Score Breakdown

IC Markets has built a reputation as one of the world's premier ECN/STP brokers for serious forex and CFD traders since its founding in Sydney, Australia in 2007. Regulated by ASIC — one of the most respected financial regulators globally — the broker has attracted over 180,000 active clients across more than 200 countries and processes over $1.7 trillion in monthly trading volume.

Where IC Markets excels is in the quality of its execution infrastructure. The broker operates true ECN pricing through deep pools of institutional liquidity from Tier-1 banks, aggregating prices from over 50 liquidity providers. Raw cTrader accounts deliver EUR/USD spreads averaging 0.0–0.1 pips with a $6 round-turn commission — matching the most competitive ECN pricing available to retail traders.

Our team opened a live Raw cTrader account with IC Markets, tested execution quality across forex majors, indices and commodities during volatile market conditions, and evaluated all three platforms firsthand. This review draws on direct experience plus analysis of over 250 verified data points including regulatory filings, live execution statistics and client feedback.

IC Markets offers two clear account structures. Standard accounts embed costs in the spread with no commission. Raw Spread accounts on MT4/MT5 and cTrader offer tight ECN pricing with a fixed commission — and the cTrader Raw account charges a lower $3/side versus $3.50 on MT4/MT5, making it the cheapest all-in option at any comparable regulated ECN broker.

There are no inactivity fees, no deposit fees, and no internal withdrawal fees on any account or method. During live testing, EUR/USD on the Raw cTrader account averaged 0.0–0.1 pips during peak London and New York sessions.

IC Markets holds ASIC regulation — among the most respected financial licences in the world. Client funds are held in segregated accounts at National Australia Bank and Westpac, fully separated from company operating funds. Negative balance protection is provided to all retail clients across every regulated entity.

As an Australian-regulated broker, IC Markets complies with strict ASIC capital requirements and client money rules. The CySEC licence covers EU-based retail clients with €20,000 investor compensation fund protection. International clients onboarded via FSA Seychelles or SCB Bahamas receive good but reduced protections relative to the ASIC/CySEC entities.

IC Markets keeps its account structure clean — three types, each with a clear purpose. The platform choice (MT4, MT5 or cTrader) is independent of account type and can be selected at signup, giving full control over execution environment. All accounts support swap-free (Islamic) configuration and hedging.

IC Markets is one of the very few retail brokers to offer all three major trading platforms — MT4, MT5 and cTrader — with full functionality across each. The inclusion of cTrader is a significant differentiator. Widely regarded as the most advanced retail execution platform available, cTrader provides full order-level transparency, Level 2 depth of market, native copy trading, and algorithmic development in C# through cBots.

With over 1,700 tradable instruments across seven asset classes, IC Markets offers one of the broadest CFD product ranges of any pure-play ECN broker. The stock CFD range at 1,700+ is exceptional — well ahead of most competing brokers. Crucially, IC Markets also offers bond and futures CFDs that are simply unavailable at Exness or Pepperstone, making it the stronger choice for multi-asset CFD traders.

IC Markets supports a broad range of payment methods with zero internal fees on all of them. Deposits via card and e-wallet are instant. Withdrawals are processed within 1–3 business days — reliable and professional, though not matching the instant automation offered by some competitors. No inactivity, deposit or withdrawal fees are charged by the broker on any method.

Research and education are not IC Markets' primary focus, and it shows. The broker integrates Trading Central for technical analysis signals, provides an economic calendar and market news feed — adequate for experienced traders who source their own analysis. The educational library covers basic trading concepts and platform tutorials but lacks the depth and structure of full-service brokers.

Where IC Markets does stand out is in transparency tools — pip value calculators, margin calculators, detailed server status pages and execution statistics are all accurate and genuinely useful for active traders. These reflect the broker's professional-trader orientation.

IC Markets provides 24/7 live chat and email support handled by knowledgeable staff across multiple international offices. In our testing, live chat responses arrived within 3 minutes during business hours with accurate, technically solid answers on execution, platform configuration and account management. Phone support is available during extended business hours.