile app bad stuff: Beyond research and a basic watchlist, the rest of the OREX mobile app is light on features and has a few minor bugs. For example, sentiment analysis is available under the Market Insights section, although other categories such as Energy and Technology return an error message.
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Customer Service
To score Customer Service, ForexBrokers.com partnered with customer experience research group Customerwise to conduct phone tests from locations throughout the UK. For our 2020 Review, 330 customer service tests were conducted over six weeks.
Results
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Average Connection Time:
>5 minutes - Average Net Promoter Score: 1.0 / 10
- Average Professionalism Score: 0 / 10
- Overall Score: 0.75 / 10
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Ranking: 22
nd (22 brokers)
Final Thoughts
With the OREX platform suite serving as a good foundation for the company’s retail trading platform, ADSS goes beyond the typical MetaTrader brokerage by offering extra add-ons for MT4 and provides forex traders over 60 currency pairs and 2200 CFDs.
ADSS can be a great choice for active forex traders and those with large balances, such as professional day traders and high net worth clients due to the VIP-style account offerings and related perks. Just keep in mind that the choice of where you can open an account may be limited by your location.
About ADSS
Founded in 2011 in Abu Dhabi with $400 million in initial capital, ADSS (Formerly ADS Securities) has since developed into a global brand, with regulated entities in Hong Kong, the United Kingdom (UK), and the United Arab Emirates (UAE).
ADSS caters to retail traders through its ADSS brand in the UK for EU Citizens, and ADS Prime in the UAE for clients in the Gulf and other countries, whereas clients in Asia can choose the firm’s Hong Kong entity which also offers exchange-traded securities and futures trading, with support in Singapore giving the firm good regional coverage across EURASIA. Read more on Wikipedia about ADSS.
ADSS Trading Features
| Virtual Trading (Demo) | Yes |
| Proprietary Platform | Yes |
| Desktop Platform (Windows) | Yes |
| Web Platform | Yes |
| Social Trading / Copy-Trading | Yes |
| MetaTrader 4 (MT4) | Yes |
| MetaTrader 5 (MT5) | No |
| cTrader | No |
| DupliTrade | No |
| ZuluTrade | Yes |
| Charting – Indicators / Studies (Total) | 51 |
| Charting – Drawing Tools (Total) | 31 |
| Charting – Trade From Chart | Yes |
| Watchlists – Total Fields | 7 |
| Order Type – Market | Yes |
ADSS Research Features
| Daily Market Commentary | Yes |
| Forex News (Top-Tier Sources) | Yes |
| Autochartist | Yes |
| Trading Central (Recognia) | No |
| Delkos Research | No |
| Social Sentiment – Currency Pairs | Yes |
| Economic Calendar | Yes |
ADSS Mobile App Features
| Android App | Yes |
| Apple iOS App | Yes |
| Alerts – Basic Fields | Yes |
| Watch List | Yes |
| Watch List Syncing | No |
| Charting – Indicators / Studies | 30 |
| Charting – Draw Trendlines | Yes |
| Charting – Trendlines Moveable | Yes |
| Charting – Multiple Time Frames | Yes |
| Charting – Drawings Autosave | No |
| Forex Calendar | Yes |