Helen always knew that her passion for journalism was more than just a hobby. It was a potential career. She began her professional journey at a local newspaper in the small town where she was born. Writing on a variety of topics, from local news to financial reviews, her persistence and investigative talent soon caught the attention of editors at larger publications. We are thrilled that Helen accepted our offer and now writes for fincapital-reviews. Her exposés always create a buzz. Sometimes, we think Helen could easily open her own detective agency.
Today, in our Maunto review, we’ll explore a Forex/CFD broker operating under a Mwali (Comoros Union) regulator license, claiming to fully support traders in realizing their potential. The website also promises the best trading conditions, exceptional security, and high-level service. This is a standard list from questionable brokers, leading us to wonder: is this company trustworthy, or are we dealing with another scam broker that obtained its license cheaply? If you want to know the answer, read on.
The broker’s official website is well-designed and leaves a good first impression, thanks to a well-chosen template, color scheme, and balance between text and visuals. Page loading is also impressively fast.
Unfortunately, the quality of Maunto’s website content doesn’t match its design. The content is crafted to create the illusion of a reputable, regulated broker. However, some gaps suggest otherwise:
These aren’t necessarily indicators of a scam, but they do raise questions about Maunto’s integrity. We wouldn’t choose this broker when looking for a trading company on financial markets.
Maunto’s contact information is also worth discussing. On the “Contact Us” page, they provide:
In addition, the footer lists a Saint Lucia address, with another address in Comoros Union mentioned in the documents, along with social media links.
It looks like Maunto offers multiple ways for potential and current clients to contact the company representatives. However, some inconsistencies stand out:
Once again, Maunto’s delivery falls short of its appearance. It seems they’re more focused on image than on functional results, which is typical of brokers that rely on being online without necessarily using legitimate means to attract traders.
Maunto has put effort into displaying its trading conditions, publishing as much as possible wherever possible. The account types page details spreads and leverage for various asset groups within each tariff.
The minimum spread is 0.9 pips, available only to VIP account holders for the most liquid currency pair (EURUSD). This is worse than most reputable brokers, many of whom don’t differentiate account types and provide such spreads to all clients, not just those with high deposits.
As for leverage, the maximum of 1:400 is available for currency pairs, while indices and commodities offer 1:200, and stocks and cryptocurrencies have a leverage of 1:5. This arrangement is puzzling, given that commodity markets are more volatile (thus riskier) than stocks, which have volatility comparable to indices.
An interesting point! Maunto’s trading platform includes another asset category — futures — but this isn’t shown on the website.
The account types page isn’t the only place where trading conditions are listed. The Product Specifications page outlines standard contract sizes, minimum and maximum position sizes, while the Swap Fees page lists negative swaps for both short and long positions on all assets, showing the broker’s eagerness to profit.
While there’s plenty of information about the trading conditions, the details aren’t comprehensive for all assets. Furthermore, Maunto misses a critical detail for traders: the minimum deposit for each account type. For the Classic account, it’s mentioned in the FAQ, but there’s no information on the others. It’s inconvenient for users to search across multiple pages for each instrument, though the availability of this information is a positive step.
So, the broker has published its trading conditions in great detail, though it’s hard to say they’re advantageous. Given the leverage rates, negative swaps, and fairly high spreads, it seems that the project owners aim to maximize profit from every trade. This approach is uncommon for reputable firms that have years of experience and substantial profits from a broad customer base. Profiting maximally from clients is mainly a strategy used by scammers.
We looked into the official data to assess if the company operates within a legal framework, and the results were intriguing.
First, there are interesting details about registration and licensing. According to the website’s footer, Maunto is owned by DataWave Tech Ltd. It also mentions Saint Lucia as the place of registration. Indeed, the registry of this country lists the company as an IBC (International Business Company).
However, the company did not obtain a license in its registered location. This may be because the Eastern Caribbean Central Bank (ECCB) has the delegated authority in the country. ECCB’s regulations are stringent, and we are unaware of any Forex brokers licensed by this regulator.
Instead, the Mwali International Services Authority (MISA) issued a license to the broker without issues. However, it was issued to a local entity named DataWave Tech Ltd., not the company registered in Saint Lucia.
We do not know if it’s the same company listed in the Caribbean state registry or another one that copied the name. It seems that even the broker is uncertain, as it provides documents in the names of different entities. For example, the Client Agreement mentions handling claims and resolving disputes according to Saint Lucia’s laws. Meanwhile, the Terms & Conditions discuss operations under the jurisdiction of Mwali (Mohéli), Comoros Union.
In reality, there isn’t much difference, as MISA’s license is not even recognized by the Central Bank of the Comoros and imposes minimal restrictions on the broker’s operations. This means that in the case of fraud, traders are as unprotected as they would be when dealing with unlicensed companies.
Data on the broker’s operational timeframe is easy to obtain through the WHOIS service, which shows the registration date of maunto.com.
As seen, it was registered in April 2023. However, web archive snapshots reveal that the domain was held by the GoDaddy registrar and was available for sale until January 2024. This data aligns with WHOIS information that the domain was last updated in January 2024. It’s apparent that the broker appeared online around this time, though it received its license earlier.
Thus, the website has been active for 10 months, but it’s clear the company’s activities have yet to yield significant results (let’s recall the three dozen followers on X).
In 10 months, Maunto reviews should have appeared online, enough to judge the broker’s service quality. Indeed, users have posted 165 reviews on Trustpilot. Opinions are almost evenly divided: some rate it highly, while others are extremely negative about its performance.
Interestingly, positive reviews tend to avoid real details, mostly thanking the company. On the other hand, many negative reviews (nearly half) include screenshots, though most are in Asian languages, making them hard to interpret. The bulk of complaints concerns issues with withdrawals.
Notably, Maunto responds to these posts with a nearly standard form — users are told an investigation has begun, and they’ll be informed of the results. The very mention of an investigation suggests problems do indeed exist.
Expert opinions on thematic websites are also mixed. Some tout the broker’s reliability, while others claim it’s a scam with a cheap license. From our perspective, the overall picture indicates a significant risk for Maunto’s clients.
Our Maunto review yielded fairly expected results. We can say that trusting this broker is quite risky. It mentions offshore registration and a license from a different location. Moreover, this second regulator imposes almost no restrictions on the broker’s activities. Additionally, the trading conditions offered are hard to call favorable. As a result, opinions online are divided. We consider this situation unsafe. We would avoid depositing funds with this project and prefer a company with a more established reputation.
After registration, I thoroughly studied the lessons and books offered by this broker. I didn’t learn anything and lost my deposit within the first week. Although support promised assistance, they didn’t lift a finger. In short, this broker isn’t for beginners.
Trading conditions and platform are terrible. Do not trade on Maunto; you’ll only lose your deposit.