AIMS Review 2026: Labuan Entity, Fees, Leverage and Red Flags

Short answer: AIMS is a CFD broker that says it was founded in 2015. Accounts opened on aimsfx.com are with Auric International Markets Limited, a Labuan (Malaysia) company that Labuan FSA lists as a money broker. In 2026 Malaysia’s Securities Commission put AIMS FX and aimsfx.com on its Investor Alert List for unlicensed dealing in securities. The Standard account needs $50, charges no commission, quotes EUR/USD from 1.5 pips and offers leverage up to 1:500.

How this review was made: we read the AIMS website, its FAQ and its six legal documents (all dated January 2026), and checked Labuan FSA, BAPPEBTI, the Securities Commission Malaysia, IOSCO’s I-SCAN warnings database and the RBI Alert List as of October 2026. We have not opened a live account, so there are no measured spreads or withdrawal times here. AIMS has no separate help centre that we could find. Its FAQ page is the only support content.

AIMS in four numbers. Source: AIMS website, FAQ and legal documents, October 2026.

AIMS at a glance

Is AIMS safe and legit?

This is the main question for AIMS, and the answer has three parts: the company you sign with, what its regulator covers, and a warning from the regulator in the country where that company is based.

The company that holds your account

Every legal document on aimsfx.com names the same company. The Trading Terms and Conditions open with “Auric International Markets Limited (the “Company” or “AIMS”) is a trading brokerage incorporated and registered”, and say the company is subject to regulations and codes “issued by the LFSA” (Terms). The Negative Balance Policy describes it as “incorporated and registered under the laws of the Labuan Financial Services Authority” (Negative Balance Policy). The website footer gives an address at Unit Level 9F(2), Main Office Tower, Financial Park Labuan, Malaysia (source). The Terms also say the main website is www.aimsfx.com and that other AIMS websites are mainly for promotion.

Labuan FSA register. Labuan FSA’s Financial Institutions Directory lists Auric International Markets Limited under Money Brokers, as of October 2026 (Labuan FSA). Two details do not match the broker’s own pages. The directory shows a different address (Lot 3, Suite D, 2nd Floor, Lazenda Phase 3 Shophouse, Labuan) and a personal Gmail contact address. The directory entry shows no licence number, and AIMS does not publish one anywhere we looked.

What you do not get. Labuan is an offshore financial centre. None of the AIMS documents we read mention a compensation scheme, an independent ombudsman or a dispute body that clients can use. The governing law clause says only that the agreement “is governed by the laws applicable to the Company and disputes are subject to the relevant place of jurisdiction” (Terms). It does not say which law or which court. There is no UK, EU or Australian entity in the legal documents, so none of those countries’ leverage caps, negative balance rules or compensation schemes apply.

Malaysia Securities Commission warning

The Securities Commission Malaysia’s Investor Alert List includes “AIMS FX” with the website https://aimsfx.com and the Facebook, TikTok and YouTube accounts linked from the AIMS website. The listed reason is “Carrying on unlicensed capital market activities of dealing in securities” (SC Malaysia). IOSCO’s I-SCAN database shows the warning as published on 28 August 2026 (IOSCO I-SCAN).

This matters for two reasons. The warning names the broker’s own domain and social accounts, so it is not a clone or a lookalike. And it comes from a regulator in Malaysia, the same country as the Labuan company. A Labuan FSA listing does not mean the Securities Commission allows the firm to deal with the Malaysian public. If you live in Malaysia, the warning applies to you directly.

The Indonesia licence

In June 2026 AIMS announced that it had “secured a licence from BAPPEBTI”, Indonesia’s commodity futures regulator (AIMS). The announcement does not name the licensed company. BAPPEBTI’s list of futures brokers includes PT AIMS Indo Berjangka (formerly PT Arjuna Perkasa Berjangka), Jakarta, business licence 002/BAPPEBTI/SI/09/2025 (BAPPEBTI).

That Indonesian company does not appear in the legal documents on aimsfx.com. Those documents name only Auric International Markets Limited. So, based on what AIMS publishes, a BAPPEBTI licence does not cover an account opened on the global website. We could not confirm on an official page how the Indonesian company is linked to the Labuan one.

Client money and insurance

• Segregation: The Terms and the Risk Disclosure say client money is kept apart from company money “in accordance with current regulations but this may not afford complete protection” (Risk Disclosure). The Terms add that you are not paid interest on money in your account.
• Professional Indemnity Insurance (PII): AIMS says a PII policy covers “any shortfall in segregated customer assets up to US $2,000,000 per client” if the company becomes insolvent, applies to all retail clients automatically and does not cover trading losses (source). The page does not name the insurer, the policy limit across all clients or the exclusions. The “View Insurance Certificate” link opens a Google Drive file whose owner has turned off downloads, so we could not read it. Treat this as a private policy bought by the company, not as a government compensation scheme.

Is AIMS the other side of your trade?

The Order Execution Policy says the company uses a “non-principal Straight-Through Processing (STP) execution model”, does not act as counterparty, does not run a dealing desk and passes orders to third-party liquidity providers (Order Execution Policy). The Executive Business Model page says orders go to “six tier-1 liquidity providers”, but the only name it shows is J.P. Morgan (source).

The Risk Disclosure uses different words. It says “If the difference is negative, you must pay the Company”, that you must “open and close a position with the Company that is not transferable to any other person”, and that “the client may be exposed to the risk of the Company’s default” (Risk Disclosure). Whatever the routing, your contract is with Auric International Markets Limited, and you rely on that company to pay out. Our explainer on ECN vs STP covers what these labels mean.

Beware of lookalikes too. AIMS posted a notice in June 2026 about parties impersonating its brand through lookalike websites and accounts (AIMS). Separately, the UK FCA warned in February 2026 about “Aims Markets” at aimsmarkets.io, a clone of a UK-registered firm (IOSCO I-SCAN). That warning is about a different website, not aimsfx.com.

AIMS account types

AIMS sells one main live account, the Standard account, plus a swap-free version on request and a MAM account for money managers.

The figures come from the Standard account page, which calls the spreads “indicative” and variable (source). The same page describes a “commission-free” account in a “true ECN environment”. ECN accounts at most brokers charge a commission and quote raw spreads; AIMS builds its costs into a 1.5-pip spread instead, so judge it by the spread, not the label.

What 1.5 pips costs. On EUR/USD one pip is worth about $10 per standard lot (100,000 units). A 1.5-pip spread therefore costs about $15 per lot round trip, or $0.15 on the 0.01-lot minimum trade. Our pip calculator works this out for other pairs and sizes.

MAM account: The home page lists a MAM (multi-account manager) account with master allocations for money managers (source). We found no separate page with its terms or fees.

Swap-free account. AIMS offers a swap-free (Islamic) status on request for clients “of the Islamic faith”. The account page describes a 10-day window in which eligible positions pay no swap, and says there is “no administrative swap substitute on covered markets” (source). The Swap-Free Account Terms are stricter: AIMS can refuse or revoke the status without giving a reason, charge administrative fees or swaps retroactively if it decides the account is misused, and widen spreads or raise commissions on swap-free accounts (Swap-Free Terms). Neither page says what happens on day 11. See what a swap is for how overnight charges work.

Fees

The FAQ says there are no fees to open a live account (FAQ), and the funding page says AIMS charges no deposit fees (source). The Risk Disclosure says swap values “are clearly stated on the Company’s website” and that clients should check the contract specifications on the main website. We did not find a contract specifications page or a swap table on aimsfx.com. The Terms also say fees, spreads, swaps and commissions are set out in the contract specifications and can change (Terms). Ask support for the current swap rates before you hold trades overnight.

Leverage, margin call and stop out

AIMS gives two maximum leverage figures:

• Up to 1:500 on the Standard account page and the forex page (Standard account, Forex).
• 1:1 up to 1:400 for live accounts in the FAQ, which adds that leverage “defaults to 1:100” and can be changed by emailing support or from the MT4 account menu in the client portal (FAQ).

We could not tell which figure is current. Neither page shows a date, and the legal documents do not give a leverage limit.

The FAQ sets a margin call at 200% margin level and a stop out at 100%, at which “all open positions are automatically realized and closed”. Margin level is equity divided by used margin, times 100. At a 100% stop out, positions close as soon as your equity falls to the margin your trades use. That leaves a losing trade less room than a lower stop-out level would, but it also makes a negative balance less likely. Our guide to margin call and stop out explains the maths.

Negative balance protection: the pages disagree

Negative balance protection means you cannot lose more than the money in your account. AIMS gives three different answers:

1. Negative Balance Policy (January 2026): “the Company follows a Negative Balance Protection policy, on a per account basis”, aimed at limiting your maximum loss to the funds in your trading account. AIMS can refuse to apply it if it suspects arbitrage, abuse or hedging coordinated with other clients, and can then take money from your other accounts to cover the deficit (Negative Balance Policy).
2. FAQ: under “Does AIMS provide negative balance protection?”, the answer says you “remain fully liable for any losses, deficits or negative balances”, and under the next question, “Yes. If your trading account incurs a negative balance, you remain fully liable to reimburse and settle the outstanding amount owed to the Company” (FAQ).
3. Executive Business Model page: client funds are “protected by negative balance policy for eligible retail clients” (source).

The policy document is the dated legal text, so it is the stronger source. But the FAQ is what support staff may quote, and it says the opposite. Before you trade, ask AIMS in writing whether negative balance protection applies to your account.

Deposits and withdrawals

AIMS publishes little detail on funding. The deposit and withdrawal page lists bank transfer, cards and e-wallets in general terms, and says AIMS charges no deposit fees (source). The home page says 20 currencies and 15 funding methods are supported, and shows payment logos including Visa, Mastercard, Skrill, PayPal, Wise, Alipay, Bitcoin and Tether (source). We could not find a list of which methods work in which country, the minimum withdrawal, any withdrawal fee or processing times.

What the documents do say:

• Withdrawals are paid back to the same source as the deposit “where possible” (Terms).
• AIMS needs your bank details to process withdrawals (FAQ).
• It can ask for identification and source-of-funds information at any time and delay transactions under anti-money-laundering rules.
• A withdrawal request that drops your margin level to 50% or lower can count as abusive trading under the Negative Balance Policy.

Opening an account: The FAQ lists a government ID or passport and a proof of address issued within the last three months. You must be over 18. The Risk Disclosure says applicants go through an appropriateness test, and AIMS warns you if CFDs look unsuitable for your profile.

Platforms, markets and demo

• Platforms: MetaTrader 4 and MetaTrader 5, with downloads for Windows, iOS and Android (MT4, MT5). The FAQ still says AIMS uses MT4 and offers demo accounts for MT4, so it seems older than the platform pages.
• Forex: “over 70” currency pairs (source).
• Share CFDs: US, UK and EU shares on MT4 and MT5; the page header shows 100 global shares (source).
• Fractional shares: over 1,700 shares from the US, Europe, Asia and beyond on MT5 (source). The page talks about owning “a portion” of a stock, while the Terms describe the services as CFDs and other derivatives. We could not find a document that says whether you own the real shares.
• Metals and energy: gold, silver, platinum, palladium, WTI, Brent and natural gas (source).
• Indices: including the S&P 500, Dow Jones, Nasdaq 100, DAX, FTSE 100, Nikkei 225, Hang Seng, VIX and USDX (source).
• Execution speed: the product pages quote 0.048s average execution, while the FAQ says “0.02s”. Neither gives a period or a method.

Demo account: The FAQ says a demo starts with USD 10,000 “or any amount you select” and does not expire. The FAQ also says demo pricing is indicative and assumes unlimited liquidity, so fills on a live account can differ. Our guide to demo accounts covers what a demo can and cannot show you.

Awards and promotions: The site lists awards such as “Best Trading Experience Broker 2026” from FXDailyInfo and “Best Overall Strength Broker” from MoneyFest Asia 2026. These are industry marketing awards, not regulatory approvals, and they do not change any of the protection points above.

Is AIMS available in my country?

AIMS gives two restricted-country lists:

• The website footer: “Services are not intended for residents of restricted jurisdictions, including the USA, Iran, North Korea, and Syria” (source).
• The FAQ: “AIMS services are not available to residents of the USA, Iran, Cuba, Sudan, Syria, North Korea and any sanctioned countries” (FAQ).

The FAQ list is longer, so use it. Neither list is complete for sanctioned countries, and AIMS tells readers to check their local laws.

Malaysia: Malaysia is not on AIMS’s restricted list, but the Securities Commission Malaysia has put AIMS FX and aimsfx.com on its Investor Alert List for unlicensed dealing in securities (SC Malaysia). Malaysian residents should not treat AIMS as authorised to serve them.

Indonesia: BAPPEBTI licenses PT AIMS Indo Berjangka (BAPPEBTI). If you are in Indonesia, check which company your account agreement names. Only an account with the BAPPEBTI-licensed company is under Indonesian supervision.

United States: AIMS does not accept US clients. The FAQ says “U.S. CFTC regulation prevents U.S. clients from trading with brokers outside the United States”. We do not suggest offshore brokers to US residents.

India: AIMS is not named on the RBI Alert List (updated 19 November 2025). The RBI says the list is not exhaustive and that a name missing from it should not be taken as authorised. Under FEMA, Indian residents may trade forex only in permitted currency pairs through RBI-authorised persons, recognised Indian exchanges or RBI-authorised platforms, and AIMS does not say it holds any Indian authorisation. If you are in India, weigh this legal risk before opening an account.

AIMS alternatives

Bottom line

AIMS keeps things simple: one commission-free Standard account from $50, EUR/USD from 1.5 pips, MT4 and MT5, and over 1,700 fractional shares on MT5. Its legal documents name a Labuan company that Labuan FSA lists as a money broker.

The problems are serious. Malaysia’s Securities Commission has put aimsfx.com on its Investor Alert List, the website publishes no licence number, and the FAQ contradicts the Negative Balance Policy on whether you can end up owing money. Leverage, withdrawal costs and swap rates are either unclear or not published.

If you still consider AIMS, get written answers on negative balance protection, leverage and withdrawal fees first, start with the demo, and only deposit money you can afford to lose.