FP Markets vs IC Markets

FP Markets is regulated by ASIC (AFS Licence 286354) and CySEC (371/18), with secondary licenses in South Africa, Mauritius, and Kenya, plus an offshore St Vincent and the Grenadines entity for clients elsewhere — and the UK's FCA has listed FP Markets among firms not authorised to solicit UK clients. IC Markets is regulated by ASIC (335692) and CySEC (362/18), with most clients outside Australia and the EU onboarded to its Seychelles FSA entity (SD018). Both brokers therefore split client protection by entity: CySEC clients at either broker get negative balance protection and Investor Compensation Fund cover, while offshore-onboarded clients at both brokers get materially lighter oversight. Neither broker is FCA-regulated for UK retail clients.

FP Markets' Raw account charges $3 per lot per side plus spreads from 0.0 pips, independently measured at roughly 0.1-0.3 pips average on majors — marginally cheaper than IC Markets' Raw Spread account, which charges $3.50 per lot per side on MT4/MT5 (though IC Markets' cTrader commission drops to $3.00, matching FP Markets). Both Standard (commission-free) accounts run close together: FP Markets from about 1.0 pip, IC Markets from about 0.8 pips. Neither broker charges deposit or inactivity fees, and both keep withdrawals largely free aside from bank-wire charges from receiving banks.

Both brokers set their minimum deposit at $100–$200 for standard trading accounts: FP Markets requires $100, IC Markets requires $200. FP Markets' Iress account, giving Australian clients direct access to ASX-listed shares, needs a considerably higher minimum (around AUD 1,000). For traders simply wanting the lowest possible entry point on MT4/MT5/cTrader, FP Markets' $100 minimum is the lower bar.

Both brokers support MT4, MT5, cTrader, and TradingView execution, so platform choice is essentially even, though FP Markets uniquely adds Iress for Australian equities. Where IC Markets pulls ahead is breadth: roughly 3,583 tradable instruments against FP Markets' roughly 10,000-instrument claim (largely driven by a much larger CFD stock universe) — worth checking directly against each broker's live instrument list since these figures come from each firm's own marketing. FP Markets' MT4 symbol list is also noticeably smaller than its MT5/cTrader offering, a gap IC Markets does not flag as prominently.

IC Markets holds an unusually strong Trustpilot record of around 4.8/5 from more than 55,000 reviews as of 2026, with support running nearly around the clock during the trading week. FP Markets also offers 24/7 multilingual live chat, phone, and email support, with independent reviews citing fast response times, and recently picked up Finance Magnates' 2025 Global Broker of the Year award alongside the Global UF Awards' 2026 Most Trusted Broker title. Both brokers show a solid, if not flawless, support track record; IC Markets' larger review volume gives more independent evidence to judge by.

FP Markets bundles in Trading Central and Autochartist for technical analysis and trade-idea generation alongside webinars and trading guides, while IC Markets' education resources — webinars, tutorials, market analysis, and a glossary — are described in its own materials as comparatively lighter. Neither broker builds a proprietary desktop platform, so the tooling difference mainly comes down to these add-on research services rather than platform depth.