Investous experiences: The online broker test
Quality
speed
cost
Many investors are still enthusiastic about the possibilities offered by CFD trading. It has long since penetrated all levels of society that the classic savings account at the house bank is usually not profitable, as the interest rates are usually so low that they are sometimes even below inflation levels.
So how should you invest your money? CFD trading is highly speculative, but nevertheless a good way to earn higher profits if you have the necessary know-how. However, newcomers in particular often wonder how to get connected to this market.
Countless online brokers offer small investors the opportunity to trade CFDs. Now the question arises as to which investor one should trust the most. Since there are not only reputable alternatives on the market, but also black sheep here and there, a watchful eye is needed if you want to choose a suitable online broker.
One provider you may come across in your search for a suitable partner is Investous. This Investous review should clarify whether the platform is reputable and what special features it has to offer. This should facilitate the decision-making process and determine whether Investous is suitable for problem-free trading in CFDs.
Is Investous recommendable?
Basically, there are doubts about the seriousness of Investous, which also has other weaknesses.
1. the registration is much more cumbersome than with other brokers.
2. the fees at Investous are very high.
3. there are more user-friendly alternatives
Our recommendation is therefore to open an account with a trading platform that does not have these disadvantages. The test winner from our comparison is eToro.
What is Investous?
Investous is a CFD and full-service forex broker regulated by the Cypriot financial regulator CySEC. The owner of Investous in Europe is F1 Markets Ltd, an investment firm based in Cyprus. Since the name change, it has been possible to trade Bitcoin and eight other cryptos through Investous, including:
Bitcoin
Bitcoin Gold
Ether
Ether Classic
Ripple
Litecoin
Dashcoin
Stellar
Monero
Investous also offers trading in CFDs on stocks, forex and commodities. The operators rely on the modern trading platform MetaTrader 4. The maximum leverage effect is 1:30.
Key data | Investous |
|---|---|
offer | Large,> 270 assets |
Cryptos | nine |
regulation | Yes, CySEC |
Payment methods | Credit Card, Bank Transfer, Neteller, Sofort, Skrill, Webmoney, Qiwi |
Demo account | Yes |
Minimum deposit | From € 250, depending on the payment method |
Trading platform | MT 4 |
Maximum leverage | 1:30 |
Account models | 4th |
Customer service | Yes |
Further training opportunities | Yes |
A step-by-step guide: Opening an account and trading with Investous
An Investous login is possible without any problems after opening an account. All it takes to register is a few personal details.
Here is an Investous guide, explained step by step, to get started trading.
Step 1: Registration
To open an account on the Investous website, the name, an email address and telephone number are required, as well as the residential address and some other data.
The name of the bank account holder must match the account name at Investous. If this is not the case, no transactions can take place to prevent money laundering.
Step 2: Verification
Once an account has been opened, the information provided is verified. The Investous employee checks the telephone number immediately with a personal call, and the e-mail address is confirmed via a verification link.
Furthermore, proof of identity and address are required, for example by passport or ID and an electricity bill showing the address.
Step 3: The deposit
In order to trade on Investous, a deposit is required. The amount of the minimum deposit depends on the payment method. The minimum deposit is 250 euros.
The fees and processing time also vary depending on the payment method. For bank transfers, the cost is 30 euros. Money deposited by credit card should be available within 24 hours. Bank transfers usually take longer; it can take a few working days before the money can be used for trading.
Step 4: Trading
It is advisable to use the demo account first to familiarise yourself with Investous and its functions. However, it is important to realise that profits in the test version should not be expected 1:1 in the live version.
Those who are ready for live trading can start trading as soon as the money has been credited to the user account.
Investous in the test: Serious or to be taken with a grain of salt?
The first question we ask ourselves is whether Investous is reputable. To find out, we visit the website of the online broker. A look at the imprint reveals that the company is based in Cyprus. This is often a sign that a platform should be treated with caution. It is not for nothing that Cyprus is known for the fact that many gambling companies are located there.
The reason for this is that legal prosecution is often difficult here and the laws there often make dubious financial transactions easy. Of course, this alone is not enough to say that Investous is fraud. Nevertheless, it can be a first indication that it is better to trust an alternative.
If you look at the website further, you learn that Investous specialises in trading CFDs. After all, there is a risk warning. Here it is described that up to 80 % of investors make losses and that CFD trading is a high-risk investment opportunity.
In fact, CFD trading is associated with high risks regardless of the platform and therefore one should have a certain know-how if one wants to make profits with this method. If you want to get connected as a newcomer, it is advisable to trade only with moderate amounts and at the same time you are dependent on being provided with various training opportunities and, last but not least, competent customer support.
Investous Review: The offer
Investous seems to be primarily dedicated to CFD trading. In addition, a limited offer of Forex trading is made available. The business principle here is that trading CFDs is more expensive the less money you invest. Thus, the opening of a basic account (250 €) is associated with high transaction costs. Only the VIP account seems to be really worthwhile, but here you have to deposit at least 50,000 €. This principle alone seems very dubious.
Established reputable online brokers, such as Plus500, charge their fees regardless of the amount deposited into the account. If you only deposit the minimum amount, even potential profits with Investous are usually eaten up by the fees.
The first impression of Investous is therefore quite negative, as it is supposed to suggest that with a higher deposit you also earn higher profits. Investous also offers commodities trading. However, if one compares the level of fees with other reputable providers, this online broker seems to be unnecessarily expensive. In the following, the points of training opportunities, user-friendliness, deposit and withdrawal and customer support of Investous are analysed in more detail.
The trading offer of Investous
But first, a brief description of the four assets offered by Investous:
Shares & ETFs
Besides trading with equity CFDs, trading with ETFs is also possible via Investous. However, depending on the strategy, these are not very volatile.
Forex
Forex trading is the world's most liquid market, with around five trillion USD worth of transactions taking place day after day. Forex trading is possible 24/5.
Commodities
Commodity CFDs offered by Investous include gold and oil - the classics in CFD trading.
Cryptos
Currently, nine cryptocurrencies can be traded, including Bitcoin, Bitcoin Gold, Ether, Ether Classic, Ripple, Litecoin, Dashcoin, Stellar and Monero.
Investous account types
Investous offers four different account models. The main differences are the leverage and the minimum deposit. Private investors can benefit from a leverage of only 1:30. Professional traders, on the other hand, have a leverage of 1:500 at their disposal.
The four different accounts include:
Here is a brief explanation of the four account types:
Basic account
Minimum deposit 250 euros
Two daily SMS alerts
Daily news
One free withdrawal per month included
Basic lesson included (but no access to webinars)
Spreads from 2.5 pips
Gold account
Minimum deposit 25,000 euros
Two daily SMS alerts
Daily news
One free withdrawal per month included
Two basic lessons included
One free webinar per month
Spreads from 2.2 pips
Platinum account
Minimum deposit 100,000 euros
Four daily SMS alerts
Daily news
Three free withdrawals per month included
Three advanced lessons
Two free webinars per month
Spreads from 1.7 pips
VIP account
Minimum deposit 250,000 euros
Seven daily SMS alerts
Daily news
Unlimited free withdrawals
Five advanced lessons
Five free webinars per month
Spreads from 1.1 pips
Investous also offers accounts for professional traders where higher leverage is possible and there is no protection against negative balances. However, strict criteria must be met in order to open such an account.
Investous - Training opportunities
At first glance, the Investous offer seems to be suitable for newcomers. This is due to the fact that there are many possibilities to educate oneself in the field of CFD trading. For example, there is an FAQ section that also seems to function as a kind of glossary. Here, the most common terms are explained and information is also provided on which subtleties one should pay attention to when trading with CFDs.
In the "Education" section there is also a submenu for special trading strategies. Here, the investor should be made aware of the risks associated with the various forms of trading and which points should be taken into account when finding one's own strategy. Although the offer of "training opportunities" may initially strengthen the impression that Investous is serious, in the end one cannot shake off the suspicion that even in the explanations of the individual areas it is always tempting to invest as much money as possible in this online broker.
The training area of Investous could therefore be a double-edged sword. Although one learns, partly quite well described, what common strategies could be, in the end, however, only the risky trading is to be enticed. However, it is to the platform's credit that the necessary risk warnings are implemented.
Investous - User friendliness
In terms of user-friendliness, the first impression seems to be positive. The website is kept relatively simple, but this can be interpreted as positive with regard to the overview. Creating your own account is also uncomplicated. There is the possibility to use a demo account before investing real money.
However, trading itself is less user-friendly. Even when trading, one is not always clear about the fees that apply. These fees are left out of the demo account, so that one cannot easily transfer any profits to a real money account. The demo account is therefore unsuitable for strategy development, as it only takes the various fees into account to a limited extent.
One still cannot get rid of the impression that Investous works with non-transparent methods. In terms of user-friendliness, the site may make a good impression at first glance, but if you delve a little deeper into the matter, it can quickly become very confusing, especially for newcomers. Those who focus on user-friendly trading and especially on transparency may not have the best experience with Investous.
Other online brokers are more advanced in this respect and allow investors to include potential fees in their demo account. Newcomers in particular are therefore advised not to use this platform.
Costs and fees of Investous
This broker charges a so-called Investous fee for deposits, which depends on the currency. For EU citizens, the fee for bank transfers is a whopping 30 euros. Credit and debit card, Neteller and Qiwi payments cost 3.5%. For payments via Skrill, Investous charges a 2% fee. The cheapest transfer is via Webmoney, which costs 0.9%.
Withdrawals are also expensive and cost 80 euros per withdrawal without a VIP account. In addition, Investous has an inactivity fee that depends on the time period and is charged from the second month without activity.
The inactivity fee is graduated as follows:
1 to 2 months: 80 euros monthly
3 to 6 months: 120 euros monthly
7 to 12 months: 200 euros monthly
More than 1 year: 500 euros monthly
If you then want to use your account again after one year, you have to pay an additional 1,000 euros for reactivation. Investous also charges trading fees in the form of spreads. Here are the fees of Investous at a glance:
Deposits: 0.9 to 3.5%
Bank transfers: 30 Euros
Withdrawals: 80 Euro
Inactivity fee: 80 to 500 Euro per month (from the second month of inactivity)
Reactivation fee: 1,000 euros (after 1 year without activity)
Spreads: 2.5% to 2.6%
The comparison of fees between Investous and other providers
Here is an overview of Investous fees compared to the competition:
Provider | Investous | eToro | Libertex | Coinbase |
|---|---|---|---|---|
Deposit | currency dependent | no | no | 3.99% |
Purchase fees | no | 1.9% | 3,08% | 1.49% |
Sales charges | no | 1.9% | 3.08% | 1.49% |
Holding fees | no | no | no | no |
Payment | 80 € | $ 5 | no | $ 0.15 |
Spreads | 2.5-2.6% | no | no | no |
Inactivity fee | 80 - 500 € / month | no | no | no |
Reactivation fee | 1,000 euros | n / A | n / A | n / A |
Liquidation Dealing Fee | no | no | no | no |
Deposit and withdrawal at Investous
As soon as you have created your own Investous account and want to switch from a demo account to a time deposit account, you have three different options to choose from to make a deposit. On the one hand, the classic credit card is offered, be it Visa or Mastercard, to fill your own account. In addition, you can use Wire Transfer or Skrill. The minimum deposit is 250 € for credit card or Skrill, for Wire Transfer it is already 1000 €.
If you want to try Investous, it is therefore recommended to use only credit card or Skrill. If you want to make a withdrawal, Investous charges a fee of 35 € for a basic account. This is a big minus point for this platform and seems more than dubious. Reputable online brokers usually do not charge fees for deposits and withdrawals and even if they do, they rarely exceed five euros. Making withdrawals should be part of the daily business of a reputable online broker and thus should not be associated with any costs for the investor.
This withdrawal fee supports the initial suspicion that Investous is a dubious platform that is less interested in acting as a partner for investors than in taking advantage of them by means of hidden fees. It can be assumed that even if profits are made with the highly speculative CFD derivatives, they will ultimately be much smaller once a payout is made.
Payment methods at Investous
Payment methods accepted by Investous include, depending on the country of origin:
Credit cards
SOFORT
Skrill
Neteller
Bank transfer
Webmoney
Qiwi
Paypal or Paysafe are not possible.
Investous supports payments in the following currencies:
USD
GBP
JPY
EUR
RUB
The minimum deposits vary between 250 and 1,000 euros. A maximum of 10,000 euros can be deposited per day and the deposit amount may not exceed 40,000 euros per month.
Investous - Customer Support
With regard to customer support, the fact that a live chat exists can be highlighted as a positive factor. The extent to which this can be reached at all times could not be verified in this Investous review. Other forms of customer support seem to exist only to a limited extent and support the initial suspicion that an account with Investous is probably only worthwhile in the rarest of cases.
There are enough reputable alternatives on the market that have excellent customer support and also do not operate with hidden fees. As a result, smart investors should refrain from creating their own Investous account. If questions arise, you may be left alone with Investous and have to get your own information. With regard to the live chat, there are doubts as to whether humane employees are actually trying to answer any questions, or whether you are being misled by a bot.
Summing up our experience in the area of customer support at Investous, it does not seem to correspond to the current state of reputable providers.
Licence and security at Investous
Many traders wonder whether Investous is reputable. Since the CFD broker is regulated by the Cypriot financial supervisory authority CySEC and the provider complies with security standards such as SSL encryption, there can be no talk of a scam. However, the telephone prompts for further deposits and the problems with Investous withdrawals do not leave a good impression.
On the other hand, the notice on the website that many private investors lose money when trading CFDs inspires confidence. The fact that customer funds are protected by the deposit guarantee up to an amount of 20,000 euros in case of bankruptcy of the provider also speaks for a serious provider. In addition, Investous is the main sponsor of the PSV Eindhoven football club.
The CFD broker uses MetaTrader 4 and Webtrader as trading platforms. Unfortunately, Investous collects a lot of user data when opening an account and also later monitors trading behaviour and determines login data and the location of the devices used.
Anyone who signs up with Investous must be aware that they will receive advertisements to their email address and will be called by an employee who will try to encourage the user to deposit more money. It is not possible not to agree to this when registering with Investous.
Investous App
In addition to the MetaTrader 4 trading platform, Investous now also offers an app for trading on the move. Android devices from 5.0 are required to use the app.
Investous in the test: What are the reviews?
Our Investous experience can be described as quite mixed. Whether we are alone in this opinion or whether others have also had positive experiences with this online broker should be clarified by a review of various other Investous reviews. For this purpose, we have searched several forums that deal with the topic of online brokers.
There are not many reviews of this provider. Investous is not even a household name to many users. Nevertheless, there are reports of experiences here and there. Most of them are negative. Apart from the somewhat dubious appearance, the main complaint is the high fees that are charged for every transaction related to CFD trading. Above all, the very expensive payout ultimately scared off even those users who initially had a rather positive image of this platform.
In their posts, most investors advise against creating their own Investous account. This is usually justified by the large number of better alternatives and doubts about the seriousness of the provider.
It is remarkable that not a single review could be found that talks about profits. Even if trading with CFDs is highly speculative and therefore very risky, profits are definitely possible here and there with reputable brokers. This does not seem to be the case with Investous, which is probably due to the fact that even if you make profits, they are quickly lost because of the large number of fees.
If we summarise the experience reports of other users, it seems that our initial suspicion that Investous is only partially reputable has been confirmed.
Negative testimonials are frequent. If you search for reports on the net, you will read few positive texts, so that it can be claimed that Investous is a dubious platform. One should also consider the other weaknesses that Investous has.
Customer reviews of Investous on the internet
Investous experiences are almost exclusively negative, despite being regulated by CySEC.
With currently 225 reviews, the Investous rating on Trustpilot is poor with an average of only 2.1 out of 5 stars. Only 11% of users have given the platform the highest rating. 72% find the platform insufficient.
Here are a few reviews:
H. Fluckiger wrote on 05.02.2021:
"After a few trades, extremely aggressive in asking for more capital. When it became too much for me, I balanced the account and instructed the transfer back. This is refused and de facto made impossible with abstruse demands. Investous is pure fraud."
Emilia Lang, who left a review on 04.02.2021, also does not leave a good hair on Investous:
"I started with the minimum deposit and kept increasing until a large part of my savings was involved. I asked for a withdrawal and was refused, but they still asked me for more money. I got a bad feeling and decided to look for help. I was able to get in touch with a company that could recover my money. My personal mail is emilialang8 at gmail, com for anyone who needs more information."
Magma Fi, on the other hand, had a good experience. She wrote on 05/07/2020:
"Great Service!" (Great service!)
Thus, opinions on Investous vary. We definitely recommend eToro as an Investous alternative, a regulated broker that is convincing on all levels and does not call customers every day trying to encourage them to deposit.
Advantages and disadvantages of Investous
If you want to trade CFDs, you should avoid this platform. Even if you make profits, they are nullified by the various fees. Further disadvantages are an immature customer support and the difficult legal traceability should irregularities occur.
Fortunately, nowadays interested investors are spoilt for choice as to which broker to choose. Therefore, one is not dependent on wasting one's time further with this dubious platform. There are many providers that have competent customer support, are transparent in dealing with their fees and at the same time create the possibility for investors to earn profits from trading CFDs.
Investous was not convincing and accordingly one should fall back on a more reputable alternative.
Pros
Cons
Investous Experience Report: The Conclusion
In our Investous review, we wanted to clarify the question of whether it is worth creating your own Investous account. It turned out that initial doubts about the seriousness of the platform were quite justified. Above all, the large number of high fees will quickly reduce profits and accordingly one should rather look for an alternative if one wants to trade with CFDs.
Trading CFDs is in itself highly speculative and risky. That is why you need to have a partner at your side who explains all the risks and at the same time creates the possibility of making profits. You will probably not find such a partner in Investous. Even if you make profits and want to make a payout, you will be confronted with high fees.
One cannot say that Investous is a scam, because the fees are explained, but in the end the only thing that counts is whether one makes a profit with the trade. Exactly this seems to be improbable to impossible with Investous and therefore it is not advisable to deal with this platform any further.
If you are looking for reputable providers, you will find an overview here.
It remains that one should rather give this online broker a wide berth if one wants to trade with CFDs. If you are still interested in this platform, it is advisable to limit yourself to the demo account for the time being and to take possible fees into account if you make profits with this demo account.
Recommended alternative to Investous: eToro
If you want to buy Bitcoin quickly, we recommend the broker eToro. In addition to a clear user interface, state regulation and copy trading, the big advantage of the platform is that both Bitcoin CFDs and real Bitcoin are available for trading. Moreover, with ~1.8% total costs, eToro also proves to be the top dog in terms of price.
FAQ
Investous is a CFD broker that enables a wide range of tradable CFDs on stocks, forex, commodities and cryptos.
An account can be opened on the Investous website with a few clicks and providing personal details.
Since the CFD broker is regulated by the Cypriot Financial Supervisory Authority and the provider complies with security standards such as SSL encryption, there is no question of fraud. The telephone prompts for further deposits and the problems with Investous withdrawals do not leave a good impression.
No! CFD brokers are almost a dime a dozen these days; a comparison can be worthwhile. Investous is regulated, but it is insufficient. We advise against opening an account with Investous and recommend eToro as an alternative.
