IC Markets is a broker with 200,000 clients; if you’re reading this IC Markets review, you’re probably wondering if it’s the right choice to join this tally.
Before making any major decision, seeing other people’s opinions and experiences is natural. There’s no way to spin it; IC Markets is a reputable broker with low spreads and fees.
However, there are two sides to a coin, and this broker has weaknesses.
In this IC Markets review, we’ll evaluate this broker’s services reliability with the bullet points highlighted below:
- My Findings on The Broker
- My Personal Experience on IC Markets
- Demo Trading on IC Markets
- Broker Alternatives
| Broker FAQ | Answers |
|---|---|
| Year Founded | 2007 |
| Free Bonus | No deposit bonus is available. |
| Minimum Deposit | Minimum deposit is $200 |
| Spread | 0.6pips on standard accounts, 0pips on raw accounts |
| Leverage | It can go as high as 1:1000 |
| Cent Account | x |
| ECN | ✓ |
| Deposit Methods | Wire transfer, Visa, Mastercard, Paypal, Skrill, Neteller |
| Withdrawal Methods | Wire transfer, Visa, Mastercard, Paypal, Skrill, Neteller |
| MT4 | ✓ |
| MT5 | ✓ |
| Mobile App | ✓ |
| Copy Trading? | ✓ |
| Trustscore | 87% |
IC Markets Review Summary and Rating
IC Markets provides low spreads and low fees with powerful trading platforms and tools to navigate the forex market.
Pros
High leverage (1:1000)
24/7 live chat support
Slippage is managed
Copy Trading
A large variety of trading instruments
Cons
No cent account
Education isn’t great
The minimum deposit is high
Is IC Markets Trustworthy?
IC Markets is undoubtedly a trustworthy broker; various regulatory certificates prove this. Furthermore, offices are located all around the globe, so there’s nothing to worry about.
Besides, IC Markets is regulated in three different countries, and they are:
- Seychelles Financial Services Authority (SFSA) with the registration number (SD018)
- Australian Securities and Investment Commission (ASIC) with the registration number (ACN: 123 289 109)
- Cyprus Securities and Exchange Commission CySEC (362/18)
Perks like distinguished customer support, transparent brokerage business, and consumer protection fund, which acts as a cushion to clients in the case of the company’s bankruptcy.
Starting in Australia alone, seeing how far the IC Markets group has come is astonishing. Regardless of this growth of their operation, they’ve ensured that core values haven’t been cast aside.
Moreover, this company pays attention to online criticism and tries to address it.
My Findings
Officially, this company is registered as IC Markets Limited. Moreover, the broker gathered regulations in three countries with the help of subsidiary companies like Raw Trading LTD and International Capital Markets Pty Ltd.
Trading is optimized on this platform, and the deep liquidity, fast execution, and the absence of slippages show it.
Additionally, a social copy trading application and multiple trading platforms are provided.
Contrarily, this company has often received backlash for its slow withdrawal and high transfer fee to international banks.
Account Types
The trading account choices on IC Markets are laid out since only two accounts are available. These accounts are called the Standard account and Raw Spreads account, respectively.
As the name suggests, the raw spread accounts see spreads fixed at 0.0pips while floating spreads are found on the standard accounts.
Spread
Depending on trading account preference, spread will either be floating or raw. Floating spreads on this platform start at 0.6 pips and will differ on other trading instruments.
On the other hand, raw spreads are fixed at 0.0, but higher commissions will be paid alternatively.
Leverage
Leverage is flexible on IC Markets, no doubt about that. It can be set to as little as 1:1 and as high as 1:1000.
Lot Sizes
Since no cent accounts are available here, it’s no surprise that the lowest lot size is only 0.01.
Moreover, this broker encourages racking up trading volume with high lot sizes. VPS servers for automated trading are accessible to traders who accumulate 15 lots in trading volume.
Minimum Deposit
The minimum deposit on IC Markets is $200, which automatically creates a high barrier to entry. This will undoubtedly scare some people away since the industry standard is $100.
Trading Platform(s)
To no surprise, the Meta Trader platforms (4 and 5) are staples for trading platforms now. With the ease of order placing and numerous features, it’s hard to compete. It is available on both mobile and desktop, depending on your preference.
Also, cTrader is a social copy trading platform with 750+ strategies made available for free. cTrader trading accounts are offered with raw spreads by default.
In the past few weeks, IC Markets launched IC Social—a mobile app to chat with other traders, learn on the go, and much more.
Education
Education isn’t the IC market’s strongest fourth. Bar a few platform trading manuals; there isn’t any exciting content. Besides, educational articles courses aren’t catered for in the slightest except for daily forecasts and trade ideas.
Nonetheless, a couple of trading tools are available on this platform. First, auto chartist, a program that runs all day long while sending free forex signals directly to your device.
Lastly, market buzz for analytics and a general feel for the market’s bias/ sentiment.
Customer Support
Customer support is multilingual and can be reached by different means. When contacted through live chat, help can be called every day of the week. As for other means of contact, only weekdays are feasible.
For any needed information, check out the help centre or use the website-wide search for “frequently answered questions.”
Expert Opinion on IC Market’s Services
Currently, IC markets boast 200,000 active clients from all over the globe. However, countries like Russia and the United States are excluded.
Deep liquidity is provided so slippage is managed and fast executions are experienced. Also, trading fees and spread aren’t exuberant either.
Furthermore, withdrawals are subjected to a bunch of strict rules. One of the rules is no active trades at the time of withdrawal—before noon AEST.
International bank withdrawal can cost as much as 20AUD; alternatively, use the other deposit medium to avoid this.
My Personal Experience With IC Market
Opening a trading account with IC Market wasn’t a drag at all. More so, I encountered no problem while depositing with the medium of my choice.
Furthermore, I returned to the IC Social mobile app to copy trades and learn trading concepts on the go.
Trading With IC Market
On IC Markets, 2,250 trading instruments feature currency pairs, exotic pairs, indices, stocks, etc.
Besides, all pairs can be traded on every trading account in 10 base currencies (USD, EUR, CAD, etc).
On average, a commission of $6-7$ should be expected per lot size traded on ECN accounts, which is a little high.
Lastly, watch out for trade ideas on the web portal, which can help you learn and analyze charts better.
Demo Trading With IC Market
We tested automated trading on IC Market with our custom XAUUSD bot, and only a win rate of 55% was established.
Therefore, we’d advise sticking to less volatile pairs while trading with IC Markets.
IC Markets Alternatives
IC Markets review has shown this broke isn’t perfect despite its many merits. For instance, cent accounts aren’t available, and the minimum deposit is high.
Hot Forex Markets is an alternative broker with a low deposit and cent account.
IC Markets Review Summary
IC Markets’ target demographic is professional traders, as it’s seen with confident choices. For starters, the high deposit and absence of a cent account.
Additionally, education isn’t attended to, and a lot of trading tools for a more sophisticated trading experience.
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