Pros Cons • Low trading fees • High financing rate for CFDs • Low non-trading fees • Low forex fees IC Markets fees snapshot Assets Fee level Fee terms EURUSD Low MetaTrader 4 Raw account pricing: $3.5 per lot plus spread cost. 0 pips is the average spread cost during peak trading hours. GBPUSD Low MetaTrader 4 Raw account pricing: $3.5 per lot plus spread cost. 0.3 pips is the average spread cost during peak trading hours. S&P 500 CFD Low The fees are built into the spread, 0.4 points is the average spread cost during peak trading hours. Inactivity fee Low No inactivity fee
How we ranked fees
We ranked IC Markets’s fee levels as low, average or high based on how they compare to those of all reviewed brokers.
First, let’s go over some basic terms related to broker fees. What you need to keep an eye on are trading fees and non-trading fees.
- Trading fees occur when you trade. These can be commissions, spreads, financing rates and conversion fees.
- Non-trading fees include charges not directly related to trading, like withdrawal fees or inactivity fees.
In the sections below, you will find the most relevant fees of IC Markets for each asset class. For example, in the case of forex and stock index trading the most important fees are spreads, commissions and financing rates.
We also compared IC Markets’s fees with those of two similar brokers we selected, Pepperstone and Vantage FX. This selection is based on objective factors such as products offered, client profile, fee structure, etc. See a more detailed rundown of IC Markets alternatives.
To have a clear overview of IC Markets, let’s start with trading fees.
IC Markets trading fees
IC Markets trading fees are low. There are different cost structures for different account types. We tested the ‘True ECN with MetaTrader’ account, which charges a commission but offers tight spreads.
We know it’s hard to compare trading fees for forex brokers. So how did we approach the problem of making their fees clear and comparable? We compared brokers by calculating all the fees of a typical trade for selected products.
We chose popular instruments in each asset class typically provided by forex brokers:
- Forex: EURUSD, GBPUSD, AUDUSD, EURCHF and EURGBP
- Stock index CFDs: SPX and EUSTX50
A typical trade means buying a leveraged product and holding it for one week before selling. For volume, we chose a $20,000 position for forex and a $2,000 position for stock index and stock CFD transactions. The leverage we used was:
- 30:1 for forex
- 20:1 for stock index CFDs
These catch-all benchmark fees include spreads, commissions and financing costs for all brokers. Let’s see the verdict for IC Markets fees.
Forex fees
IC Markets forex fees are generally low.
IC Markets forex benchmark fees for a $20,000 30:1 long position held for one week IC Markets Pepperstone Vantage FX EURUSD benchmark fee $6.8 $6.7 $6.1 GBPUSD benchmark fee $4.9 $6.0 $3.8 AUDUSD benchmark fee $5.3 $6.9 $4.0 EURCHF benchmark fee $4.8 $3.7 $2.9 EURGBP benchmark fee $6.9 $8.5 $7.7
CFD fees
IC Markets has generally low CFD trading fees.
IC Markets CFD fees for a $2,000 long position held for one week IC Markets Pepperstone Vantage FX S&P 500 index CFD fee $1.6 $1.2 $1.8 Europe 50 index CFD fee $1.7 $1.6 $1.4
The fees of stock index CFDs are built into the spreads. On the negative side, the financing rates are high.
Non-trading fees
IC Markets has low non-trading fees. There are no inactivity, deposit or account fees.
There is no fee for withdrawing funds when using credit/debit cards, electronic wallets or international bank transfer.
IC Markets non-trading fees IC Markets Pepperstone Vantage FX Account fee No No No Inactivity fee No No No Deposit fee $0 $0 $0 Withdrawal fee $0 $0 $0
