WhichBrokerScore breakdown
Scores follow our public methodology — fees 30%, platforms 20%, trust 25%, markets 15%, support 10%. How we score
What we like
- Consistently among the tightest spreads in the industry
- Deep liquidity and fast execution for scalping and EAs
- Full platform lineup including cTrader and TradingView
What to watch
- Offshore entity (Seychelles) serves many international clients — weaker protections there
- No investor education to speak of
- CFD-only, no real asset ownership
Who IC Markets is actually for
IC Markets, founded in Sydney in 2007, competes on one thing above all: the cost of the trade. Its Raw account routinely posts average EUR/USD spreads around 0.1 pip — before the ~$3.50 per-lot commission — which puts it among the two or three cheapest venues available to retail traders anywhere.
That focus defines the audience precisely. High-volume forex traders, scalpers whose edge is measured in fractions of a pip, and algorithmic traders running expert advisors around the clock are the people this broker was built for. A beginner looking for education, or an investor wanting to own actual shares, is holding the wrong tool — this is a CFD specialist with essentially no teaching layer, and platforms like XTB serve that profile far better.
Getting started: $200 and one big choice
The minimum deposit is $200, and account opening follows the familiar verified-identity flow. The decision that matters is account type:
- Raw account — spreads from 0.0 pips plus ~$3.50/lot/side commission. This is the account the broker is famous for, and the one almost every serious user picks.
- Standard account — commission-free with spreads from around 0.6–0.8 pips. Only worth it if you trade rarely and prefer all-in pricing.
Commission and average spreads vary a little by platform and pair, so verify current terms on the broker’s site.
Deposits by card, bank transfer and a broad list of e-wallets are free in most regions, and the same applies to withdrawals — though international bank wires can carry intermediary fees outside the broker’s control.
Trading conditions: where the money is
Three properties explain why so much algorithmic volume flows through IC Markets:
- Deep liquidity. Pricing is aggregated from dozens of liquidity providers, so large orders fill with minimal slippage and the raw spread stays tight even through busy sessions. Average EUR/USD around 0.1 pip is the practical result.
- Fast, unrestricted execution. Servers in the Equinix NY4 and LD5 data centres keep latency low for co-located EAs, and there are no restrictions on scalping, hedging or news trading — strategies some brokers quietly ban are the core clientele here.
- Full platform menu. MetaTrader 4, MetaTrader 5, cTrader and TradingView are all supported. cTrader’s depth-of-market view pairs naturally with the raw pricing model; MT4/MT5 serve the EA crowd; the TradingView integration covers discretionary chartists.
Instrument coverage is broader than pure-forex rivals: 2,250+ CFDs spanning forex, indices, commodities, bonds, cryptocurrencies and a reasonable list of stock CFDs. Everything remains a CFD — you never own the underlying.
The full cost picture
| Cost | What to expect |
|---|---|
| EUR/USD spread (Raw) | ~0.0–0.1 pip + ~$3.50/lot/side commission |
| EUR/USD spread (Standard) | from ~0.6 pips, no commission |
| Overnight funding | charged on leveraged positions held past rollover |
| Deposits/withdrawals | free via most methods |
| Inactivity fee | none |
A worked example makes the Raw account’s appeal concrete: one standard lot of EUR/USD at a 0.1-pip spread costs about $1 in spread plus $7 round-turn commission — roughly $8 all-in, versus $10+ on a typical 1-pip commission-free account. Trade twenty lots a week and the difference compounds into real money. Our fees score of 9.3 reflects exactly this arithmetic.
Funding, account currencies and the practical details
IC Markets supports an unusually long list of funding rails — cards, bank transfer, PayPal, Skrill, Neteller and various regional methods — with no deposit fees from the broker’s side. Base currencies span USD, EUR, GBP, AUD, SGD, JPY and others, so most traders can avoid silent conversion costs by matching the account to their funding currency. Withdrawals are processed back to the original funding method first, per standard anti-money-laundering practice.
Two account variants deserve a mention because they broaden who can use the broker. Swap-free (Islamic) accounts replace overnight interest with a flat administration fee after a grace period, keeping the raw-spread model available to traders who can’t pay or receive swap. And for EA operators, IC Markets actively courts the automation crowd: free or subsidized low-latency VPS offers for active accounts, servers in Equinix NY4/LD5, and no restrictions on any legal strategy. This is one of the few brokers where “we welcome scalpers” is the business model rather than a marketing line.
Safety: the honest trade-off
This is the section that separates IC Markets from similarly priced rivals. The group holds licences from ASIC (Australia) and CySEC (EU) — both top-tier — but many international clients are onboarded under the Seychelles FSA entity, where leverage is higher and there is no statutory compensation scheme comparable to EU or Australian arrangements. Client funds are segregated at top-tier banks across all entities, but the legal protections are simply not equivalent.
During registration, check which entity your country is assigned to and decide with that knowledge. Higher leverage on the offshore entity is a feature for experienced traders and a hazard for everyone else — and the baseline warning stands regardless: CFDs are leveraged products, and the majority of retail CFD accounts lose money. Our trust score of 8.4 prices in the strong fund-segregation practice alongside the offshore reality and the absence of a public listing.
Where IC Markets falls short
- Education is close to non-existent. There is a blog and some webinars, but nothing resembling the structured learning paths at beginner-focused brokers.
- Research tools are thin. You get the platforms’ own analytics and not much more; the broker assumes you bring your own edge.
- CFD-only. No real stocks, no ETFs, no long-term investing use case.
- Support is competent but transactional — fine for account issues, not a substitute for guidance.
None of these are accidents; they’re the cost structure that pays for the spreads.
How it compares at a glance
Against Pepperstone, the pricing is a near-dead heat and the platform menus are identical; the decision usually comes down to regulation (Pepperstone’s five top-tier licences versus IC Markets’ offshore entity for many countries) against IC Markets’ slightly deeper reputation among pure scalpers. Against XTB, the roles reverse entirely: XTB wins on platform polish, education and real stock investing, IC Markets wins on raw trading costs by a wide margin. There is no single best answer — only a best answer for your trading volume and jurisdiction.
Verdict
8.7 / 10. If your strategy lives or dies on execution cost — scalping, high-frequency EAs, heavy intraday volume — IC Markets offers about the best pricing retail money can access, on every platform that matters, with no inactivity fee and free funding. The discount shows up in the wrapper, not the pricing: an offshore entity for much of the world and zero hand-holding. Cost-focused traders should read the direct matchup in Pepperstone vs IC Markets — Pepperstone’s five-regulator footprint versus IC Markets’ marginally deeper liquidity is the real decision. Beginners should start at XTB or eToro instead.
Open the official site — check the current terms for your country before depositing.