As a publicly-traded company with regulations in four tier-1 jurisdictions, CMC Markets is considered a safe and low-risk forex and CFD brokerage. It’s also considered the most low-cost option for forex and active trading.
Pros
- Highly competitive pricing for low-cost trading commissions
- Vast and diverse product catalog
- Offers liquidity rebates to active traders that surpass at least $25 million in notional trading volumes each month
- Guaranteed stop loss orders available
- Real-time news and sophisticated order types
Cons
- Limited security features
- No copy or social trading platform
- High US index for CFD spreads
CMC Markets is best suited to active traders as well as beginners. The platform has a variety of educational resources and tools to help you learn about forex trading and CFDs, and a responsive and helpful customer service team.
However, the firm also caters to more advanced and active traders who want to take advantage of their 0.7 pip minimum for Forex.
The truth is, CMC Markets has a low spread offering with very low trading costs overall. With its highly competitive pricing, the average spreads for EUR/USD go as low as 0.7 pips and typical spreads out to 0.81 pips.
That said, this information can change so, make sure to check out the fees section yourself for any updates. Other forex brokers offer fixed spreads – which has its pros and cons.
In addition, active traders are a focus for CMC Markets and are looked after. A liquidity rebate ranging from $5 to $10 million is available for those who trade at extremely high volumes. There’s also VIP discounts available for high net worth clients.
Traders also like the Guaranteed Stop-Loss Order (GSLO) that CMC Markets offers. This means that you can set risk thresholds for all of your positions, and you are guaranteed to close the trade exactly as you specify. While most brokers charge for GSLOs, CMC Markets actually refunds this cost to you.
You don’t need any minimum balance to trade with CMC Markets, and a free demo account is available to practice trading before signing up to a live account. The platform provides you with charting tools and over 79 technical indicators.
You can also access pattern recognition and social-trading tools on the Next Generation platform, but it’s a little behind on the main platform. You can switch over to their MT4 platform for automated trading, but this area has a higher learning curve.
Read our CMC markets review to learn more about the broker.