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• Overall & individual ranks
• Pros: negative balance protection, social trading, swap-free option, low commissions
• Cons: no CFD fees, and no two-step verification
• Best for: CFD and forex trading
• Regulated by: CySEC, FSA, and IFSC
• Headquarters: Sydney, Australia
• Foundation year: 2007
• Min Deposit : $200
• Deposit and withdrawal methods: credit/ debit cards, electronic wallets, and bank transfers
• Deposit fees: $0
• Withdrawal fees: $0 except for bank transfers from outside Australia
• Base currencies: AUD, USD, JPY, EUR, NZD, SGD, GBP, CAD, HKD, and CHF
• Offering of investments: forex, commodities, indices, crypto, stocks, and futures
• Platforms: cTrader, MT4, and MT5
• Number of users: 180,000

Summary

Intro

IC Markets is a leading forex and CFD broker founded in Sydney in 2007. It has a number of offerings of investments like stock indices, crypto currencies, commodities, bonds, and equity markets.

Disclaimer: CFDs have a high risk of losing money rapidly. About 80% of retail investor accounts lose money due to leverage when trading CFDs with this provider. Please note that CFDs are not complying with the islamic religion. And if you want to trade in CFDs you should consider a swap-free account to follow islamic rules.

Learn more about CFDs for muslims.

Pros

Regulated by FSA, negative balance protection, 14 years in the market, variety of trading instruments, social trading, swap-free account, min deposit is $200, low commissions, low forex fees, no inactivity fee, 10 base currencies available, no deposit fees, various deposit and withdrawal options, available in MT4 and MT5, notifications and price alerts, forex calculator, economic calendar, 24/7 customer support, and educational materials available.

Cons

Not regulated by FCA, not available in the USA, high CFD fees, high withdrawal fees on bank transfers, no two-step verification, and no fundamental data available.

Safety

Is IC Markets regulated?

The IC Markets broker is regulated by many financial authorities in different countries like:

• CySEC: Cyprus Securities and Exchange Commission
• FSA: Seychelles Financial Supervisory Authority
• ASIC: Australian Securities and Investments Commission

Is IC Markets a scam?

IC Markets safety is divided into 2 parts: the safety of the broker itself and the safety of the client.

Broker safety

IC Markets has a long track record since 2007 and has survived from a lot of financial disasters up-till-now. It also has more than 180,000 clients worldwide and trading volume of US$950 Billion in February 2021.

Client protection

The client of IC Markets has a protection amount according to his address of residence as the following table shows.

IC Markets Legal Entities Table

Offering of investments

IC Markets provide a number of instruments form investment like forex, CFDs, crypto, and ETFs trading. It also provides an option for social trading by copying other investors’ orders.

Disclaimer: CFDs have a high risk of losing money rapidly. About 80% of retail investor accounts lose money due to leverage when trading CFDs with this provider. Please note that CFDs are not complying with the islamic religion. And if you want to trade in CFDs you should consider a swap-free account to follow islamic rules.

Learn more about CFDs for muslims.

IC Markets Offering of Investments

Notes:

• FCA bans the trading of cryptocurrencies in UK customers from 6th of January 2021.
• Some options of trading like stock CFDs are available only at the MetaTrader 5 Platform.

Account Opening

Countries available

IC Markets accept clients from all over the world, but due to some government restrictions prohibit IC Markets from opening accounts for residents in some countries including US and Canada.

IC Markets countries list

Account types

IC Markets offers 3 types of accounts: Raw spread (cTrader), Raw Spread, and the standard account. Each one of them has its own specifications and features as the following table shows:

IC Markets – Account comparison

Notes:

• IC Markets also provides a demo account with 0 fees if you want to experience the trading platform with no risk.
• IC Markets also provides an islamic account option for clients who cannot earn or pay interest due to their religious beliefs. The swap free option is available on both our Raw Spread and Standard account types on the MT4, MT5 and cTrader platforms.

Min deposit

The minimum deposit for any IC Markets account is $200.

How to open an account

You can open an IC Markets account in minutes through these steps:

1. Write your name and email address along with your country of residence.
2. Fill some personal information like the address and date of birth
3. Choose your account type and the base currency you want.
4. Fill some fields about your experience in trading.
5. Verify your identity with your passport or ID, and a bank statement or utility bill.

IC Markets – Account opening

Fees and commissions

Commissions

IC Markets’ commissions for forex and other trading fees are low when compared to other competitors. On the other hand, the CFD fees are relatively high.

Trading Fees

Forex fees

• IC Markets charges an average spread of 0.1 pips.

CFD Fees

• IC Markets charges a fee of $1.7 for $2,000 and a long position held for one week.

CFD Indices

• IC Markets does not charge any additional fees or commission for CFD indices trading.

Transfers between accounts

IC Markets does not charge a fee when you transfer money between your trading accounts.

Disclaimer: CFDs have a high risk of losing money rapidly. About 80% of retail investor accounts lose money due to leverage when trading CFDs with this provider. Please note that CFDs are not complying with the islamic religion. And if you want to trade in CFDs you should consider a swap-free account to follow islamic rules.

Learn more about CFDs for muslims.

Non-trading fees

• Account fee: $0
• Deposit fee: $0
• Withdrawal fees: $0

(you can check the full withdrawal fees in withdrawal fees section)

• Inactivity fee: $0

Deposit and withdrawal

Account Currencies

The IC Markets account has 10 base currencies which are AUD, USD, JPY, EUR, NZD, SGD, GBP, CAD, HKD, and CHF.

Notes:

• You will not be charged with conversion fees if your account has the same currency with your bank account or when you trade assets with the same currency of your account.
• If you want to avoid being charged with conversion fees, you can open a multi-currency bank account at a digital bank.

Deposit

1. Options

IC Markets deposit methods

IC Markets supports depositing using different payment methodslike:

• Visa
• Mastercard
• Paypal
• Paysafe (formerly Skrill)
• Neteller
• Neteller VIP
• UnionPay
• Wire Transfer
• Bpay
• FasaPay
• Broker to Broker
• Poli
• Thai Internet Banking
• RapidPay
• Clarna
• Vietnamese Internet Banking

2. Fees

IC Markets does not charge any deposit fees except for the bank transfers according to the bank’s policy itself.

3. Time

Depositing in IC Markets is instant most of the time, and has a fast transfer time on all of the payment methods generally.

IC Markets Deposit Options and Transfer Time

Withdrawal

1. Options

IC Markets has several withdrawal options like credit/ debit cards, bank transfers, and electronic wallets.

IC Markets withdrawal methods and fees

2. Fees

IC Markets does not charge any withdrawal fees on all payment methods except for the international bank transfers that have quite high fees of 20 AUD.

Note:

• For the Australian residents, there’s no withdrawal fees on all options.

3. Time

The withdrawal in IC Markets does not take much time and happens instantly. For bank transfers, the transfer happens within 2 business days.

Platforms and languages

IC Markets supports two popular platforms which are MT4 and MT5 as well as the customized platform cTrader.

The MT4 and MT5 platforms have Web / Windows / Android / IOS / Mac versions. The IC Markets trader has Web / Windows / Android / IOS / Mac versions.

cTrader

This is a customized platform for IC Markets broker that has a beautiful UI with easy navigation and Professional support 24/7.

The main cons is that it does not have a two-step verification method for login.

Languages

IC Markets is an international broker with clients in a lot of countries and available in a variety of languages like English, Arabic, Spanish, Japanese, French, and more.

User interface (UI)

The UI of the cTrader platform is simple, attractive, and beautiful. With the main information about trading shown in the home page.

cTrader – Mobile Version – UI

Login and Security

Unfortunately, there’s no option of two-step verification for logging in using the IC Markets Trader, and there’s no fingerprint authentication as well.

On the other hand, you can login using your social network account.

cTrader – Mobile Version – Login

Searching

The searching functionality in the IC Markets Trader is very fine and you can find the trading asset you want just by typing the name of it. There’s also an option to search by category if you want.

cTrader – Mobile Version – Search

Placing orders

There are 4 main types of orders:

1. Market orders
2. Limit orders
3. Stop orders
4. Stop Limit orders

cTrader – Mobile Version – Place orders

Notifications and alerts

You can set notifications and alerts on the mobile version of cTrader to notify you with market changes, price alerts, news, and trading signals.

cTrader – Mobile Version – Notifications

MT4 Platform

Languages

MetaTrader 4 is available in a number of languages like:

MT4 Languages

User interface (UI)

MT4 has a very customizable UI that you can adjust according to your needs and preferences. On the other hand, it seems hard to find some of the features inside.

MT4 – Mobile Version – UI

Login and Security

Unfortunately, the MT4 does not provide a two-step verification method for logging in, and it does only support a one-step login.

Searching

Searching using the MT4 platform has its pros and cons.

• Pros: you can search by categories and find assets.
• Cons: you can not type the name of the asset and search for it manually.

Placing orders

MT4 has a simple order types which are:

1. Market
2. Limit
3. Stop
4. Trailing stop

In addition to those 4 types, there are other orders which are the time limit ‘Good ‘til time’ (GTT) and ‘Good ’til canceled’ (GTC).

There’s also an order confirmation feature in MT4.

Notifications and alerts

Unfortunately, the MT4 web trading platform does not have an option to set price alerts and notifications unlike the desktop and mobile versions.

MT4 – Mobile Version – Notifications Settings

Portfolio and reports

Under the ‘History’ tab, you can find your portfolio reports with a clear fee description.

MT4 – Mobile Version – Portfolio

MT5 Platform

Languages

MT5 is available in 7 main languages: English, Russian, Spanish, Portuguese, Bulgarian, Chinese and Italian.

User interface (UI)

MT5 has a very customizable UI that you can adjust according to your needs and preferences with the dark theme option. On the other hand, it seems hard to find some of the features inside.

MT5 – Mobile Version – UI

Login and Security

Unfortunately, the MT5 does not provide a two-step verification method for logging in, and it does only support a one-step login.

Searching

Searching using the MT5 platform has its pros and cons.

• Pros: you can search by categories and find assets.
• Cons: you can not type the name of the asset and search for it manually.

MT5 – Mobile Version – Search

Placing orders

MT5 has a simple order types which are:

1. Market
2. Limit
3. Stop
4. Trailing stop
5. In addition to those 4 types, there are other orders which are the time limit ‘Good ‘til time’ (GTT) and ‘Good ’til canceled’ (GTC).

There’s also an order confirmation feature in MT5.

Notifications and alerts

Unfortunately, the MT5 web trading platform does not have an option to set price alerts and notifications unlike the desktop and mobile versions.

MT5 – Mobile Version – Notifications Settings

Portfolio and reports

Under the ‘History’ tab, you can find your portfolio reports with a clear fee description.

MT5 – Mobile Version – Portfolio

IC Markets Platforms Comparison Table

Research Tools

IC Markets does provide a variety of useful research tools that can be helpful in a lot of trading scenarios.

Sources

The research tools of the IC Markets come from 2 main sources:

1. From the ‘Trading Tools’ tab in cTrader platform.
2. From the MT4 or MT5 platforms

Trading ideas

Based on technical tools and indicators, IC Markets does provide ‘trading ideas’ tool that you can find in the ‘Trading Central’ or in the ‘Featured Ideas’.

IC Markets – Trading Ideas

Fundamental data

Unfortunately, IC Markets lacks the fundamental data in the research tools.

Charting

IC Markets does provide charting option using a variety of indicators such as trendlines and Fibonacci retracement.

On the other hand, it seems difficult to use some features as the design is outdated.

IC Markets – Charting

Newsfeed

There’s a newsfeed tab provided by IC Markets where you can find events, financial, and crypto news. You can find this tab under the name ‘Blotter’ in the cTrader.

cTrader – Mobile Version – Blotter

Other tools

There are other useful tools that you can find helpful like:

• Forex Calculator
• Economic calendar
• API Trading

Customer service

Options

IC Markets supports different customer service channels like live chat, phone, and email.

Languages

The languages available for customer service are many with the support of major 14 languages.

Experience

• Phone calls and emails are great, with relevant answers and fast replies, the customer service through these channels is very helpful.
• For the live chats, it can be improved to have relevant answers and the waiting time is relatively high when compared to other competitors.

IC Markets customer support

Education

IC Markets provides a variety of educational materials on trading including videos, webinars, and educational articles. There’s also an option of opening a demo account to start trading with 0% risk.

IC Markets Education

FAQs

• 1. How long does it take to verify my account?
• It takes about 1 business day or less to verify your IC Markets account.
  1. Can I open more than one trading account?
• Yes, you can. IC Markets allows you to open multiple accounts through your client area.
  1. Does IC Markets allow bot trading?
• Yes, by using cAlgo which is an automated trading software that allows you to develop algorithmic trading systems.
  1. Does IC Markets give a bonus?
• Unfortunately, IC Markets does not offer any deposit bonuses.
  1. Does IC Markets allow scalping?
• Yes, IC Markets does allow both hedging and scalping trading strategies.
  1. Where is my money held?
• IC Markets hold your money in segregated client trusted accounts at Westpac Banking Corporation and National Australia Bank (NAB).
  1. What happens to my funds if the bank which holds my funds goes insolvent?
• IC Markets holds client’s money in segregated client trust accounts across multiple banks to reduce the credit risk and counterparty exposure.

• 1. Is my credit card information safe with IC Markets?
• IC Markets takes the matter of your personal information -including your credit card information- seriously. It has in place policies and procedures to safeguard these information.
  1. How to enable the swap-free option in my account?
• For islamic traders, they can choose to open a swap-free account during the registration process. In case if you did not choose the islamic account option during the registration process, you can send an email to support@icmarkets.com.
  1. How do I login using the MT4 mobile platform?
• Steps:

1. Go to ‘Settings’

2. Click on ‘Manage Accounts’ or ‘Settings’

3. Then click on the small plus sign or select ‘New Account’

4. Then select ‘Log in to an existing account’

5. Search for the broker name

6. Select the server your account was set up on

7. Enter your login credentials and password

8. Click on ‘Sign In’

• 1. When will my demo account expire?
• After 30 days.
  1. When trading forex, will you lose more than your initial deposit?
• Both our MetaTrader 4 and cTrader platforms are set to automatically close your positions when your margin requirement reaches 100% (stop out level).
• Please note that this process is automated and is not a guarantee that your account will not enter into a negative equity situation and you should keep a balance amount in your account above your required margin.
  1. Can I login to more than one account from the same computer?
• Yes, you can do such a thing by using the MT4 Multi Terminal.
  1. Can I login to the same account through different devices?
• Yes, you can login to the MetaTrader 4 platform using the same password and username through different devices.
  1. Does IC Markets accept payments from third parties?
• No, as all deposits into your trading account must come from a bank account in your name.

Comparison

Alternatives