Darwinex
Published: Updated:
- Trust score
- 4/10
- Legal simplicity
- 4/10
- Min. deposit
- 500
- Payment systems
- Instruments
- Forex, Indices, Commodities, Metals, Energies, Stocks
- Legal entity
- Tradeslide Trading Tech Limited
- Jurisdiction
- United Kingdom
- Fees
- Darwinex charges a per-lot commission on raw spreads for direct trading, and applies a performance fee on the investable strategy products rather than a management fee. Overnight swaps apply.
- Withdrawals
- Withdrawals go to the funding method or a bank account in the client's own name, normally processed within one to two business days.
- Available in
Features
- Strategy copying (DARWINs)
- Trust management
- Segregated client accounts
- Scalping allowed
- Affiliate program
- Wide range of trading instruments
Pros
- No standout advantages are documented for this broker.
Cons
- No specific drawbacks are documented for this broker.
Darwinex is a London-based social trading broker founded in 2012 and regulated by the UK FCA. It lets traders copy the strategies of top performers, called DARWINs, or publish their own to earn a share of the profits others make from following them. Retail accounts trade forex and CFDs on MT4/MT5 with a $500/€500/£500 minimum deposit, while a separate MT5-only account adds stocks and futures.
UK-regulated social trading broker where traders copy top performers' strategies via MT4/MT5, with a $500 minimum deposit.
What is Darwinex?
Darwinex is a Forex and CFD broker founded in 2012 and headquartered in London, with an additional office in Madrid. It is owned and operated by Tradeslide Trading Tech Limited, authorised and regulated by the UK Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) under license number 586466.
Regulation and client protection
As an FCA-regulated firm, Darwinex operates under the UK's financial conduct rules and uses straight-through processing (STP) with no-dealing-desk (NDD) execution, routing client orders directly to the interbank market rather than taking the other side of trades itself.
Client funds are covered by the UK Financial Services Compensation Scheme (FSCS). Darwinex states it carries additional insurance that raises this protection to up to £1,000,000 per client, above the standard £85,000 FSCS limit.
Social trading: DARWINs
Darwinex's core feature is its social trading model. Traders can publish a track record of their strategy as a "DARWIN" and earn a 20% commission on the profits made by other users who copy it. This turns a personal trading strategy into a product other clients can invest in, alongside standard self-directed trading.
Accounts and leverage
Darwinex offers a standard account for trading forex and CFDs, plus a separate account for futures and stocks. In line with ESMA rules, maximum leverage for retail clients in the EU is capped at 1:30; traders who qualify as professional clients can apply for higher leverage.
Platforms and instruments
Trading runs on MetaTrader 4 (MT4) and MetaTrader 5 (MT5); stock trading is available only through MT5. Tradable instruments span major and minor currency pairs plus CFDs on indices, stocks, commodities, and futures. Darwinex advertises an average EUR/USD spread of around 0.1 pips.
Minimum deposit and funding
The minimum deposit for retail clients is 500 EUR/USD/GBP; corporate clients must deposit at least 10,000 EUR/USD/GBP. Deposits below the 500 threshold carry a 5 EUR/USD/GBP handling fee. Funding methods include debit and credit cards, bank transfer, Skrill, UnionPay, and Trustly.
Other account features
- Demo account available
- Islamic (swap-free) accounts available
- Segregated client accounts
- Affiliate/partner program
- Scalping allowed
- Automated and mobile trading supported
- Web-based trading terminal
- Customer support available 24/5
PAMM accounts are not offered; Darwinex's own DARWIN copy-trading system serves a similar purpose for clients who want exposure to other traders' strategies.
Trading conditions
Darwinex is structurally different from every other broker on this site. Alongside a conventional FCA-regulated brokerage it runs an asset management platform that packages a trader's strategy into an investable product — a DARWIN — with its own risk-adjusted track record, which other users can then allocate to.
The consequence is that a profitable trader can be allocated third-party capital and earn a performance fee, rather than only trading their own. The platform applies its own risk engine on top of the underlying strategy, normalising leverage across products so that an investor's exposure does not depend on how aggressively the trader sizes positions.
For a trader with a genuine edge and a documented record this is a real route to scale. For everyone else it is an ordinary FCA-regulated broker with raw-spread pricing.
Verification
Verification requires photo ID and proof of address plus an appropriateness assessment, as FCA rules require. Client money is held under FCA client asset rules with FSCS cover for eligible claims up to £85,000.
If your interest is the asset management side, read how the platform measures and scores a track record before starting: the metrics it rewards — risk-adjusted consistency rather than raw return — determine whether a strategy attracts capital, and they are unforgiving of the drawdown patterns that produce high headline returns.
