Skilling review

Spread from

0.1 pips

EUR/USD spread

Approx. 0.2 pips, Premium

GBP/USD spread

Approx. 0.5 pips, Premium

Commission

$3.50 per side / $7 round turn, Premium

All-in cost, EUR/USD

Approx. 0.9 pips

Spread type

Variable

Overnight swap

Both: overnight swaps apply; swap-free accounts available

Inactivity fee

€10/month after 12 months inactivity

Deposit fee

None internally

Withdrawal fee

None internally

Currency conversion

Currency conversion at applicable exchange rate

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

A quoted spread from 0.1 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.

Skilling lists a minimum deposit of $100. 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, Cryptocurrencies

Currency pairs

73

Total instruments

900+

Crypto CFDs

Yes

Maximum leverage

1:30

Execution model

Market maker / principal

Execution speed

Approx. 50ms

Order types

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

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.

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

Funding options: visa, mastercard, bank transfer, skrill, neteller 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

Skilling Trader, cTrader, MetaTrader 4, TradingView

Own platform

Yes, Skilling Trader

Mobile app

Both proprietary and third-party

Browser trading

Yes

Automated trading

Yes, MT4 Expert Advisors and cTrader algorithmic trading

Copy trading

Yes, cTrader Copy

Indicators

100+ through TradingView; 30+ MT4; extensive cTrader indicators

Third-party tools

TradingView, cTrader, MetaTrader 4

API access

Yes, cTrader Open API/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.

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

CySEC (357/18); Seychelles FSA (SD042)

Regulator tier

Tier 1

Register entry

CySEC CIF Register, licence 357/18

Client money segregated

Yes

Held at

Regulated credit institutions

Negative balance protection

Yes

Compensation scheme

Investor Compensation Fund up to €20,000 for eligible CySEC clients

Audited by

Independent external auditors

Not available to

Belgium, Australia, United States, United Kingdom, North Korea, Iran and other jurisdictions where services are prohibited

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

Skilling holds a tier-one authorisation from 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 (FSA). Which one you are onboarded to depends on where you live, and the two carry very different protections - worth confirming before you deposit.

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

An FSA licence here is usually the Seychelles authorisation - an offshore entity, with lighter obligations than a tier-one regulator.

Client money is held separately from the firm's own money, at Regulated credit institutions. 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 Investor Compensation Fund up to €20,000 for eligible CySEC clients, which pays eligible clients up to its limit if the firm fails owing client money.

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

Minimum deposit

$100

Account types

Standard, Premium, MT4, MT4 Premium, Professional, Corporate, Islamic/Swap-Free, Unleveraged, Demo

Account currencies

EUR, USD, GBP, NOK, SEK

Islamic account

Yes

Demo account

Yes

Professional account

Yes

Minimum trade size

0.01 lots

Time to open

Typically a few minutes

Skilling runs 9 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: EUR, USD, GBP, NOK, SEK. 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

Visa, Mastercard, bank transfer, Skrill, Neteller and regional payment methods

Withdrawal methods

Bank transfer, cards, Skrill, Neteller and supported original funding methods

Deposit time

Instant for most cards/e-wallets; bank transfers typically 1-3 business days

Withdrawal time

Typically processed within 1 business day; settlement varies by method

Minimum withdrawal

€50

Local payment methods

Trustly and jurisdiction-specific local bank/electronic payment methods

Withdrawals are stated at Typically processed within 1 business day; settlement varies by method, against Instant for most cards/e-wallets; bank transfers typically 1-3 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, skrill, neteller 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 €50 - 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, Help Centre

Languages

Multilingual

Telephone

+357 22 276710

Email

support@skilling.com

Live chat response

Typically under 2 minutes

Education

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

Research

Market analysis, trading insights, technical/fundamental commentary and market news

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, help centre. 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: educational articles, trading guides, platform tutorials, webinars and trading education. 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

Skilling Limited

Company number

HE373524

Headquarters

Nicosia, Cyprus

Founded

2016

Publicly listed

No

Parent company

Independent

Employees

Approx. 50-200

Also trades as

Skilling

Skilling is roughly 10 years old. Younger is not worse, but there is less public record to judge it on, so the licence and the protections carry proportionally more weight.

The contracting entity is Skilling Limited. 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.