Pepperstone vs IC Markets

Pepperstone and IC Markets Comparison

There are thousands of Forex brokers in the world. Some might argue that there are too many brokers. One thing is for certain, there are not enough cTrader brokers. Two of the hot picks are IC Markets and Pepperstone. These two forex brokers have quite a lot in common. Today, they are both industry leaders with approximately 120 employees, while over a decade ago they were both starting out as unregulated companies in south-west Australia. Both companies launched cTrader within months of one another and are equally regarded as the most popular choice out of all 40 cTrader brokers. 

Besides these two brokers having much in common, let’s explore what separates them in this comparison of IC Markets and Pepperstone. 

Pepperstone vs IC Markets Regulation

Despite having very similar origins, the paths these two companies took differs greatly. Both brokers remain regulated in Australia by ASIC, however, Pepperstone went a step further to acquire licensing from the UK’s FCA, which is one of the most stable and reputed financial services centres. Pepperstone has also taken pro-active steps towards securing licenses in other key strategic locations. The recent DFSA application is a good example of this. 

IC Markets has an EU license from Cyprus, where they are regulated by CySEC. It appears that Pepperstone might possibly be establishing a presence in Cyprus as well. We have seen the company has posted multiple jobs for positions in Limassol. 

Both companies have offshore entities as well. A common practice for EU and Australian brokers is to allocate clients to their offshore entities where possible. The reason for this is to offer more flexible trading conditions, in particular, higher leverage. 

Pepperstone  IC Markets
Australia – ASIC

The United Kingdom – FCA

St. Vincent & The Grenadines – Unregulated

United Arab Emirates – DFSA (pending)

Australia – ASIC

Cyprus – CySEC

Seychelles – FSA

Fees and Trading Accounts

One of the primary things which align these two industry titans is their trading platform offering. Both brokers offer MetaTrader 4, MetaTrader 5 and cTrader platforms. Let’s compare Pepperstone and IC Markets fees and trading account to get a better idea of the differences. 

Both brokers have an ECN account and a standard account. IC Markets does have a specific account for cTrader, this is because commissions are charged in a different way on this platform. IC Markets’s ECN account is called RAW and Pepperstone’s is branded Razor. 

On the ECN account, IC Markets is cheaper than Pepperstone which charges $35 per million traded, whereas IC Markets charges $30 per million. On the standard account, neither brokers charge a commission and the spreads are advertised as being somewhat similar. 

In terms of trading pairs, IC Markets does offer several instruments more than Pepperstone.

Pepperstone IC Markets
ECN Account Yes Yes
Standard Account Yes Yes
Islamic Accounts Yes Yes
Forex Pairs 61  60 
Indices  14  17 
Commodities  15 19
Stocks 61 120
Cryptocurrencies 10

Pepperstone vs IC Markets Conclusion

To conclude this comparison of Pepperstone and IC Markets it’s hard to pick any winners. Both brokers are exceptionally brilliant. Unfortunately, this comparison of IC Markets and Pepperstone lacks some important elements such as deposit methods, leverage and incentives. These features have been disregarded because to compare them would be somewhat tedious complicated, considering that these conditions vary not just between the two brokers, but between their entities. Therefore, we recommend reading more about each broker individually. You can read the IC Markets review here and the Pepperstone review here.

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