CMC Markets review

Spread from

0.0 pips

EUR/USD spread

Approx. 0.0-0.1 pips, FX Active

GBP/USD spread

Approx. 0.2 pips, FX Active

Commission

$2.50 per side / $5 round turn, FX Active

All-in cost, EUR/USD

Approx. 0.5 pips

Spread type

Variable

Overnight swap

Both: overnight holding costs charged/credited

Inactivity fee

£10/month after 12 months inactivity

Currency conversion

0.5%

Cost is where brokers in the same regulatory bracket actually differ.

A quoted spread from 0.0 pips is a raw-spread figure, which almost always means a separate commission per lot. Compare the two together - a "zero spread" account with a high commission can cost more than a wider spread with none.

Quoted spreads are best-case figures on the most liquid pair, in normal conditions. What you actually pay widens around news and at the session open.

CMC Markets lists a minimum deposit of $0. Treat it as the cost of opening an account, not the cost of trading one - position sizing on a small balance is what tends to cause damage.

Markets

Forex, Shares, Indices, Commodities, Treasuries, ETFs, Cryptocurrencies

Currency pairs

300+

Total instruments

12,000+

Crypto CFDs

Yes, jurisdiction-dependent

Maximum leverage

1:30

Execution model

Market maker / principal

Execution speed

Approx. 0.004 seconds

Order types

Market, limit, stop-entry, stop-loss, trailing stop-loss, guaranteed stop-loss, boundary orders

Servers

London and global financial data-centre infrastructure

Leverage is capped at 1:30, which is the retail limit under tier-one regulation. It is a protection rather than a restriction: it caps how quickly a position can move against your balance.

CMC Markets covers forex, shares, indices, commodities, treasuries, etfs, cryptocurrencies. A wider range matters less than depth in the instruments you actually trade.

Funding options: visa, mastercard, bank transfer, paypal, apple pay and regional payment methods. Check withdrawal routes as well as deposit ones - they are often not the same, and the difference only becomes apparent when you try to take money out.

Platforms

CMC Next Generation, MetaTrader 4, TradingView

Own platform

Yes, Next Generation

Mobile app

Both proprietary and third-party

Browser trading

Yes

Automated trading

Yes, through MT4

Copy trading

No

Indicators

80+ on Next Generation; 100+ through TradingView

Third-party tools

TradingView, Morningstar, Reuters, Opto, Trading Central

API access

Yes

MetaTrader 4 remains the most widely supported platform for expert advisors. If you rely on an existing EA, this is usually the deciding factor.

TradingView integration lets you trade from charts you may already use, removing the need to run a second platform for analysis.

Regulated by

FCA (173730); ASIC (AFSL 238054); BaFin (154814); MAS; FMA New Zealand (FSP41187); CIRO Canada; DFSA (F006316)

Regulator tier

Tier 1

Register entry

FCA Financial Services Register, FRN 173730

Client money segregated

Yes

Held at

Major regulated banks including Barclays

Negative balance protection

Yes, retail clients

Compensation scheme

FSCS up to £85,000 for eligible UK clients; EdW protection up to €20,000 for eligible German clients; CIPF protection for eligible Canadian investment accounts

Audited by

PricewaterhouseCoopers LLP

Not available to

United States and jurisdictions where CMC Markets is not authorised or services are legally restricted

Across a hundred brokers, the licence is what separates the field fastest.

CMC Markets holds tier-one authorisations from ASIC, FCA, MAS, FMA, BaFin and CIRO. That matters more than any headline spread: it determines your leverage cap, whether losses can exceed your deposit, and what happens to your money if the firm fails.

ASIC caps retail leverage at 1:30, requires negative balance protection, and obliges the broker to hold client money in a separate trust account.

The FCA caps retail leverage at 1:30, mandates negative balance protection, and covers eligible clients under the Financial Services Compensation Scheme.

The DFSA regulates from the Dubai International Financial Centre, a separate legal jurisdiction from the wider UAE.

Client money is held separately from the firm's own money, at Major regulated banks including Barclays. That separation is what makes your balance recoverable if the company fails, rather than part of the pool its creditors divide up.

Negative balance protection applies, so a losing position cannot take the account below zero and leave you owing the broker money.

Covered by FSCS up to £85,000 for eligible UK clients; EdW protection up to €20,000 for eligible German clients; CIPF protection for eligible Canadian investment accounts, which pays eligible clients up to its limit if the firm fails owing client money.

Check the licence yourself: the FCA Register, ASIC Connect, the MAS Financial Institutions Directory, the New Zealand Financial Service Providers Register, the DFSA public register.

Minimum deposit

$0

Account types

CFD, Spread Betting, FX Active, Invest, Professional, Demo

Account currencies

GBP, USD, EUR, AUD, CAD, NZD, SGD, NOK, SEK, PLN

Islamic account

No

Demo account

Yes, unlimited

Professional account

Yes

Minimum trade size

1 unit / instrument-dependent; approximately 0.01 lot equivalent on FX

Time to open

Typically a few minutes

CMC Markets runs 6 account types. More choice is not automatically better: the tightest headline spread almost always sits on the account that also charges a commission, so the comparison that matters is the two added together.

Base currencies: GBP, USD, EUR, AUD, CAD, NZD, SGD, NOK, SEK, PLN. Holding the account in the currency you fund it with avoids a conversion charge on every deposit and withdrawal - a cost that never shows up in a spread comparison.

The smallest position is 1 unit / instrument-dependent; approximately 0.01 lot equivalent on FX. For anyone starting carefully this matters more than the minimum deposit, because it sets the least you can put at risk on a single trade.

A demo account is available. Worth using for the platform rather than the results: fills are simulated, so it tells you how the software behaves but very little about execution.

Deposit methods

Visa, Mastercard, bank transfer, PayPal, Apple Pay and regional payment methods

Withdrawal methods

Bank transfer, cards and supported original funding methods

Deposit time

Instant for cards/PayPal; bank transfer typically same day to 2 business days

Withdrawal time

Usually processed same day; domestic bank transfers typically 1-2 business days

Minimum withdrawal

No minimum

Local payment methods

BPAY and PayID in Australia; jurisdiction-specific bank and payment methods elsewhere

Withdrawals are stated at Usually processed same day; domestic bank transfers typically 1-2 business days, against Instant for cards/PayPal; bank transfer typically same day to 2 business days for deposits. A gap between the two is normal and not in itself a warning sign - identity checks are a legal obligation, not obstruction. What is worth noticing is a withdrawal that keeps meeting new conditions after those checks are done.

Withdrawal routes: bank transfer, cards and supported original funding methods. Money is usually returned by the route it arrived on, so the deposit method you pick is in effect the withdrawal method you are picking too.

The minimum withdrawal is No minimum - relevant if you intend to fund the account lightly, since it sets the smallest amount you can take out at a time.

Support hours

24/5

Contact channels

Live chat, email, phone

Languages

Multilingual

Telephone

+44 (0)20 7170 8200

Email

clientmanagement@cmcmarkets.co.uk

Live chat response

Typically under 2 minutes

Education

Extensive: webinars, trading guides, platform tutorials, educational articles and videos

Research

Extensive: Morningstar, Reuters news, Opto, market analysis, technical insights, analyst commentary and client sentiment

Support runs 24/5. Round-the-clock cover matters more than it sounds: a position held over a weekend or through an unexpected halt is exactly when you need somebody to answer.

Reachable by live chat, email, phone. A published telephone number is the one channel that is hard to fake and hard to ignore, so whether there is one says more than the number of channels does.

Languages: Multilingual. Being able to raise a complaint in your own language is worth more than it appears, because complaints are where precision matters most.

Education: extensive: webinars, trading guides, platform tutorials, educational articles and videos. Treat broker-published material as an introduction rather than as advice - it is produced by a firm whose revenue rises when you trade more.

Legal entity

CMC Markets plc

Company number

05145017

Headquarters

London, United Kingdom

Founded

1989

Publicly listed

Yes, London Stock Exchange (LON: CMCX), FTSE 250

Parent company

Independent

Employees

Approx. 1,000

Also trades as

CMC Markets; CMC Invest

CMC Markets has been trading for around 37 years, through at least one full market cycle. Longevity guarantees nothing on its own, but a firm that came through 2008 and 2015 has been tested in a way a recent entrant has not.

It is publicly listed, which brings audited accounts and disclosure duties a private broker does not carry. That is real transparency about the company - though it says nothing about the trading conditions.

The contracting entity is CMC Markets plc. This is the company you would actually have a relationship with, and it is worth checking that it is the same one named on the licence you are relying on: large brokers commonly operate several, and they are not equally protected.

Part of Independent. A parent adds resources, but the protections that apply to you are the ones attached to the entity that holds your account, not to the group.