IC Markets review

Spread from

0.0 pips

EUR/USD spread

0.1 pips (Raw Spread)

GBP/USD spread

0.4 pips (Raw Spread)

Commission

$3.50 per side / $7 round turn (Raw Spread MetaTrader)

All-in cost, EUR/USD

Approx. 0.8 pips

Spread type

Variable

Overnight swap

Both: swaps charged; swap-free accounts available

Inactivity fee

None on Global; EU: 10 account-currency units/month after 6 months inactivity

Withdrawal fee

None; third-party/bank charges may apply

Currency conversion

Conversion at applicable exchange rate/charges; no fixed percentage published

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.

IC Markets lists a minimum deposit of $200. 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, Commodities, Shares, Indices, Bonds, Cryptocurrencies, Futures

Currency pairs

61

Total instruments

2,250+

Crypto CFDs

Yes

Maximum leverage

1:30

Execution model

Market execution

Execution speed

Approx. 35ms on forex

Order types

Market, limit, stop, stop-limit, stop-loss, take-profit, trailing stop

Servers

Equinix NY4, New York; Equinix LD5, London

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.

IC Markets covers forex, commodities, shares, indices, bonds, cryptocurrencies, futures. A wider range matters less than depth in the instruments you actually trade.

Funding options: credit/debit card, paypal, neteller, skrill, unionpay, bank wire, bpay, broker-to-broker, poli, rapidpay, klarna, cryptocurrency, local internet banking. 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

MetaTrader 4, MetaTrader 5, cTrader, TradingView

Own platform

IC Markets Global mobile app / IC app

Mobile app

Both

Browser trading

Yes

Automated trading

Yes; EAs/cBots supported; low-latency VPS available

Copy trading

IC Social; cTrader Copy; ZuluTrade; Myfxbook AutoTrade; Signal Start

Indicators

30+ built-in on MT4; 38+ on MT5; extensive additional via cTrader/TradingView

Third-party tools

Trading Central, Autochartist, IC Insights, TipRanks

API access

Yes, cTrader FIX API

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

MetaTrader 5 handles more asset classes and order types than MT4, but expert advisors are not compatible between the two - an MT4 EA will not run on it.

cTrader shows depth of market and level II pricing, and is usually paired with raw-spread accounts rather than fixed-spread ones.

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

Regulated by

ASIC (AFSL 335692); CySEC (362/18); Seychelles FSA (SD018); Bahamas SCB (SIA-F214); Kenya CMA (Licence 123)

Regulator tier

Tier 1

Client money segregated

Yes

Held at

Top-tier international banks

Negative balance protection

Retail only

Compensation scheme

ICF up to €20,000 for eligible EU clients; Raw Trading Ltd insolvency insurance up to US$1,000,000

Audited by

External independent auditors

Not available to

United States, Canada, Israel, New Zealand, Iran, North Korea, Belgium, Brazil and other restricted/sanctioned jurisdictions

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

IC Markets holds tier-one authorisations from ASIC and CySEC. 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.

It also operates an offshore entity (SCB and FSA). Which one you are onboarded to depends on where you live, and the two carry very different protections - worth confirming before you deposit.

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

CySEC licences passport across the EU and follow the 1:30 retail leverage cap, with the Investor Compensation Fund covering eligible claims.

The Securities Commission of The Bahamas is an offshore regulator, commonly used for entities offering leverage above EU and Australian caps.

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

Covered by ICF up to €20,000 for eligible EU clients; Raw Trading Ltd insolvency insurance up to US$1,000,000, which pays eligible clients up to its limit if the firm fails owing client money.

Check the licence yourself: ASIC Connect, the CySEC register of investment firms, the Seychelles FSA list of regulated entities.

Minimum deposit

$200

Account types

Standard, Raw Spread, cTrader Raw Spread, Islamic/Swap-Free

Account currencies

USD, AUD, EUR, GBP, SGD, NZD, JPY, CHF, HKD, CAD

Islamic account

Yes

Demo account

Yes, expires after 30 days of inactivity

Professional account

Yes, subject to professional/wholesale-client qualification under applicable entity

Minimum trade size

0.01 lots

Time to open

Usually minutes to a few hours

IC Markets runs 4 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: USD, AUD, EUR, GBP, SGD, NZD, JPY, CHF, HKD, CAD. 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 0.01 lots. 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

Credit/debit card, PayPal, Neteller, Skrill, UnionPay, bank wire, Bpay, broker-to-broker, POLi, Rapidpay, Klarna, cryptocurrency, local internet banking

Withdrawal methods

Credit/debit card, bank wire, PayPal, Neteller, Skrill, plus applicable original/local payment methods

Deposit time

Instant for cards, PayPal, Neteller, Skrill, UnionPay and several local methods; bank wire 2-5 business days

Withdrawal time

Same-day processing before cutoff; cards typically 3-5 business days; international wire up to 14 days

Minimum withdrawal

No minimum

Local payment methods

Bpay; POLi; Thai Internet Banking; Vietnamese Internet Banking; UnionPay; Rapidpay; Klarna

Withdrawals are stated at Same-day processing before cutoff; cards typically 3-5 business days; international wire up to 14 days, against Instant for cards, PayPal, Neteller, Skrill, UnionPay and several local methods; bank wire 2-5 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: credit/debit card, bank wire, paypal, neteller, skrill, plus applicable original/local payment 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

24/7

Contact channels

Live chat, email, phone

Languages

English, Arabic, Chinese, French, German, Indonesian, Italian, Korean, Portuguese, Spanish, Thai, Vietnamese and others

Telephone

+248 467 19 76

Email

support@icmarkets.com

Live chat response

Typically under 2 minutes

Education

Extensive: webinars, educational articles, video/Web TV, trading guides, tutorials

Research

Extensive: Trading Central, Autochartist, IC Insights/TipRanks, market analysis and daily forecasts

Support runs 24/7. 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: English, Arabic, Chinese, French, German, Indonesian, Italian, Korean, Portuguese, Spanish, Thai, Vietnamese and others. 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, educational articles, video/web tv, trading guides, tutorials. 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

Raw Trading Ltd

Company number

8419879-1

Headquarters

Mahé, Seychelles

Founded

2007

Publicly listed

No

Parent company

Independent

Employees

Approx. 930

Also trades as

IC; IC Markets Global; IC Trading

IC Markets has been trading for around 19 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.

The contracting entity is Raw Trading Ltd. 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.