Alas, 1broker has ceased operations after a joint SEC/FBI action, and the homepage is a big FBI seizure notice. Check out WCEX for an alternative.

Summary

1Broker is a bitcoin-only Forex and CFD trading platform, developed entirely to service the bitcoin-holding market looking to invest in mainstream instruments.  One will be hard pressed to find a registration, deposit and withdrawal path that leverages the advantages of bitcoin as well as 1Broker, and bitcoin being the sole accepted currency simplifies the process for accessing the platform and placing an order.  The quick deposits and withdrawals, user anonymity, and well-earned reputation as an honest broker with narrow spreads makes 1broker the best product servicing this niche.

Opening an Account

1broker is a product of the bitcoin boom, meaning that registration requirements are kept to a minimum – username, password and email – and a characteristically simple bitcoin deposit process. After sending bitcoin to the designated address, or scanning the QR code from your bitcoin wallet, users should expect to wait approximately 20 minutes, or two confirmations, for the bitcoin to appear in the account. After that, you have got full access.

Making a Trade

1broker utilizes a proprietary trading platform which, though it won’t be dethroning metatrader 4 from best in the market any time soon, is quite user-friendly, accessible cross device, and basically does what it needs to do.

1Broker offers a number of different markets including Stock Indexes, individual stocks and commodities, upon which traders can open up CFD on short or long positions. On the Forex side, 1Broker offers a number of different currency pairs, including all the major USD crosses as well as a number of EUR pairs. BTC/USD is the only crypto pair on offer.

Clicking on the name of the trading instrument opens details box, which has a very simple line chart showing performance over customizable time periods, a small stock description, and some vital stats – highest leverage available, the order limit, spread, etc. From there, a click on long or short opens up the order slip.

1broker offers market and limit orders, stop entries (an order to buy when the price is above the current level), stop losses and take profit. Generally speaking, leverages of up to 15 are available to traders. Margin calls are not offered – rather, automatic stop-losses are set, usually at xxx. It is important to note that this simply sets a market order – if the market is moving drastically and liquidity is dried up, the stop loss might not successfully trigger. It is thus possible not only to lose your entire position, but in rare cases for the position to go into negative, which would be covered by any liquid funds in your account.

Leveraged positions will be charged an overnight interest rate. The greater the leverage used, the higher the interest payments, as a leveraged position essentially means you are borrowing the difference between your liquid holdings and your open position from 1Broker. We document below in the fees section overnight fees by market. While the rates seem low, at a high leverage they add up.

The risk management and reserve strategy is managed by market, and they do not cross-finance between markets. While this is a responsible approach, it means that particular markets, particularly the btc/usd market, are under-capitalized and often leveraged positions are not available, particularly during periods of high volatility.

Fees

1Broker’s fees are expressed in the spread between long and short positions, which varies by instrument. BTC/USD, for example, generally has a spread of $1.80, while major forex pairs have miniscule spreads (EUR/USD offers spreads at 1/100th of a penny actually). 1Broker does wrack up a bit of fees by way of their overnight interest rates, shown below:

Please note that overnight fees are not charged on Saturday or Sunday (except for bitcoin, which accrues charges every day), meaning that fees are charged “roughly 260 days a year”.

1Broker Mobile

The simplicity of the platform lends itself easily to mobile trading, although no work has been put in on the 1broker side to optimize for handheld devices. There is a bit of fat-finger discrimination going on here, but you can trade in a pinch. (pun intended, baby)

Might look elsewhere if:

You are looking to trade the cryptocurrency markets.

1broker ceased offering a bitcoin instrument in May, 2017, but sister company 1fox recently opened, which offers bitcoin futures contracts.  All the love for 1Fox, but the best platform for margin trading cryptocurrency spot and futures markets is currently bitmex.  If you are a bitcoin holder looking to leverage your coin long or short – or to trade other cryptoassets – it really is the best option.

Bottom Line

1broker is one of three bitcoin-only forex and cfd brokerages. It offers anonymous trading on a platform that is proprietary and simple. Advanced traders will most likely prefer to look elsewhere, but for those looking for an extremely user-friendly and straightforward platform to hedge your bitcoins or grab a position in a specific stock, index or currency (or buckle up for a crazy ride with leverage-on-steroids CFD/Forex pseudo-gambling, whichever you prefer) 1broker is a good choice.