IC Markets Review 2020
These day’s forex traders are spoilt for choice. For this reason, IC Markets strives to stand out from the crowd by going the distance to offer what clients really want. This includes: True ECN connectivity with direct access to interbank liquidity, tight spreads, fast quality execution and exceptional customer service.
Headquartered in Sydney, International Capital Markets Pty Ltd is a provider of online forex trading services, offering individual traders, money managers and institutional customers proprietary technology, tools and education to trade online. IC Markets has distinguished itself among industry leaders with its unique True ECN forex technology, proprietary tools and services, and remarkable focus on customer service. IC Markets is regulated by the Australian Securities and Investments Commission in Australia.
A true ECN broker that supports both cTrader and MetaTrader platforms- Equinix hosted servers offer high precision and fast order execution
- Toll-Free number in 11 countries offer clients multilingual support
Unclear if clients from certain countries will be under ASIC regulation or will be regulated by the FSA in Seychelles
- Company Info
- Swap Comparison
- Volume Comparison
| Headquarters | Sydney, Australia |
| Type of Broker | STP & ECN/STP |
| Founded | 2007 |
| Regulated By | Regulated By ASIC (Australia) |
| Offices In | Australia |
| Supported Languages | English, Mandarin, Cantonese, Spanish, Italian, Arabic, Thai, Portuguese |
| ESMA Regulation ? | This broker is not regulated within the E.U and is not subject to ESMA's new Forex and CFD trading restrictions. To find out more about these restrictions, please see this article |
Typical Spread on Majors - Live
| EUR/USD | 1.1 |
| GBP/USD | 1.5 |
| USD/JPY | 1.3 |
Order Excution Tests Results - Live
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IC Markets Server Location: , |
|
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Our Client Terminal Location: St. Louis, United States |
|
Average Time (ms) |
|
Server Response |
|
Order Excution (Normal Hours) |
387.2 |
Order Excution (During News) |
109 |
Review Sections
Since its inception in 2007, IC Markets - a brand name of the International Capital Markets Pty Ltd - has over the past decade, distinguished itself as a Forex broker. Although it started out as a pure Forex broker, soon it expanded its portfolio of tradable assets to help traders diversify their opportunities.
Based in New South Wales, Australia, IC Markets has a global presence and accepts clients from all over the world - except the United States, Canada, Israel, and countries facing international sanctions like Iran. Its office is located at Level 4 50 Carrington Street, Sydney, NSW, 2000, Australia.
IC Markets has partnered with top tier banks and liquidity providers that connect its platforms to the interbank currency market. The company has data centers located in global financial hubs like New York & London (Equinix NY4 and LD5). Its datacenters are connected to liquidity providers via dedicated fiber optic cross connections to ensure the fastest order execution. Having a sound relationship with liquidity providers and a fast data connection means traders usually enjoy some of the lowest spreads in the Forex industry when they trade with IC Markets.
With over thirteen years of experience serving both Australian and International clients, IC Markets has gained the reputation of a reliable Forex broker.
IC Markets is primarily an Australian Forex and CFDs broker and is regulated by the Australian Securities and Investments Commission (ASIC). However, as it expanded its presence abroad, it has obtained several other trading licenses abroad, including with the Cyprus Securities and Exchange Commission (CySEC) to serve its European clients. Also, it has a license from the Financial Services Authority, Seychelles to operate a brokerage business in the Island nation and accept clients from all over the world.
In June 2019, IC Markets and other Australian brokers started migrating their international clients to their overseas subsidiaries amid pressure from the Australian regulators to reduce leverage. However, IC Markets has since started accepting clients from abroad.
If you are opening an account from Australia, you will by default open an account with the IC Markets Australia. Similarly, if you are opening an account with a European address, you will likely open an account with regulatory oversight from the Cyprus authority. But, if your residency status falls outside Europe and Australia, you will likely end up opening a Forex brokerage account with an IC Markets subsidiary called True ECN Trading Ltd, which is based in the Seychelles.
As per the regulatory requirement of ASIC, IC Markets keeps all client deposits with a top tier bank account. Hence, in case IC Markets fails to meet its financial obligations or declare bankruptcy, your deposits will be protected, and you can claim without worrying about losing your hard earned capital.
IC Markets has structured its trading services to accommodate different types of traders. Although all of its accounts offer high leverage and hedging capabilities, it offers three different types of Forex accounts to meet the demand of different styles of traders.
The first ECN account offered by IC Markets comes with the cTrader platform and it charges traders one of the lowest commissions in the industry, $3.0 per $100,000 or full standard lot. The second ECN account uses the popular MetaTrader platform and it is called Raw Spread. The Raw Spread account also charges a commission - of $3.5 per $100,000 or a full standard lot - which is slightly higher than the cTrader account. The third account offered by IC Markets is called a Standard account and it does not charge any commissions to traders, however the Standard account has a minimum spread of 1.0 pips, while the other two ECN accounts charge as low as 0.0 pips under certain market conditions.
All accounts offered by IC Markets come with 500:1 leverage, the ability to trade as low as micro-lots (0.1 standard lot) and require a minimum $200 USD initial deposit. At the time of writing this review, IC Markets offered 64 currency pairs. Besides currency pairs, traders can also access a list of other assets via CFD trading that include soft commodities like corn, soybeans, sugar, cocoa, coffee, and wheat. In addition, several precious metals are included in the trading service such as Gold, Silver, and Platinum. When it comes to trading indices, IC Markets allows 16 Indices to trade from, but the leverage offered on these indices are capped at 200:1.
We found IC Markets to be one of the handfuls of brokers that offer Government bonds for trading as CFDs. Currently, 6 Bonds are offered from leading economies like the United States, Japan, and Eurozone.
IC Markets was one of the first brokers to start offering CFDs for a number of cryptocurrencies and over the years, it has expanded its coverage. Currently, cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin, Ethereum, Litecoin, and Ripple are on offer.
The futures market is one of the largest financial markets you can participate in by opening accounts with IC Markets. However, it only supports four Futures CFDs at the moment and has 200:1 leverage available. Supported Futures trading includes WTI Crude Oil Futures, Brent Crude Oil Futures, CBOE VIX Index Futures, and ICE Dollar Index Futures.
As the cTrader platform is hosted by the software vendor (Spotware), the server is located in London. But IC Markets hosts its own MetaTrader servers in its data center in New York. Hence, depending on which account you are opening, the latency and order execution will vary. However, we found that the order execution is exceptionally quick regardless of which account you are trading from because orders are routed via the liquidity providers closest to the server location.
We found IC Markets' demo account to offer accurate price quotes and you can use a demo account for as long as you need. There is no set expiration date for IC Markets demo accounts. But, keep in mind that a 30-day inactivity period will cause your account to expire.
A quick comparison of different accounts offered by IC Markets
Trading with IC Markets means having access to your accounts with world-class software platforms. The cTrader platform has evolved to be a close competitor to the proven MetaTrader 4 and 5 platforms over the last few years. The good news is that IC Markets makes both cTrader and MetaTrader platforms available, depending on the type of account you have opened with them.
MetaTrader has remained in business since 2005 and arguably, it offers a much higher number of already available technical indicators and automated trading algorithms that you can purchase from the marketplace. But, cTrader also includes a range of built-in technical indicators and comes with automated trading capabilities.
While both platforms from IC Markets are equally capable of offering the best-in-class trading services to Forex traders, the choice would depend on what type of trader you are. The lower commissions charged by IC Markets for the cTrader account makes it suitable for day traders and scalpers who needs to conduct a high number of trades on a daily basis. The MetaTrader platform is also suited for traders who conduct a large number of trades, but the $3.5 USD commission per standard lot increases the cost of doing business by 16.7%.
However, if you are running MetaTrader based automated trading algorithms, you might want to hire a programmer to convert your MQL based trading robot into a cTrader bot. The good news is that the cTrader platform includes a C# programming language-based coding tool that allows traders to write their own automated algorithms.
On the other hand, if you a discretionary trader, trading based on a combination of technical and fundamental analysis, the MetaTrader 4 or 5 Standard accounts offered by IC Markets would be your best bet.
IC Markets also provides Web access for both cTrader and MetaTrader 4 & 5 accounts. Moreover, if you do not have access to a computer, you can always download the MetaTrader Android or iOS apps to your smartphone. cTrader has also introduced dedicated Apps for these two popular Tablet and Smartphone platforms.
As we mentioned earlier, IC Markets' servers are located in the Equinix data center, which hosts servers for some of the top 400 buy and sell-side firms and 150 financial service providers. IC Markets claims that average order execution is usually around 40 milliseconds and our server and order execution test shows the results to be very close to such claims.
IC Markets offers multilingual customer support and we are happy to see around 18 languages are supported by the company. The website is also accessible in 18 languages and besides displaying different email addresses for respective departments like rm@icmarkets.com for client relations and support@icmarkets.com for technical support, IC Markets also lists a dedicated email address for Chinese customers, which is support.cn@icmarkets.com.
While many brokers offer toll-free numbers in a single location, IC Markets listed 11 toll-free numbers in different countries, including +1300 600 644 for Australia, +44 800 014 8775 for the United Kingdom, +661800012799 for Thailand, +6278033212195 for Indonesia, +498007238442 for Germany, +34900838243 for Spain, +558008783186 for Brazil, +601800819013 for Malaysia, +27800172944 for South Africa, +488001125138 for Poland, and +35725123504 for Cyprus.
We were very impressed by the multilingual support agents who we believe were native speakers and handled customer queries in an efficient manner.
However, if you do not feeling like calling IC Markets for some reason, you can also try their online live chat option powered by Zendesk. The live chat option can be found on the help center page.
Based on our criteria, we gave the following ratings to their customer service:
The most popular deposit method listed by IC Markets is using credit and debit cards, and the deposits are credited to your account instantly. Besides cards, instant deposit methods also include various digital wallet providers such as PayPal, Neteller, Skrill, UnionPay, FasaPay, POLI, Klarna, and Rapidpay. IC Markets has also partnered with banks in Vietnam and Thailand to accept deposits using online banking platforms in those respective countries.
If you are based in Australia, you can also deposit using the Bpay system, but deposits are processed at a delay of 12 hours to 48 hours. Moreover, bank to bank wire transfers are supported and it takes up to 5 days to process such deposits.
While deposits occur mostly instantaneously, we found withdrawal processing time to be rather lengthy. For example, withdrawals by credit and debit cards require 3-5 business days to process. Nonetheless, it is free. Also, if you withdraw by wire transfer outside of Australia, it will cost you $20 AUD.
In January 2020, IC Markets did not offer any deposit bonus and we could not find any promotional offer for new accounts.
IC Markets had been around the block in the Forex industry for a long time and it has survived regulatory scrutiny and gained a reputation for being a resilient broker for international clients. Trading with IC Markets means you would not only have access to the latest technology platforms like cTrader and MetaTrader, but it also means you can always reach out to your trusted broker that employs support agents who speak your native tongue.
There are no shortage of Forex brokers offering ECN accounts, but IC Markets can easily stand out in this very competitive industry - part of the reason is that its servers are located at Equinix. Since Equinix hosts servers of some of the largest Forex liquidity providers, your orders should be filled at lightning speeds when you place your orders with IC Markets compared to other Forex brokers that do not have Equinix hosted servers.
During our research, we found that only a handful of large-scale Forex brokers hosts their servers with Equinix because it is rather expensive to host with this data center. As such, you will soon appreciate the competitive advantage IC Markets can provide you in terms of fast order execution, especially during fast-moving market conditions.
IC Markets requires a $200 USD minimum deposit, which is rather high compared to some of the other brokers we have reviewed. Nonetheless, this is a broker for serious Forex traders who understand the benefits of trading with a professional service provider and are willing to fund their accounts accordingly
IC Markets Reviews
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had any problems with them, their support it very quick, spreads are tight and withdrawing money
is quick and easy.
I can definitely recomend this broker - it also helps with peace of mind that they are regulated by ASIC.
| Currencies Swap | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Short | Long |
Type
| |
| Swap Chart for EURUSD for different FX Brokers |
|---|
| Change Currency | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Volume | ||||
| AUDCAD | 21 | |||
| AUDCHF | 26 | |||
| AUDJPY | 41 | |||
| AUDNZD | 41 | |||
| AUDUSD | 16 | |||
| CADCHF | 11 | |||
| CADJPY | 54 | |||
| CHFJPY | 62 | |||
| EURAUD | 41 | |||
| EURCAD | 59 | |||
| EURCHF | 10 | |||
| EURDKK | 3 | |||
| EURGBP | 32 | |||
| EURJPY | 38 | |||
| EURNOK | 2 | |||
| EURNZD | 15 | |||
| EURPLN | 1 | |||
| EURSEK | 3 | |||
| EURTRY | 8 | |||
| EURUSD | 13 | |||
| GBPAUD | 42 | |||
| GBPCAD | 60 | |||
| GBPCHF | 35 | |||
| GBPJPY | 82 | |||
| GBPNOK | 11 | |||
| GBPNZD | 27 | |||
| GBPSEK | 16 | |||
| GBPUSD | 29 | |||
| NOKJPY | 2 | |||
| NZDCAD | 28 | |||
| NZDCHF | 14 | |||
| NZDJPY | 44 | |||
| NZDUSD | 34 | |||
| SEKJPY | 3 | |||
| SGDJPY | 31 | |||
| USDCAD | 37 | |||
| USDCHF | 8 | |||
| USDCZK | 12 | |||
| USDDKK | 17 | |||
| USDHKD | 1 | |||
| USDHUF | 12 | |||
| USDJPY | 45 | |||
| USDNOK | 7 | |||
| USDPLN | 12 | |||
| USDRUB | 2 | |||
| USDSEK | 5 | |||
| USDSGD | 3 | |||
| USDTRY | 1 | |||
| XAUUSD | 22 | |||
| XAGUSD | 5 | |||
| BTCUSD | 86 | |||
| BCHUSD | 106 | |||
| ETHUSD | 70 | |||
| XRPUSD | 22 | |||
| LTCUSD | 32 | |||
| DSHUSD | 21 | |||
| Volume Chart |
|---|
- Company Info
- Swap Comparison
- Volume Comparison
| Headquarters | Sydney, Australia |
| Type of Broker | STP & ECN/STP |
| Founded | 2007 |
| Regulated By | Regulated By ASIC (Australia) |
| Offices In | Australia |
| Supported Languages | English, Mandarin, Cantonese, Spanish, Italian, Arabic, Thai, Portuguese |
| ESMA Regulation ? | This broker is not regulated within the E.U and is not subject to ESMA's new Forex and CFD trading restrictions. To find out more about these restrictions, please see this article |
| Currencies Swap | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Short | Long |
Type
| |
| Swap Chart for EURUSD for different FX Brokers |
|---|
| Change Currency | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Volume | ||||
| AUDCAD | 21 | |||
| AUDCHF | 26 | |||
| AUDJPY | 41 | |||
| AUDNZD | 41 | |||
| AUDUSD | 16 | |||
| CADCHF | 11 | |||
| CADJPY | 54 | |||
| CHFJPY | 62 | |||
| EURAUD | 41 | |||
| EURCAD | 59 | |||
| EURCHF | 10 | |||
| EURDKK | 3 | |||
| EURGBP | 32 | |||
| EURJPY | 38 | |||
| EURNOK | 2 | |||
| EURNZD | 15 | |||
| EURPLN | 1 | |||
| EURSEK | 3 | |||
| EURTRY | 8 | |||
| EURUSD | 13 | |||
| GBPAUD | 42 | |||
| GBPCAD | 60 | |||
| GBPCHF | 35 | |||
| GBPJPY | 82 | |||
| GBPNOK | 11 | |||
| GBPNZD | 27 | |||
| GBPSEK | 16 | |||
| GBPUSD | 29 | |||
| NOKJPY | 2 | |||
| NZDCAD | 28 | |||
| NZDCHF | 14 | |||
| NZDJPY | 44 | |||
| NZDUSD | 34 | |||
| SEKJPY | 3 | |||
| SGDJPY | 31 | |||
| USDCAD | 37 | |||
| USDCHF | 8 | |||
| USDCZK | 12 | |||
| USDDKK | 17 | |||
| USDHKD | 1 | |||
| USDHUF | 12 | |||
| USDJPY | 45 | |||
| USDNOK | 7 | |||
| USDPLN | 12 | |||
| USDRUB | 2 | |||
| USDSEK | 5 | |||
| USDSGD | 3 | |||
| USDTRY | 1 | |||
| XAUUSD | 22 | |||
| XAGUSD | 5 | |||
| BTCUSD | 86 | |||
| BCHUSD | 106 | |||
| ETHUSD | 70 | |||
| XRPUSD | 22 | |||
| LTCUSD | 32 | |||
| DSHUSD | 21 | |||
| Volume Chart |
|---|
- Account Details
| Account Currencies | AUD, USD, EUR, GBP, JPY, HKD, SGD, CHF, NZD, CAD |
| Minimum Deposit | $200 |
| Traders from USA Allowed | No |
| Clients Funds Segregated | Yes |
| Interest on Margin | No |
| Islamic Accounts | Yes |
| Islamic Account Restrictions | Muslim Faith Only |
| ECN / STP Accounts Offered | Yes |
| Commission on STP or ECN | $3.50/100K (MT4), $3/100K (cTrader) |
| VIP Accounts Offered | No |
| Mini Accounts Offered | Yes |
| PAMM / MAM Solutions | Yes |
| API Solutions | Yes |
| Mobile Trading | Yes |
| Web Based Trading | Yes |
| Funding Methods | Credit/Debit Cards, Wire Transfer, PayPal, Skrill, China Union Pay, Neteller, JP Money, Broker to Broker |
| Withdrawal Methods | Credit/Debit Cards, Wire Transfer, Neteller, PayPal |
- Platform Details
| Platforms Offered | MetaTrader 4, MetaTrader 4 Mobile, MetaTrader 4 iOS, MetaTrader 4 iPhone, MetaTrader 4 Android, MetaTrader 5, cTrader, cTrader Mobile, cTrader Web, FIX API |
| NO of Pairs | 80 |
| Cryptocurrency Trading | Yes |
| Pricing Digits | 5 |
| Trade off Charts | Yes |
| One-click Execution | Yes |
| Email Alerts | Yes |
| Mobile Alerts | Yes |
| MetaTrader Server Time | GMT + 2 |
| Demo Account Expiry | Non-Expiring |
| VPS Offered | Yes |
| Free VPS Conditions | Minimum 100 Round Turn Lots per Month |
- Trading Details
| Dealing Desk | No |
| Maximum Leverage | 500:1 |
| Minimum Contract Size | 0.01 |
| Execution | Market Execution |
| Hedging | Yes |
| Scalping | Yes |
| Scalping Restrictions | No |
| Option of OCO | Yes |
| Option of FIFO | No |
| Liquidity Providers | 35+ |
- Additonal Instruments
| CFD's | Yes |
| Metals | Yes |
| Oil | Yes |
| Stocks | Yes |
| Futures | Yes |
| Indices | Yes |
| EFT's | Yes |
- Currencies Swap
| Short | Long | Type  |
|
| AUDCAD | -1.55 | -1.51 | 0 |
| AUDCHF | -2.50 | 0.25 | 0 |
| AUDJPY | -1.79 | -0.90 | 0 |
| AUDNZD | 0.14 | -3.17 | 0 |
| AUDUSD | -1.44 | -1.81 | 0 |
| CADCHF | -3.18 | 0.67 | 0 |
| CADJPY | -2.14 | -0.40 | 0 |
| CHFJPY | 0.22 | -3.36 | 0 |
| EURAUD | 0.18 | -4.60 | 0 |
| EURCAD | 0.67 | -4.41 | 0 |
| EURCHF | -2.29 | -1.72 | 0 |
| EURDKK | -7.95 | -2.18 | 0 |
| EURGBP | -0.41 | -2.86 | 0 |
| EURJPY | -0.55 | -3.18 | 0 |
| EURNOK | 25.73 | -38.33 | 0 |
| EURNZD | 2.90 | -6.90 | 0 |
| EURPLN | 24.61 | -30.87 | 0 |
| EURSEK | 3.09 | -16.70 | 0 |
| EURTRY | 620.30 | -655.98 | 0 |
| EURUSD | 0.46 | -3.29 | 0 |
| GBPAUD | -4.05 | -3.31 | 0 |
| GBPCAD | -3.01 | -3.06 | 0 |
| GBPCHF | -4.70 | 0.03 | 0 |
| GBPJPY | -3.44 | -2.17 | 0 |
| GBPNOK | 6.30 | -20.44 | 0 |
| GBPNZD | -2.45 | -5.83 | 0 |
| GBPSEK | -21.69 | 3.15 | 0 |
| GBPUSD | -3.10 | -3.15 | 0 |
| NOKJPY | -0.39 | 0.21 | 0 |
| NZDCAD | -2.50 | -0.23 | 0 |
| NZDCHF | -3.13 | 1.61 | 0 |
| NZDJPY | -2.79 | 0.68 | 0 |
| NZDUSD | -2.08 | -0.61 | 0 |
| SEKJPY | -0.09 | -0.08 | 0 |
| SGDJPY | -1.41 | 0.42 | 0 |
| USDCAD | -1.93 | -2.16 | 0 |
| USDCHF | -3.18 | 0.35 | 0 |
| USDCZK | 18.37 | -21.18 | 0 |
| USDDKK | -14.33 | 5.35 | 0 |
| USDHKD | -7.41 | -3.01 | 0 |
| USDHUF | 16.11 | -20.56 | 0 |
| USDJPY | -2.70 | -1.29 | 0 |
| USDNOK | 4.49 | -15.37 | 0 |
| USDPLN | 13.18 | -18.82 | 0 |
| USDRUB | 1350.22 | -1766.90 | 0 |
| USDSEK | -16.02 | 3.11 | 0 |
| USDSGD | -4.70 | -4.91 | 0 |
| USDTRY | 494.14 | -537.17 | 0 |
| XAUUSD | -0.70 | -1.68 | 0 |
| XAGUSD | 0.03 | -0.25 | 0 |
| BTCUSD | -10.00 | -10.00 | 2 |
| BCHUSD | -10.00 | -10.00 | 2 |
| ETHUSD | -15.00 | -15.00 | 2 |
| XRPUSD | -15.00 | -15.00 | 2 |
| LTCUSD | -15.00 | -15.00 | 2 |
| DSHUSD | -15.00 | -15.00 | 2 | Compare Swap rates from other Brokers |
