🛡️ Regulated and trusted. Tested via live trading.
👥 24,545 people chose this broker
Why choose IC Markets
IC Markets is highly recommended for forex traders, mostly because of its low trading fees. I won’t be lying to you: it’s the super tight spreads that keep me coming back to IC Markets, though its currency pair selection is also quite impressive. Beginners may find IC Markets’s industry-standard MetaTrader platform outdated and clunky, but seasoned traders will welcome its familiar features.
| ✅ Pro | ❌ Cons |
| ❖ Low forex fees ❖ Easy and fast account opening ❖ Free deposit and withdrawal ❖ Offers standard and raw spread accounts | ❖ Limited product selection ❖ Slow live chat support ❖ No investor protection for non-EU clients |
IC Markets at a glance
| 🗺 Country of regulation | Cyprus, Australia, Seychelles |
|---|---|
| 🛡️ Negative balance protection | Yes |
| 💰 FX commission per lot | $3.50 commission per lot per trade |
| 💰 EURUSD spread | 0.0 |
| 💰 Inactivity fee charged | No |
| 💰 Withdrawal fee | $0 |
| 💰 Minimum deposit | $200 |
| 💵 Available base currencies | EUR, USD, GBP, AUD, SGD, NZD, JPY, CHF, HKD, CAD |
| 💵 Conversion fee of deposits in non-base currency | Exchange rate received from liquidity providers plus a mark-up. We used the EURUSD trading fees for the calculation. |
| 💳 Deposit with bank card | Available |
| 👛 With electronic wallet | Available |
| 🕖 Time to open an account | 1 day |
| 🎮 Demo account provided | Yes |
| 💵 Number of currency pairs | 75 |
| 🛍️ Products offered | Forex, CFD, Crypto |
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Fees
Score: 4.4/5
IC Markets has low trading and non-trading fees. There is no inactivity or withdrawal fee. On the negative side, financing rates for CFDs are high.
| ✅ Pro | ❌ Cons |
| ❖ Low trading fees ❖ Low non-trading fees ❖ Low forex fees | ❖ High financing rate for CFDs |
We compared IC Markets‘s fees with two similar brokers we selected, Pepperstone and Vantage. These competitors were selected based on objective factors like products offered, client profile, fee structure, etc. See a more detailed comparison of IC Markets alternatives.
Low FX fees
IC Markets charges a forex commmission: $3.50 commission per lot per trade. Spread costs come on top of this, e.g. the EUR/USD spread is 0.0.
| Broker | EURUSD spread | FX commission per lot |
|---|---|---|
| IC Markets | 0.0 | $3.50 commission per lot per trade |
| Pepperstone | 0.1 | $3.50 commission per lot per trade |
| Vantage | 0.1 | $3.00 commission per lot per trade |
Low index CFD fees
All index CFD fees are built into the spread. The spread for S&P 500 index CFDs is 0.2.
| Broker | S&P 500 CFD spread |
|---|---|
| IC Markets | 0.2 |
| Pepperstone | 0.4 |
| Vantage | 0.4 |
Low stock CFD fees
The commission for stock CFD trading is the following: $0.02 per share.
| Broker | Apple CFD |
|---|---|
| IC Markets | $0.3 |
| Pepperstone | $0.7 |
| Vantage | $6.8 |
No inactivity fee, low withdrawal fee
There are no inactivity, deposit or account fees. There is no fee for withdrawing funds when using credit/debit cards, electronic wallets or international bank transfers.
| Broker | Inactivity fee | Withdrawal fee |
|---|---|---|
| IC Markets | $0 | |
| Pepperstone | $0 | |
| Vantage | $0 |
Safety
IC Markets is regulated by several financial authorities globally, including the top-tier ASIC. On the negative side, the company is not listed on any stock exchange and does not disclose financial information publicly.
| ✅ Pro | ❌ Cons |
| ❖ Negative balance protection ❖ Long track record | ❖ Not listed on stock exchange ❖ Financial information is not publicly available |
Is IC Markets regulated?
Yes, it is regulated by the Cyprus Securities and Exchange Commission (CySEC), the Seychelles Financial Supervisory Authority (FSA) and the Australian Securities and Investments Commission (ASIC).
IC Markets is based in Australia and was founded in 2007.
Is IC Markets safe?
To be certain that a brokerage is safe, we highly advise that you check two facts:
- how you are protected if something goes wrong
- the background of the broker.
How you are protected
Depending on your country of residency, you can open an account at one or more of IC Markets‘s legal entities.
This is important for you because the investor protection amountand theregulator differ based on which entity you belong to.
| Country of clients | Protection amount | Regulator | Legal entity |
|---|---|---|---|
| EEA, excluding Belgium, Switzerland, Latvia | €20,000 | Cyprus Securities and Exchange Commission (CySEC) | IC Markets (EU) Ltd |
| All other countries, except Australia | No protection | Seychelles Financial Supervisory Authority (FSA) | IC Markets (SC) Ltd |
| Australia | No protection | Australian Securities and Investments Commission (ASIC) | International Capital Markets Pty Ltd |
IC Markets provides negative balance protection for retail customers. If the balance on your account goes into negative, you will be protected.
Background
IC Markets was established in 2007. The longer track record a broker has, the more proof we have that it has successfully survived previous financial crises.
Deposit and withdrawal
Score: 4.9/5
IC Markets‘s deposit and withdrawal services are great, with many options available, mostly free of charge. On the negative side, withdrawal can only be made in the same way that funding happened.
| ✅ Pro | ❌ Cons |
| ❖ Credit/Debit card available ❖ No deposit fee ❖ Several account base currencies | ❖ Some restrictions apply to withdrawals |
Account base currencies
At IC Markets, you can choose from the following 10 base currencies:
| EUR | USD | GBP | AUD |
| SGD | NZD | JPY | CHF |
| HKD | CAD |
This selection is average compared to competing brokers.
| Broker | Number of base currencies |
|---|---|
| IC Markets | 10 |
| Pepperstone | 10 |
| Vantage | 9 |
Why does this matter? For two reasons. If you fund your trading account in the same currency as your bank account or you trade assets in the same currency as your trading account base currency, you won't have to pay a conversion fee.
A convenient way to save on currency conversion fees is by opening a multi-currency bank account at a digital bank. These usually offer bank accounts in several currencies with great currency exchange rates, as well as free or cheap international bank transfers. Opening an account only takes a few minutes on your phone.
Deposit fees and options
IC Markets charges no deposit fees.
There are many ways to add money to your account, although some of the deposit options are not available for each account base currency. For example, BPay accepts only AUD payments.
| Broker | Bank transfer |
|---|---|
| IC Markets | |
| Pepperstone | |
| Vantage |
A bank transfer can take several business days, while payment with a credit/debit card is instant. You can only deposit money from accounts that are in your name.
IC Markets supports the following electronic wallets:
| PayPal | Skrill | Neteller | Visa Direct |
| SafeCharge | Transact365 | eCommPay | CardPay |
| Bpay | FasaPay | Poli | RapidPay |
| Klarna |
IC Markets review – Deposit and withdrawal – Deposit
IC Markets withdrawal fees and options
Withdrawing funds from IC Markets is free for credit/debit cards, bank transfers and electronic wallets.
| Broker | Bank transfer |
|---|---|
| IC Markets | |
| Pepperstone | |
| Vantage |
You can only withdraw money to accounts in your name.
How long does it take to withdraw money from IC Markets? We tested withdrawal by bank transfer and it took 2 business days.
How do you withdraw money from IC Markets?
- Once logged in to your account, go to ‘Transfers'.
- Select ‘Withdraw Funds' from the drop-down menu.
- Add your bank account information if you have not done so already.
- Select the amount you wish to withdraw and click ‘Submit'
Account opening
Score: 5/5
The account opening process at IC Markets is user-friendly and fully digital. Our account was approved within a day, which is very fast.
| ✅ Pro | ❌ Cons |
| ❖ Fast ❖ Fully digital ❖ Low minimum deposit | None |
Can you open an account?
IC Markets accepts customers from all around the world.A few notable exceptions include the US, Canada and Israel.
What is the minimum deposit at IC Markets?
The required IC Markets minimum deposit is $200.
This is considered low, since other CFD brokers usually require a minimum of around $2,000.
Account types
There are three account types at IC Markets, which differ in their fee structure and the available trading platform:
| True ECN with cTrader | True ECN with MetaTrader – Tested Account | Standard | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Commission per lot (round turn*) | $6 | $7 | No commission |
| Spread | Low spreads | Low spreads | High spreads |
| Trading platform | cTrader | MetaTrader 4 and MetaTrader 5 | MetaTrader 4 and MetaTrader 5 |
| Available accounts by ownership | Individual, joint, corporate | Individual, joint, corporate | Individual, joint, corporate |
| Islamic account available** | Yes | Yes | Yes |
*Round turn means that you open and close the position.
**Islamic accounts are also called swap-free accounts. With Islamic accounts, a flat commission is charged if you hold your leveraged position overnight instead of percentage-based financing rates.
We liked that one can open several sub-accounts with different base currencies.
How to open your account
The IC Markets account opening process is easy and fully digital. The online application takes roughly 10-15 minutes and our account was approved within one business day.
The five steps of the IC Markets account opening:
- Provide contact information, such as your email address.
- Enter your personal information, i.e. date of birth and address.
- Choose the account type and the base currency.
- Complete a survey about your trading experience.
- Verify your identity and residency by uploading a copy of your passport or ID, and a bank statement or utility bill.
IC Markets review – Account opening
Mobile app
Score: 3.3/5
IC Markets has a great mobile trading platform offered by MetaTrader 4. It has a catchy design and it's easy to use. Nevertheless, the platform lacks a safe login.
| ✅ Pro | ❌ Cons |
| ❖ User-friendly ❖ Good search function ❖ Price alerts | ❖ No two-step (safer) login ❖ No Touch/Face ID login |
IC Marketsoffers MetaTrader 4 as its mobile trading platform. MetaTrader 4 is available for both iOS and Android, and we tested it on both.
After downloading the MT4 mobile trading platform, you have to access the ICMarkets-Live server.
The mobile trading platform is available in several languages.
| Arabic | Chinese (Simplified) | Chinese (Traditional) | Czech | English |
| French | German | Greek | Hindi | Indonesian |
| Italian | Japanese | Korean | Polish | Portuguese |
| Portuguese (Brazil) | Russian | Spanish | Thai | Turkish |
| Ukrainian | Vietnamese |
Changing the language is a bit tricky on Android devices: you can only do it if you change the default language of your mobile device.
Look and feel
IC Markets has a great mobile trading platform, we really liked the design and the user-friendly features that are easy to find.
IC Markets review – Mobile trading platform
Login and security
IC Markets provides only a one-step login for its mobile platform. A two-step authentication would be more secure and adding this feature should be high on any company's list of security changes.
You can't log in using biometric authentication. Providing this feature would be more convenient.
Search functions
The search functions are good.
You can search by typing the name of a product or by navigating the category folders.
IC Markets review – Mobile trading platform – Search
Placing orders
You can use the following order types on the mobile trading platform:
- Market
- Limit
- Stop-loss
There are also order time limits you can use:
- Good 'til canceled (GTC)
- Good 'til time (GTT)
IC Markets review – Mobile trading platform – Order panel
Alerts and notifications
You cannot set alerts and notifications on the IC Markets mobile platform.
Alerts and notifications are available only on the desktop trading platform. Developing this feature for the mobile trading platform as well would be much appreciated.
VISIT BROKER
74.32% of retail CFD accounts lose money
Desktop platform
Score: 2.8/5
The web trading platform of IC Markets is provided by MetaTrader. The platform is highly customizable, available in many languages, and has a clear fee report. On the other hand, it lacks a two-step login and price alerts, and the design is outdated.
| ✅ Pro | ❌ Cons |
| ❖ Clear fee report ❖ Good customizability (for charts, workspace) ❖ Order confirmation | ❖ No two-step (safer) login ❖ No price alerts ❖ Poor design |
IC Markets offers MetaTrader 4 as a desktop trading platform.
It has the same design, it is available in the same languages, offers almost the same order types (trailing stop is also available), has the same search functions, and features the same portfolio and fee reports as the web trading platform. These reports can be found under the ‘Account History' tab: right click on one position and choose ‘Save as Detailed Report'.
The major difference is that you can set alerts and notifications in the form of mobile push or email notifications on the desktop trading platform. To set email or mobile notifications, you have to add your email address and mobile MetaQuotes ID (you can find it in the MT4 app's settings). To add them, go to ‘Tools' and select ‘Options'.
IC Markets review – Desktop trading platform
VISIT BROKER
74.32% of retail CFD accounts lose money
Product selection
Score: 2.4/5
At IC Markets, you can trade only forex and CFDs. In other words, many popular asset classes, such as real stocks and ETFs, are not available.
IC Markets is primarily a forex broker, but it also provides some CFDs. To learn more about CFDs, check out our CFD trading tips.
IC Markets‘s CFD and crypto selection is wider than that of its closest competitors, while its forex product lineup is similar.
| Broker | Currency pairs (#) |
|---|---|
| IC Markets | 75 |
| Pepperstone | 100 |
| Vantage | 49 |
Disclaimer: CFDs are complex instruments and come with a high risk of losing money rapidly due to leverage. 74.32% of retail investor accounts lose money when trading CFDs with this provider. You should consider whether you understand how CFDs work and whether you can afford to take the high risk of losing your money.
Bear in mind that the FCA banned the sale of crypto-derivatives to UK retail consumers in 2021.
Stock CFDs are available only on the MetaTrader 5 platform.
Leverage
The fact that you can change the default leverage of the products when trading is a great feature.
Changing the pre-set leverage manually is very useful if you want to lower the risk of your trade.
Social Trading
IC Markets offers social tradingthrough ZuluTrade.
ZuluTrade allows you to identify successful traders (as ranked by ZuluRank, a proprietary performance evaluation algorithm), and follow their trades, which are then translated into real trades in your own broker account.
Should you decide to give ZuluTrade a try, note that there's a tool called ZuluGuard that can help you monitor the volatility of the various available autotrading strategies.
FAQ
Below you can find links to all aspects of IC Markets in this comprehensive collection.
Lower fees, lower costs?
We detailed this in our IC Markets fees article.
What about the minimum deposit?
Our ultimate guide to the IC Markets minimum deposit is updated regularly.
How to start your IC Markets account?
Look no further than our evaluation of the IC Markets account opening.
How's their trading app?
Here's our expert view after checking the IC Markets trading app.
Is the quality of customer service satisfactory?
All you need to know about the IC Markets customer service.
Legit or scam?
Is IC Markets legit features all the key aspects you need to look at to see if a broker is safe and legit.
Free or premium? Or both?
A glance at actual costs and whether IC Markets is really free.
Is this broker good for beginners?
We checked it in Is IC Markets good for beginners.
Should you buy your silver bullets on IC Markets?
Research for silver bugs in the Silver buy on IC Markets guide
I want to trade options, are they available at IC Markets?
We explored the topic in Can you trade options on IC Markets?
What is the minimum account balance at IC Markets?
Check out the current account balance requirements at IC Markets in our What is the minimum account balance at IC Markets article.
Looking for commission and fees data for IC Markets?
We collected them in IC Markets commissions and fees.
How do you withdraw money from IC Markets?
We tested it and collected the options and costs in How to withdraw money on IC Markets.
What types of accounts does IC Markets offer?
IC Markets offers two main account types: Standard and Raw Spread. The commission fees can be found on the IC Markets commissions and fees.