Elland Road Capital Review: What Traders Need to Know

The company’s business is primarily built on trading contracts for difference (CFDs), a dangerous financial derivative through which investors can make asset price change predictions without owning the underlying asset. This should be kept in mind when evaluating the risk profile of the platform.

The firm has been unable to establish strong trust within the trading community. Online reviews are generally adverse and based on complaints regarding lack of transparency, untrustworthiness, and fraudulent business practices. Nevertheless, the owners of Elland Road Capital have been presenting themselves online since 2021 and list a number of achievements.

Elland Road Capital Snapshot

Legitimacy Check

At first glance, Elland Road Capital appears to be operating under at least regulatory oversight. The company boldly advertises its operational address and licensure information on its homepage and in some documentation. But we are concerned that such surface transparency is not supported by substantial reliability.

Indeed, the company is regulated by South Africa Financial Sector Conduct Authority (FSCA). This regulation can be verified directly on the FSCA website. But the catch is that such regulators do not usually possess the ability for tight control that European regulators do. History has shown that these regulators sometimes are lax in dealing with misconduct, and have even been blamed for giving licences to rogue firms.

The office address provided is also a cause for concern. Although the company claims to be of South African origin, a simple search for its location on Google Maps yields no significant results. Comments from people who claim to be previous customers of the site and tell how they were deceived make one wonder whether having an office is any kind of guarantee.

Ellandroadcapital.com Content Quality

However, the quality of the content is disappointing and much of the information provided on trading conditions is incoherent or unreliable.

As an example, although the site is quite active in promoting its educational offerings, there is no direct access to entry-level courses, nor is there a logically structured Frequently Asked Questions page. This is not what you would expect from serious trading sites.

Meanwhile, the site is fairly good for speed of loading, and there are several links to downloadable documents. The visual design of the landing page is good, but sometimes contains generic stock images whose authenticity is questionable. However, one major failure is that it does not link directly to the FSCA, so the user cannot easily verify the company’s licence.

Registration is multi-stage. New customers are asked to provide financial and bank account information when they open an account — rules that are extremely strict regarding privacy and security issues. A minimum deposit of $250 is required to fund your account. Given the company’s dubious reputation, we strongly advise against providing sensitive financial information.

Trading is carried out using a simple WebTrader terminal. Although the software runs in a browser, it suffers from liquidity issues, resulting in delays in filling and slippage. While the company touts an app, no downloadable product appears to be available, which detracts from the message.

Key Trading Features

Elland Road Capital promotes five different account types: Classic, Silver, Gold, Platinum, and VIP. Each of these tiers offers varied spreads, leverage ratios, and other perks. We decided to take a deeper dive into these options to determine whether they’re worth it — or whether they create unnecessary risks.

As we mentioned, the minimum deposit is $250, which from appearances is not outrageous. Nevertheless, in order to acquire beneficial trading terms and narrow spreads, users are encouraged to deposit tens of thousands of dollars — exact amounts are not disclosed publicly and appear case-specific. That is the most unconvincing.

Spreads don’t seem to be profitable either. On the Classic account, the spread is approximately 2.5 points — much greater than the industry norm. Even on a VIP account, where the spread is reduced to 0.9 points, trading costs are expensive.

Other key specifications of Elland Road Capital:

• Minimum trade size: 0.01.
• Stop-out level: 20%.
• Margin call level: 100%.

Some account levels also offer rewards such as swap discounts and negative balance protection. Customer service is touted as quick and free of charge. Training materials and market research are also promised, but access to these in actual practice is skewed at best. Advisory with an executive account manager is offered for higher-end account levels as a “premium service”, but the qualifications of those thus assigned cannot be verified.

The affiliate programme is also being promoted aggressively. The company promises commissions for all referred clients, along with flexible payment plans and rapid profit cashouts. However, no specific information or figures are provided, making it difficult to evaluate the program.

In terms of trading instruments available, the platform provides main asset classes like currency pairs, commodities, indices, shares, and cryptocurrencies. For all that, the focus on CFDs threatens to expose clients to magnified risk, as past data suggests that trading these instruments has often resulted in losses.

Elland Road Capital Track Record

We are not sure if the company’s given timeline is accurate. Although the company claims to have been established in 2021, a check on the domain data via WHOIS and historical site snapshots from WebArchive tells a different story. In reality, Elland Road Capital has existed only since mid-2022. With such variations, it is difficult to regard the firm as a reliable long-term business associate in the trading field.

Customer Service Overview

Elland Road Capital’s customer service is provided through phone, live chat, and email. Live chat functionality is relatively straightforward, but our test validation is concerned with the safety of utilising the said email address. Email exchanges can expose users to data invasion, phishing, and unsolicited third-party contact.

Moreover, the ellandroadcapital.com website has no links to verified profiles on reputable messaging apps. Apart from having a scarcely present presence on Meta’s social media, there is hardly any verifiable social presence of the company. Such limited visibility is uncommon for reputable financial institutions.

Our Verdict

We highly recommend against using Elland Road Capital. Despite its rhetoric about being regulated, the site shows many symptoms of bad-faith operation. There are adverse user comments that tell of missing money, frozen accounts, and deception. The trading interface is simple, the educational resources are poor, and the affiliate program has disturbing pyramid-scheme qualities.

About the author

Alex Banks

Financial Analyst

Alex Banks is a seasoned financial analyst with over 15 years of experience in the trading industry. He has worked with several top-tier investment firms, specializing in long-term investment strategies and market analysis. Alex is now known for his in-depth research and ability to identify stable and reliable brokers that offer consistent performance over extended periods.