CMC Markets Review 2024

Why choose CMC Markets

CMC Markets is a UK-based global CFD and forex broker, regulated by multiple top-tier authorities including the UK's FCA.

It has low forex fees and there is no charge for deposits and withdrawals. The web and mobile trading platforms are well-designed, highly customizable and rich with features such as an advanced order panel. Research and educational tools are also wide-ranging and sophisticated.

On the downside, stock CFD fees are high. The product portfolio covers only CFDs (forex, indices, commodities, shares, ETFs, bonds, and crypto for non-UK clients) and customer service, while helpful, is available only 24/5.

AwardBroker gave CMC Markets a 4.5/5 rating based on analyzing 600+ criteria and testing via opening a live account.

✅ Pro	❌ Cons
❖ Low forex fees ❖ Great web and mobile platforms ❖ Advanced research and educational tools	❖ High stock CFD fees ❖ Only CFDs are available ❖ Customer support only 24/5

CMC Markets at a glance

🗺 Country of regulation	UK, Australia, Canada, New Zealand, Singapore, Germany
🛡️ Negative balance protection	Yes
💰 Apple CFD fee	$23.4
💰 S&P 500 CFD spread	0.6
💰 Inactivity fee charged	Yes
💰 Withdrawal fee	$0
💰 Minimum deposit	$0
💵 Available base currencies	GBP, EUR, USD, AUS, CAD, NOK, NZD, PLN, SEK, SGD
💵 Conversion fee of deposits in non-base currency	0.5% mark-up
💳 Deposit with bank card	Available
👛 With electronic wallet	Not available
🕖 Time to open an account	1-3 days
🎮 Demo account provided	Yes
🛍️ Products offered	CFDs (forex, indices, commodities, shares, ETFs, bonds, and crypto for non-UK clients)

Fees

Score: 3.7/5

CMC Markets has competitive forex and stock index CFD fees, and no fee is charged for deposits and withdrawals. However, stock CFD fees are high.

✅ Pro	❌ Cons
❖ Low forex fees ❖ No withdrawal fee	❖ High stock CFD fees

We compared CMC Markets‘s fees with two similar brokers we selected, IG and XTB. These competitors were selected based on objective factors like products offered, client profile, fee structure, etc. See a more detailed comparison of CMC Markets alternatives.

Low FX fees

All fees are built into the spread, so there is no separate commission charged. For example, the EUR/USD spread is 0.7.

Broker	EURUSD spread	FX commission per lot
CMC Markets	0.7	No commission is charged
IG	0.6	No commission is charged
XTB	1.0	No commission is charged

Average index CFD fees

All index CFD fees are built into the spread. The spread for S&P 500 index CFDs is 0.6.

Broker	S&P 500 CFD spread
CMC Markets	0.6
IG	0.4
XTB	0.6

High stock CFD fees

The commission for stock CFD trading is the following: $0.02 with a $10 minimum commission.

Broker	Apple CFD
CMC Markets	$10.1
IG	$15.1
XTB	$2.6

Low inactivity fee, low withdrawal fee

CMC Markets charges no account, deposit, or withdrawal fees. However, there is a £10 monthly fee after 12 months of inactivity, unless you hold no funds in your account.

Broker	Inactivity fee	Withdrawal fee
CMC Markets		$0
IG		$0
XTB		$0

Safety

CMC Markets is regulated by several financial authorities globally, including the UK's top-tier FCA. It is listed on the London Stock Exchange, which means additional transparency.

✅ Pro	❌ Cons
❖ Majority of clients belong to a top-tier financial authority ❖ Listed on stock exchange ❖ Negative balance protection	❖ Does not hold a banking license

Is CMC Markets regulated?

Yes, it is regulated by several financial authorities globally. Here is the full list:

• UK – Financial Conduct Authority (FCA)
• Germany/EU – Bundesanstalt für Finanzdienstleistungsaufsicht (BaFin)
• Canada – Canadian Investment Regulatory Organization (CIRO)
• Australia – Australian Securities and Investment Commission (ASIC)
• New Zealand – Financial Markets Authority (FMA)
• Singapore – Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS)
• Middle-East – Dubai Financial Services Authority (DFSA)

Is CMC 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

The investor protection amount, the regulator, and the legal entity that serves you differ according to your residency.

Country of clients	Protection amount	Regulator	Legal entity
UK and countries except below	£85,000	Financial Conduct Authority	CMC Markets UK plc, CMC Spreadbet plc (for spread betting accounts, available in the UK)
EU	€20,000	Bundesanstalt für Finanzdienstleistungsaufsicht (BaFin)	CMC Markets Germany GmbH
Canada	CAD 1,000,000	Canadian Investment Regulatory Organization (CIRO)	CMC Markets Canada Inc.
Australia	No protection	Australian Securities and Investments Commission	CMC Markets Asia Pacific Pty Ltd
New Zealand	No protection	Financial Markets Authority	CMC Markets NZ Limited Company
Singapore	No protection	Monetary Authority of Singapore	CMC Markets Singapore Pte Ltd
Middle-East	No protection	Dubai Financial Services Authority	CMC Markets Middle East Limited

CMC Markets provides negative balance protection for UK and EU clients. Negative balance protection means that your account balance can't go into negative.

Background

CMC Markets was established in 1989. The longer track record a broker has, the more proof we have that it has successfully survived previous financial crises.
CMC Markets is listed on the London Stock Exchange, which is a big plus for safety as CMC Markets releases financial statements regularly and transparently.
Also, CMC Markets regularly discloses reports on the quality of trade executions (such as average cost, speed or likelihood of execution), which is a really transparent practice and not very common at other brokers.
Having a long track record, being listed on a stock exchange and being regulated by top-tier authorities are all great signs for CMC Markets's safety.

FIND YOUR SAFE BROKER

Deposit and withdrawal

Score: 4.5/5

You can use multiple deposit/withdrawal options and CFD account base currencies. Both depositing and withdrawing funds is free.

✅ Pro	❌ Cons
❖ Credit/Debit card available ❖ Free withdrawal ❖ No deposit fee	None

Account base currencies

At CMC Markets, you can choose from the following 10 base currencies:

GBP	EUR	USD	AUS
CAD	NOK	NZD	PLN
SEK	SGD

This base currency selection applies when you open a CFD account. However, not all 10 may be available to you; clients from most countries can typically only choose from among two or three major currencies (such as EUR and USD) and their home currency (if it is among the 10 currencies).
For spread betting accounts, only British pounds and euros are accepted.

CMC Markets offers a great base currency selection when compared to its closest competitors.

Broker	Number of base currencies
CMC Markets	10
IG	6
XTB	5

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

CMC Markets charges no deposit fees.

Besides bank transfer, you can use credit/debit cards for depositing funds.

Broker	Bank transfer
CMC Markets
IG
XTB

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.

CMC Markets review – Deposit and withdrawal – Deposit

CMC Markets withdrawal fees and options

CMC Markets charges no withdrawal fees.

However, international withdrawals may be subject to a conversion fee. An international bank transfer at CMC Markets is defined as withdrawing your money to a bank account denominated in a currency other than your CMC Markets account base currency; e.g. if you withdraw from your GBP-based brokerage account to your EUR-based bank account.

You can use the same options for withdrawal as for deposit. There are some limitations: e.g. if you have a spread betting account, you can't withdraw to MasterCard credit/debit cards.

Broker	Bank transfer
CMC Markets
IG
XTB

You can only withdraw money to accounts in your name.

How long does it take to withdraw money from CMC Markets? We tested debit card withdrawal and we got our funds back on the same day.

How do you withdraw money from CMC Markets?

• Go to CMC's web trading platform
• On the left sidebar, click ‘Funding'
• Click ‘Withdraw'
• Choose the method for withdrawal
• Add the amount you wish to withdraw
• Confirm your withdrawal

Account opening

Score: 4.4/5

The account opening process at CMC Markets is fully digital and there's no minimum deposit.

✅ Pro	❌ Cons
❖ Fully digital ❖ No minimum deposit	None

Can you open an account?

No, you can't open an account at CMC Markets if you live in the United States!

the United States

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67% of retail CFD accounts lose money

CMC Markets is available all over Europe and in most countries around the world.

What is the minimum deposit at CMC Markets?

The required CMC Markets minimum deposit is $0.

This is great if you want to start trading with lower amounts only.

Account types

CMC Markets offers two account types, which differ based on the countries they're available in, the range of accepted account base currencies, pricing and taxes.

	CFD account	Spread betting account
Available in	All countries where CMC Markets operates	UK, Ireland
Account base currencies	GBP, EUR, USD, AUS, CAD, NOK, NZD, PLN, SEK, SGD	GBP, EUR
Pricing	Spread plus commission for stock CFDs	Spreads only
Capital gain taxable	Yes	No
Joint account available	Yes	Yes
Corporate account available	Yes	No

In addition, you can open a Pro account that allows you higher leverage.CMC Markets offers Pro accounts for professional clients. As a professional client, you lose the higher degree of protection available to retail clients, including negative balance protection.
To open a Pro account, you have to satisfy the following criteria:

• Placed 10 trades in the previous quarter and these trades were relevant with significant size.
• Your portfolio exceeds €500,000.
• You worked in the financial sector for at least one year.

In this review, we tested the individual CFD account.

How to open your account

The account opening process at CMC is fully digital, and account verification normally takes no more than 1-2 business days.
The steps of opening an account at CMC Markets are the following:

1. Select your country of residence, account type and account base currency.
2. Fill in your name, date of birth, phone, email and address.
3. Answer a few questions about your employment status and trading experience, then click ‘Submit'.
4. You'll receive an email link to a third-party video identification service, where you'll be asked to show yourself and your ID documents (such as a driver's license, national ID card or passport) via webcam to an operator.
5. Send a bank statement, utility bill or credit card statement for residency verification.
6. Once CMC Markets verified your application and you agreed to terms and conditions, you can start trading.

CMC Markets review – Account opening

Mobile app

Score: 5/5

The CMC Markets app shares the strengths of the web platform: a modern design with a strong order panel and search functions as well as safe two-step login.

✅ Pro	❌ Cons
❖ User-friendly ❖ Good search function ❖ Good variety of order types	None

You can use both CMC Markets and MetaTrader 4 for mobile. Both apps are available for iOS as well as Android.
In this review, we tested CMC Markets on iOS.

The mobile trading platform is available in several languages.

Chinese	English	French	German
Italian	Norwegian	Polish	Portugese
Spanish	Swedish

Look and feel

The CMC Markets mobile trading platform is user-friendly and well-structured. Every feature can be easily found.

CMC Markets review – Mobile trading platform

Login and security

CMC Markets provides a safer, two-step login for its mobile platform.

You can log in using biometric authentication, which is a convenient feature.

Search functions

The search functions are good.

When you type the name of a product, it will list all related assets, along with current bid/ask prices.

CMC Markets review – Mobile trading platform – Search

Placing orders

You can use the following order types on the mobile trading platform:

• Market
• Limit
• Stop
• Trailing Stop-loss
• Guaranteed Stop-loss

There are also order time limits you can use:

• Good 'til canceled (GTC)
• Good 'til time (GTT)

CMC Markets review – Mobile trading platform – Order panel

Alerts and notifications

You can set alerts and notifications on the CMC Markets mobile platform.

To do so, open up the chart of an asset, then click on the top right corner. In another great feature, you can set alerts for economic calendar events too, just like on the web platform.

VISIT BROKER
67% of retail CFD accounts lose money

Desktop platform

Score: 5/5

CMC's ‘Next Generation' platform has a clean and modern design, is highly customizable, and boasts an advanced order panel. Two-step authentication is available for login.

✅ Pro	❌ Cons
❖ Two-step (safer) login ❖ Good customizability (for charts, workspace) ❖ Modern design	None

CMC Markets offers MetaTrader 4 for desktop.

The desktop trading platform is available in many languages.

Arabic	Bulgarian	Chinese	Croatian	Czech
Danish	Dutch	English	Estonian	Farsi
French	German	Greek	Hebrew	Hungarian
Indonesian	Italian	Japanese	Korean	Latvian
Lithuanian	Malay	Mongolian	Polish	Portuguese
Romanian	Russian	Serbian	Slovak	Slovenian
Spanish	Swedish	Tajik	Thai	Turkish
Uzbek	Vietnamese

Look and feel

MetaTrader 4 has great customizability. You can easily change the size and the position of the tabs.
However, the platform feels outdated and some features are hard to find. For example, it took us a while to figure out how to add an asset to the watchlist.

CMC Markets review – Desktop trading platform

Login and security

CMC Markets provides only a one-step login. A two-step authentication would be more secure and adding this feature should be high on any company's list of security changes.

Search functions

The search functions are OK.

You can find assets by browsing categories, but we missed the usual search function when you can type an asset's name manually.

CMC Markets review – Desktop trading platform – Search

Placing orders

The following order types are available on the desktop platform::

• Market
• Limit
• Stop
• Trailing Stop

There are also order time limits you can use on the desktop platform:

• Good 'til canceled (GTC)
• Good 'til time (GTT)

CMC Markets review – Desktop trading platform – Order panel

Alerts and notifications

You can set alerts and notifications on the desktop trading platform.

These come in the form of mobile push and email notifications.
To set email or mobile notifications, first you have to download the MetaTrader 4 mobile app, then add your email address and mobile MetaQuotes ID (you can find it in the MT4 app's settings) on the desktop platform. You can do this by clicking on ‘Tools', then ‘Options.'

Portfolio and fee reports

CMC Markets has clear fee reports.

VISIT BROKER
67% of retail CFD accounts lose money

Product selection

Score: 2.5/5

CMC Markets offers an exceptionally wide selection of CFDs and forex pairs, but you can't trade other popular asset classes such as real stocks or ETFs (except for Australian clients).

CMC Markets is primarily a CFD and forex broker. Whether you wish to trade CFDs of currency pairs, stock indices, stocks, ETFs, commodities, bonds or cryptos, you will find an extraordinarily wide selection of products at CMC Markets. This stands out compared with the product range of its main competitors.

Broker	Currency pairs (#)
CMC Markets	338
IG	98
XTB	57

Disclaimer: CFDs are complex instruments and come with a high risk of losing money rapidly due to leverage. 67% 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.

You can't change leverage levels at CMC Markets. For forex products, it is automatically set at 30:1. This is a drawback, as changing leverage is a very useful feature when you want to lower the risk of your trade. Be careful with forex and CFD trading, as preset leverage levels may be too high.

FAQ

We recommend CMC Markets for forex and CFD traders looking for an advanced trading platform with many research tools.

Below you can find links to all aspects of CMC Markets in this comprehensive collection.

Lower fees, lower costs?

We detailed this in our CMC Markets fees article.

What about the minimum deposit?

Our ultimate guide to the CMC Markets minimum deposit is updated regularly.

How to start your CMC Markets account?

Look no further than our evaluation of the CMC Markets account opening.

How's their trading app?

Here's our expert view after checking the CMC Markets trading app.

Is the quality of customer service satisfactory?

All you need to know about CMC Markets customer service.

Legit or scam?

Is CMC 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 CMC Markets is really free.

Is this broker good for beginners?

We checked it in Is CMC Markets good for beginners.

Should you buy your silver bullets on CMC Markets?

Research for silver bugs in the Silver buy on CMC Markets guide

I want to trade options, are they available at CMC Markets?

We explored the topic in Can you trade options on CMC Markets?

What is the minimum account balance at CMC Markets?

Check out the current account balance requirements at CMC Markets in our What is the minimum account balance at CMC Markets article.

Looking for commission and fees data for CMC Markets?

We collected them in CMC Markets commission and fees.

How do you withdraw money from CMC Markets?

We tested it and collected the options and costs in How to withdraw money on CMC Markets.