HFM

HFM, formerly known as HotForex, was established in 2010 and rebranded to HFM in 2022 as the company expanded beyond forex into a broader multi-asset offering. HFM operates as a group of separately licensed entities rather than a single legal company, which matters because the rules, bonus availability and protections differ by which entity actually holds your account.

The group holds licenses across several tiers of regulation. HF Markets (UK) Ltd is authorized by the FCA (801701). HF Markets (Europe) Ltd is authorized by CySEC in Cyprus (183/12). HF Markets (DIFC) Limited is regulated by the DFSA in Dubai (F004885). HF Markets SA (PTY) Ltd is regulated by South Africa's FSCA (46632). Outside these frameworks, HF Markets (Seychelles) Ltd holds a Securities Dealer Licence from the Seychelles FSA (SD015), and HFM Investments Ltd is licensed by Kenya's Capital Markets Authority (155). Most of HFM's bonus promotions run through the Seychelles-registered entity, which sits outside the stricter EU and UK regulatory perimeter.

HFM offers CFDs across forex, metals, stocks, indices, commodities, cryptocurrencies, bonds and ETFs, with more than 50 currency pairs and several hundred additional instruments depending on the platform. Trading runs on MetaTrader 4, MetaTrader 5 and HFM's own mobile app, alongside web-based access.

The account lineup includes Cent, Zero, Pro and Premium accounts, plus swap-free versions on most types. Cent, Zero and Premium accounts carry no stated minimum deposit on HFM's own pages, though the Pro account requires around $100, and actual funding minimums can depend on the payment method. All retail accounts include negative balance protection, and client funds are held in segregated accounts.

HFM is one of the more bonus-active regulated brokers, but its promotions run through the Seychelles entity and are generally closed to clients in the EU, EEA and UK. The 100% SuperCharged Bonus matches qualifying deposits up to a running cap of $50,000 in bonus credit, available only on Premium and Islamic live accounts. It also pays a separate daily cash rebate of roughly $2 per standard lot traded on gold, up to a lifetime cap of $8,000. The bonus credit itself is for margin only and can never be withdrawn; profits and rebates can be withdrawn, but doing so cuts the outstanding bonus by the same amount, and the credit is wiped after 60 consecutive days of account inactivity.

The Top-Up Bonus works on a similar structure: a standard 20% match, with regional campaigns pushing as high as 100% and caps that vary by country up to roughly $5,000. It applies to every qualifying deposit into a dedicated Top-Up Bonus account on MT4 or MT5, not just the first one, and follows the same non-withdrawable-credit, proportional-clawback and 60-day-inactivity rules. HFM also runs a Return on Free Margin program that pays 2% to 3% annual interest on idle free margin, credited monthly, provided the account trades at least 5 lots a month in forex or metals CFDs. HFM has marketed this with daily-sounding language in some materials, but the broker's own terms describe it as an annual rate, so the real return is much smaller than a daily framing implies.

Beyond deposit-linked offers, HFM runs an ongoing loyalty program with tiered rewards based on trading activity, a refer-a-friend program paying up to $200 per activity-qualified referral, a Shield 500 account that covers up to $500 in trading losses for a limited period under specific conditions, and a rotating schedule of contests. Several of these programs disclose few hard numbers on their public landing pages, so the underlying terms and conditions are the only reliable source for eligibility and payout mechanics.

Across HFM's deposit-linked bonuses, the credit is not real money. It functions only as extra margin that lets a trader open larger positions, and it is stripped from the account if withdrawals are made or if the account sits inactive for 60 days. Trading losses can also erase the bonus if account equity falls to or below the bonus amount. Profits generated using that extra margin are usually withdrawable without a lot-volume turnover requirement, which is more generous than brokers that lock profits behind a trading-volume target. The trade-off is that the bonus math only works in a trader's favor if they keep trading rather than withdrawing, since every withdrawal shrinks the bonus proportionally.

HFM requires full identity verification before any withdrawal is processed, and delaying verification until after profits have accumulated is a common reason withdrawals get held up or bonuses get disputed. Because the SuperCharged and Top-Up bonuses exclude EU, EEA and UK residents, traders opening an account from those regions should not expect these promotions to appear, even though HFM's EU-regulated entity still offers standard trading accounts.

Minimum qualifying deposits and exact bonus caps vary across HFM's own regional pages and third-party trackers, so check the current terms PDF in the myHF portal before depositing rather than relying on marketing copy.