IC Markets Review
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IC Markets has recently become one of the largest forex trading brokers in the world according to their monthly trading volume turnover.
IC Markets Review
Introduction
IC Markets has recently become one of the largest forex trading brokers in the world according to their monthly trading volume turnover. According to their website, IC Market’s trading volume in March 2019 was a staggering $646 billion. This month, IC Markets volumes were larger than all other FX brokers, according to data collected by an industry publication called Finance Magnates. So what exactly leads to IC Markets becoming the largest FX CFD provider in the world?
About IC Markets
We like IC Makers because they are one of the cheapest forex brokers on the market. They are also the cheapest cTrader broker in the business. Not only is it affordable to trade with IC Markets, but the company is also regulated in Australia. Budget brokers usually lack solid regulation. Having low commissions doesn’t just attract a lot of traders looking to pay less for their trades, but it also attracts traders using expert advisors or trading bots, especially ones with scalping strategies. This would be a key contributor to their very high turnover.
IC Markets doesn’t use aggressive marketing like some other brands. This aversion to marketing clearly keeps their operational costs down and makes them more competitive in their trading fees. It certainly seems like their business model is working.
| Year Established | 2007 |
| Year Started Offering cTrader | 2013 |
| Regulation | Australia (ASIC) – Since 2009
Seychelles (FSA) – Since 2019 |
| Number of Employees | 100+ |
| Active Sponsorships | None |
| Previous Noteworthy Sponsorships | None |
| Banking Partners | Commonwealth Bank, Westpac, Nab |
Trading Conditions
As stated before, we are very impressed with IC Markets trading conditions. All of the major forex trading pairs are available on all platforms, trading commissions are low, margin stop-out level is reasonable, and spreads are really tight. IC Markets offers three trading platforms: cTrader, MetaTrader 4, and MetaTrader 5. While the trading conditions do not differ between IC Markets cTrader and the other platforms they offer, there is a difference in what trading instruments are available. For example, MetaTrader 5 is the only platform that offers CFD stocks, and bonds are only available on MT4 and MT5. IC Markets cTrader basically revolved around a forex offering.
| Maximum Leverage | 1:500 |
| Asset Classes on cTrader | Forex, Metals, Indices and BTC/USD |
| Asset Classes in Total | Forex, Metals, Commodities, Indices, Crypto, Bonds and CFD Stocks |
| Trading Pairs on cTrader | 79 |
| Trading Pairs in Total | 221 |
| Trading Commission | $30 per million |
| Minimum Deposit | $200 |
| Spreads | From 0.0 |
| Stop Out Level | 50% |
Accessibility of IC Markets
The new IC Markets website is very good. However, the client area could use a lot of improvement, and we really hope that’s next on their to-do list. The client area is where you manage your trading accounts and make deposits and withdrawals. As you might expect, the website is translated into several languages.
| Countries Excluded | USA, Canada, Israel, Iran |
| Deposit Options | Wire Transfer Visa, Mastercard, PayPal, Netteler, Qiwi, Skrill, Union Pay, Web Money, Bpay, FasaPay, Poli |
| Deposit Currencies | USD, AUD, EUR, GBP, SGD, HKD NZD, JPY, CHF & CAD |
| Withdrawal Fees | AUD20 for Wire Transfers (Free inside Australia)
You Pay Cost Price for Other Payment Methods |
| Social Trading (cTrader Copy) | Yes |
Opening an Account
We’ve already commented that the client zone is outdated. However, the registration forms for creating a new live or demo account were given a complete makeover, along with the website.
Once you submit your personal details and select your preferred trading platform in the registration form, you will be taken to the IC Markets client zone, where you will notice the difference.
The next step is to provide your KYC documents. This is done from inside the client zone, not the registration form. Once documents are submitted, they are reviewed pretty quickly. In our case, we submitted documents on a Saturday, and they were verified on a Sunday. It’s not instant, but for a forex broker to do anything on a weekend is pretty impressive.
The Pros and Cons of trading with IC Markets
Like any budget company, it’s all about working with economies of scale to ensure the business model works. As long as the core service works flawlessly, it’s absolutely fine to cut back on all the extras. But what extras has IC Markets cut back on? Let’s look at the pros and cons in this IC Markets cTrader review.
Here are the key reasons why trading on IC Markets cTrader is an absolute pleasure.
- The cheapest trading commissions and the tightest spreads out of all of the early adopters of the cTrader platform. The only other broker which we have seen come close is Tradeview Forex.
- Consistently stable pricing and good trading conditions.
- A wide range of payment methods is available, including specific local methods.
As mentioned before, IC Markets offers a no-thrills approach, and the overall experience sometimes feels a bit impersonal. Here are the disadvantages we experienced.
- There are long queues for live chat support. Undoubtedly, they have a lot of clients, but waiting times for support can reach 20 minutes.
- The quality of support is not great. Sometimes support agents don’t understand your problem, don’t read your question properly, or just can’t help you and ask you to contact another department
- The client zone is confusing, hard to use and not very intuitive.
There is a lot that can be said for the massive volumes generated by IC Markets clients. It says a lot about the quality of their service; such immense growth would not be possible without simultaneously retaining clients and acquiring new ones. IC Markets is very vanilla, but that’s totally okay because there are no deadly flaws, which is quite the opposite. Traders want to trade on well-known trading platforms that well well-maintained and have reliable pricing and execution without fees that eat into their profits. IC Markets does exactly that. What many brokers haven’t quite grasped is traders who don’t care what football team they sponsor, it’ the newbies that do.
