Alfa-Forex review 2026: Bank of Russia licensed MT5 forex dealer with no minimum deposit
Alfa-Forex is a Moscow-based market maker forex dealer founded in 2016. Licensed by the Bank of Russia under license 045-14070-020000, it trades on MetaTrader 5 with hedging and netting accounts. Serves Russian retail and qualified clients across 41 forex pairs plus CFDs on stocks, metals, indices, energy, and selected digital currencies.
What is Alfa-Forex?
Alfa-Forex is a market maker, meaning the dealer acts as counterparty to over-the-counter trading contracts. The legal entity was established in 2016 and operates from Moscow, Russia. Its official company page describes the firm as a forex dealer established by Alfa-Bank. The business focuses on Russian retail clients rather than maintaining a network of foreign regulated entities.
The dealer operates under Russia's securities-market framework for forex dealers. Its service model centers on MetaTrader 5 and cash-settled over-the-counter contracts rather than exchange-traded spot currencies. The Bank of Russia public record identifies the operating company as Limited Liability Company "Alfa-Forex".
Which regulators license Alfa-Forex?
The Bank of Russia licenses the company as a forex dealer under license 045-14070-020000. The regulator's public register showed the company as operating when checked on September 24, 2026. The license became effective on December 20, 2018, and the public record does not show a termination date.
Alfa-Forex also belongs to SRO AFD, the Association of Forex Dealers, which is a Russian self-regulatory organization. The broker discloses SRO membership number 009, recorded from December 24, 2018. This structure is different from authorization under the FCA, ASIC, CySEC, or another international regulator.
Client-money protection includes a nominal bank account structure. The firm's disclosure materials state that client money sits in nominal accounts at Alfa-Bank. Its key information document also states that client losses are limited to funds placed in the guarantee trading account. SRO AFD maintains a compensation fund for qualifying cases involving a forex dealer's insolvency.
What trading platforms does the broker offer?
The trading platform is MetaTrader 5 (MT5), the MetaQuotes platform used for manual and automated trading. MT5 is available through desktop software, a web interface, iOS, and Android. The broker's official demo materials also describe tools for building trading robots and using technical-analysis functions.
MT4 and cTrader are not part of the verified platform lineup. That makes the software choice relatively narrow for traders who already rely on another terminal. MT5 supports both of the firm's position-accounting models and provides pending orders, charts, and algorithmic trading functions.
Risk flags and limitations
The main limitation is geographic rather than an unverified-license problem. Alfa-Forex holds one verified national forex-dealer license in Russia, with no FCA, ASIC, CySEC, or comparable foreign authorization established in the profile. Its FXSharp overall score of 3.4/10 reflects the scoring rubric's limited credit for the Russian regulatory framework and single-country reach.
Platform concentration is another constraint. The service uses MT5 without MT4 or cTrader alternatives, and the prior verified profile found no broker-provided VPS service. The firm also applies Russian investor-classification rules. Some instruments, including BTCUSD, ETHUSD, IBIT, COIN, and MSTR, are restricted to qualified investors under current trading terms.
Minimum deposit
The official account-opening material states there is no formal minimum deposit. The broker says the account only needs enough capital to cover the required position, while giving RUB 2,500 as an example of a workable amount. This differs from a fixed account-opening threshold imposed before a trading account becomes usable.
Leverage, or the ratio between exposure and required margin, reaches 1:40. FXSharp lists 1:32 / 1:40 according to investor classification. Margin requirements can vary by instrument, and the broker publishes current requirements through its trading-conditions section.
Is the broker on any regulator warning lists?
The current review did not identify a verified warning-list entry for Alfa-Forex in the major regulator checks performed. The Bank of Russia record instead shows an active forex-dealer license. No active revocation or suspension appears in the regulator record reviewed on September 24, 2026.
This finding does not convert the Russian license into an FCA, ASIC, or CySEC authorization. Those regulators do not appear as licensing authorities in FXSharp's research. Regulatory status should therefore be read precisely: Alfa-Forex is regulated in Russia, not as a multi-jurisdictional international broker.
What do user complaints say?
Reliable current user-aggregate complaint data was not established during the verification used for this review. Therefore, no repeated complaint pattern is presented as fact. Claims about systematic withdrawal failures, account freezes, or support misconduct require verifiable evidence before they can be treated as established findings.
Operational terms provide a more concrete reference point. The official account information states that withdrawals normally execute on the next working day, with a contractual maximum of two working days. Reported individual experiences should be compared against those published terms, transaction records, and the account agreement.
Withdrawal process and reported problems
Withdrawals use bank accounts registered to the client. The official funding page states that the company does not send funds to third parties. A withdrawal request containing another person's bank-account details can therefore be rejected under the published procedure.
The broker states that withdrawals take 1-2 working days. Alfa-Forex and Alfa-Bank do not charge their own deposit or withdrawal commission under the disclosed standard process. A correspondent bank can still impose a charge when foreign currency moves through the banking chain.
Funding methods include bank transfer and QR-based payments. The official onboarding material also describes Russia's Faster Payments System for ruble funding. The verified profile lists Bank Transfer and QR Code as the primary payment methods.
How to verify the license for yourself
License verification is based on matching the legal entity, registration details, and license number. The Bank of Russia maintains the relevant public financial-market participant record. A correct search should return the operating legal entity rather than a similarly named website or unrelated company.
- Open the Bank of Russia financial-market participant register.
- Search for Limited Liability Company "Alfa-Forex" or OGRN 1167746614947.
- Confirm forex-dealer license 045-14070-020000.
- Check that the activity status remains active and no termination date appears.
- Compare the listed websites, address, telephone number, and email with the service being used.
This procedure also helps separate the licensed entity from lookalike domains. The Bank of Russia record lists recognized internet resources associated with the regulated company.
How does customer support work?
Customer support uses telephone, email, online chat, and a Moscow client office. The official site lists +7 499 215 79 79 and info@alfa.forex among its contact details. Published support hours run from 07:00 to 23:00 Moscow time.
The Moscow client office is listed at 7 Mashi Poryvayevoy Street, Building 1, Floor 1. The Bank of Russia public record displays the same Moscow address and telephone number. Matching regulator and broker contact information provides a concrete identity check before account communication.
Where is the broker actually based?
The regulated legal entity is based in Moscow, Russia. The Bank of Russia lists its registered location as 107078 Moscow, 7 Mashi Poryvayevoy Street, Building 1, Floor 1. This matches the client-office address disclosed on the broker's own site.
The business is therefore not an offshore entity presenting a different operational address from its regulator record. Its limitation is instead jurisdictional concentration: the verified regulation in this profile is Russian. The dominant market for the broker is also recorded as Russia.
| Feature | Alfa-Forex Information |
|---|---|
| Founded | 2016 |
| Headquarters | Moscow, Russia |
| Disclosed regulators | Bank of Russia, license 045-14070-020000 |
| Registration verified | Active in Bank of Russia register, checked September 24, 2026 |
| Trading platforms | MT5 |
| Minimum deposit | No formal minimum |
| Maximum leverage | 1:40 |
| Account types | Hedging, Netting, Demo |
| Islamic account | Not disclosed in verified profile |
| Customer support | Phone, email, online chat, Moscow office |
| Deposit methods | Bank Transfer, QR Code |
Should you trade with Alfa-Forex?
Alfa-Forex has a verifiable Bank of Russia forex-dealer license rather than an unconfirmed or offshore-only registration. Its client-protection framework includes nominal accounts, an SRO compensation mechanism, and a published limit on losses to money held in the trading account.
The trade-off is a narrow operating structure. Regulation is concentrated in Russia, MT5 is the only verified trading platform, and some instruments require qualified-investor status. The product range includes 41 forex pairs plus CFDs (Contracts for Difference) on stocks, metals, indices, energy products, and selected digital-currency instruments.
Pricing starts from 1.4 pip, where a pip is a standard unit of forex price movement. The firm publishes variable spreads and warns that spreads can widen during periods of high volatility or limited liquidity. These characteristics make jurisdiction, platform preference, instrument eligibility, and margin rules the central comparison points.
Forex and derivative products carry high leverage; some or all invested capital may be lost. This content is for information only, not investment advice. Verify the broker's current regulation status with the relevant authority's official site before any investment decision.
FXSharp is an independent site that reviews forex brokers and prop trading firms. Every license is checked on the regulator's own register, every score follows our published methodology, and no broker can pay for a higher rating.
