The lowest spread in Australia depends on what kind of account you trade. On a raw or ECN account, IC Markets and Eightcap tied at 0.15 pips on the eight-pair average, with Axi at 0.16, Blueberry Markets at 0.19 and GO Markets at 0.24 rounding out the top five. On a no-commission standard account the leaderboard changes: Axi, CMC Markets and Mitrade come out tightest. Both tables below; spread captures are from Noam Korbl’s and David Levy’s May to June 2026 spreadsheets and re-verified against each broker’s current AU disclosure.
Quick verdict: lowest-spread raw accounts in Australia right now
IC Markets and Eightcap tie for the lowest spreads in Australia at 0.15 pips across our eight-pair raw average, with IC Markets placed first on liquidity depth. Axi Pro sits third at 0.16 pips. EUR/USD headline spreads start near zero, so total cost comes down to the commission column in the table below.
- IC Markets Raw Spread: tied tightest, 0.15-pip average.
- Eightcap Raw: tied tightest, tighter on EUR/USD alone.
- Axi Pro: third on the eight-pair average.
- Blueberry Markets Direct: 0.19-pip average, fourth tightest.
- GO Markets GO Plus+: 0.24-pip average, A$6.00 round-turn.
- Global Prime ECN: 0.30-pip average with trade receipts.
- Fusion Markets Zero: 0.36-pip average, A$4.50 round-turn.
- ThinkMarkets ThinkZero: 0.36-pip average, A$7.00 round-turn.
- MultiBank Group ECN: 0.40-pip average, multi-regulator oversight.
The IC Markets / Eightcap tie at 0.15 pips is real. IC Markets is placed first as a deliberate tie-break on liquidity depth (25+ named LPs), not because the spread number is different. Eightcap is marginally tighter on EUR/USD alone, so credit IC Markets with liquidity, not a tighter spread.
Raw spread is only half the ledger. The same table carries the commission that completes each broker’s real cost.
Raw account spreads: main table
Eight-pair raw average across EUR/USD, AUD/USD, GBP/USD, USD/JPY, EUR/GBP, EUR/JPY, AUD/JPY and USD/CHF. Captured May to June 2026 by Noam Korbl (RG146) and David Levy using IceFX SpreadMonitor on a London VPS connected to each broker’s MT4/MT5 server. AUD-base accounts where available; commission shown separately so the all-in cost is a fair comparison.
| Rank | Broker | Account | EUR/USD | 8-pair avg | Round-turn commission | Visit broker |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | #1 Lowest measured spread IC Markets | Raw Spread | 0.01 | 0.15 | AUD 9.00 | Visit IC Markets |
| 2 |  Eightcap | Raw | 0.00 | 0.15 | AUD 7.00 | Visit Eightcap |
| 3 |  Axi | Pro | 0.00 | 0.16 | A$4.50 | Visit Axi |
| 4 |  Blueberry Markets0.19-pip average, fourth tightest | Direct | 0.04 | 0.19 | Disputed, see review | Visit Blueberry Markets |
| 5 |  GO Markets0.24-pip average, A$6.00 round-turn | GO Plus+ | 0.10 | 0.24 | AUD 6.00 | Visit GO Markets |
| 6 |  Global Prime0.30-pip average with trade receipts | ECN | 0.10 | 0.30 | AUD 7.00 | Visit Global Prime |
| 7= |  Fusion Markets0.36-pip average, A$4.50 round-turn | Zero | 0.04 | 0.36 | AUD 4.50 | Visit Fusion Markets |
| 7= |  ThinkMarkets0.36-pip average, A$7.00 round-turn | ThinkZero | 0.11 | 0.36 | AUD 7.00 | Visit ThinkMarkets |
| 9 |  MultiBank Group0.40-pip average, multi-regulator oversight | ECN | 0.10 | 0.40 | Not published (AU) | Visit MultiBank Group |
| 10 |  ACY Securities | ProZero | 0.10 | 0.41 | AUD 3.00 | Visit ACY Securities |
| 11 |  OANDA | Raw | 0.20 | 0.44 | Not published | Visit OANDA |
| 12= |  FP Markets | Raw | 0.14 | 0.46 | AUD 7.00 | Visit FP Markets |
| 12= |  Pepperstone | Razor | 0.10 | 0.46 | AUD 7.00 | Visit Pepperstone |
| 14 |  Vantage | RAW Classic | 0.18 | 0.52 | AUD 5.00 | Visit Vantage |
| 15 |  IG Markets | Forex Direct | 0.16 | 0.59 | Volume tiered | Visit IG Markets |
| 16 |  FXCM | Active Trader | 0.30 | 0.68 | Not published (AU) | Visit FXCM |
Reviewed ASIC-regulated brokers only. OANDA’s Raw account launched after the May to June window, so its row comes from a July 2026 capture whose eight-pair basket used USD/CAD in place of USD/CHF. Read its 0.44 as indicative against the rows above it rather than a like-for-like result.
Five commission cells carry words instead of a figure, and that is deliberate. We print the commission a broker publishes, in the currency it publishes it, on the basis it publishes it. Where a broker publishes nothing we can source, or publishes two figures that contradict each other, we say so rather than print a number we cannot stand behind.
Blueberry Markets publishes two different commission currencies for the same Direct account. Its website states the commission is charged in US dollars. Its Australian PDS states A$7.00 round turn. We have asked Blueberry to confirm which applies and will publish the figure when they do.
OANDA publishes a Raw commission figure whose basis we cannot source. Its PDS carries a costs section with no rate, and the price sheet it links to is dead.
IG Markets does not price Forex Direct per lot. It charges a volume-tiered commission in US dollars per US$1 million of notional, billed on top of the spread, so no per-lot figure applies.
FXCM publishes its Active Trader rate as a rebate, and the account requires wholesale classification in Australia, so a retail client cannot open it.
MultiBank Group charges a commission on its ECN account and does not publish the rate.
Risk warning: CFDs are leveraged products and carry a high risk of loss. Most retail CFD accounts lose money. Review the broker's PDS and TMD before trading.
1. IC Markets Raw Spread: tied tightest, placed first on liquidity depth
IC Markets posted an eight-pair raw average of 0.15 pips, level with Eightcap, and is placed first as a deliberate tie-break on liquidity depth: 25+ named Tier-1 banks and dark pools, the deepest stack on this list. Eightcap was marginally tighter on EUR/USD alone (0.00 vs 0.01) so the difference is in liquidity rather than the spread number itself. Commission at AUD 9.00 round-turn is the highest in the raw set, so this is a spread-led pick, not the cheapest all-in cost; pair it with the lowest-commission guide for that view.
Average spread
0.15 pips (8-pair raw average) plus A$9.00 round turn
Trading platforms
MT4, MT5, cTrader, TradingView
Minimum deposit
A$200
Regulation
ASIC AFSL 335692
Why higher here? Spread Fit weights the measured raw spread, which lifts IC Markets above its #4 sitewide position. See the ranking method ↓
Why it leads
ASIC AFSL 335692 since 2009, Sydney-headquartered.
Pros & Cons
- Eight-pair raw average of 0.15 pips, level with Eightcap for the tightest on this page
- Deepest liquidity stack on the list, 25+ named Tier-1 banks and dark pools
- ASIC-regulated since 2009 (AFSL 335692), Sydney-headquartered
- Commission at AUD 9.00 round-turn is the highest in the raw set
- A spread-led pick rather than the cheapest all-in cost
- Eightcap edges it on EUR/USD alone (0.00 vs 0.01)
Broker Screenshots
2. Eightcap Raw: tied tightest, slightly tighter on EUR/USD alone
Eightcap posted the same 0.15 pips eight-pair raw average as IC Markets and is marginally tighter on EUR/USD alone (0.00 vs 0.01). Commission is AUD 7.00 round-turn (A$2.00 less per round-turn than IC Markets), so on EUR/USD alone Eightcap is the all-in winner. The tie-break call goes to IC Markets on liquidity depth, not spread.
Average spread
0.15 pips (8-pair raw average) plus A$7.00 round turn
Trading platforms
MT4, MT5, TradingView
Minimum deposit
A$100
Regulation
ASIC AFSL 391441
Why higher here? Spread Fit weights the measured raw spread, which lifts Eightcap above its #11 sitewide position. See the ranking method ↓
Why it ranks here
ASIC AFSL 391441 since 2009, Melbourne-founded.
Pros & Cons
- Same 0.15 pip eight-pair raw average as IC Markets, marginally tighter on EUR/USD
- Commission of AUD 7.00 round-turn, A$2.00 less than IC Markets and the all-in winner on EUR/USD
- ASIC-regulated since 2009 (AFSL 391441), Melbourne-founded
- Placed second on liquidity depth, not on spread
- Shallower named-liquidity stack than IC Markets
- The EUR/USD edge over IC Markets is marginal (0.00 vs 0.01)
Broker Screenshots
3. Axi Pro: third on the eight-pair raw average
Axi's Pro account posted 0.16 pips on the eight-pair raw average, 0.01 pips off the leaders. EUR/USD averaged 0.00 pips, level with Eightcap. Axi is an MT4 specialist (no native MT5 or cTrader trading on the AU entity at time of publish), so this fits a forex-only EA-driven workflow rather than a multi-asset trader.
Average spread
0.16 pips (8-pair raw average) plus A$4.50 round turn
Trading platforms
MT4 (specialist)
Minimum deposit
A$200
Regulation
ASIC AFSL 318232
Why higher here? Spread Fit weights the measured raw spread. Axi sits within a hundredth of a pip of the tied leaders at the same A$4.50 round turn, which lifts it well above its #25 sitewide position. MT4-only support on the AU entity is the trade-off. See the ranking method ↓
Why it ranks here
ASIC AFSL 318232 since 2007, Sydney-headquartered.
Pros & Cons
- Pro account posted 0.16 pips on the eight-pair raw average, 0.01 off the leaders
- EUR/USD averaged 0.00 pips, level with Eightcap
- ASIC-regulated since 2007 (AFSL 318232), Sydney-headquartered
- MT4 specialist with no native MT5 or cTrader on the AU entity
- Fits a forex-only EA workflow rather than a multi-asset trader
- Sits 0.01 pips behind the co-leaders on the eight-pair average
Standard account spreads: secondary table
Standard accounts roll the broker’s cost into a wider spread with no commission. For lower-frequency traders this can work out simpler than a raw account. Captured May to June 2026; sorted by overall average across the same pairs.
| Rank | Broker | EUR/USD | Avg overall |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Axi | 0.60 | 0.83 |
| 2 | CMC Markets | 0.50 | 0.89 |
| 3 | Mitrade | 0.40 | 0.96 |
| 4 | GO Markets | 0.90 | 1.04 |
| 5 | Vantage | 1.40 | 1.09 |
| 6 | Eightcap | 1.00 | 1.11 |
| 7 | Fusion Markets | 0.83 | 1.12 |
| 8= | IC Markets | 1.00 | 1.20 |
| 8= | ThinkMarkets | 1.10 | 1.20 |
| 8= | TMGM | 1.20 | 1.20 |
| 11= | ACY Securities | 1.00 | 1.25 |
| 11= | easyMarkets | 1.20 | 1.25 |
| 13 | FXCM | 0.70 | 1.31 |
| 14 | AvaTrade | 0.80 | 1.36 |
| 15 | Capital.com | 0.70 | 1.40 |
| 16 | eToro | 1.00 | 1.50 |
| 17 | Blueberry Markets | 1.20 | 1.53 |
| 18 | FP Markets | 1.24 | 1.56 |
| 19 | MultiBank Group | 1.50 | 1.61 |
| 20 | IG Markets | 1.13 | 1.62 |
| 21 | OANDA | 0.99 | 1.97 |
Axi, CMC Markets and Mitrade lead the standard-account table across our ASIC-regulated shortlist.
How we measure spreads
Marketing pages quote the tightest five seconds of London-session pricing. Real trading sits in the 23 hours that aren’t London open. Spread data collected by Noam Korbl, RG146, and David Levy, Head of Content. How the test runs:
- Tool: IceFX SpreadMonitor EA, running on a London VPS connected to each broker’s MT4 or MT5 server. cTrader-only brokers are tested via the cTrader spread report.
- Window: rolling 24-hour captures across a six-week May to June 2026 window. Each table date-stamps the capture period.
- Pairs: EUR/USD, AUD/USD, GBP/USD, USD/JPY, EUR/GBP, EUR/JPY, AUD/JPY, USD/CHF; the eight-pair average is the ranking key.
- Account type: RAW or ECN equivalent on each broker for the main table; Standard (no commission) for the secondary table.
- Reported: average pip spread for the window, with commission broken out separately so total cost is a fair comparison.
We don’t strip outliers. If a 5 PM rollover spike pushed the maximum to 4 pips, that figure stays in the underlying data. Average is the practical number, but the maximum tells you what your worst-case stop will look like during news or rollover.
Watch: Lowest spread forex brokers Australia.
For full details, see the methodology page.
Spread is half the cost: the other half is commission
The headline spread is a marketing number. The number that actually leaves your account is spread plus commission. The maths:
- No-commission account: total cost = spread (in pips)
- RAW account: total cost = spread + (commission / pip value)
Our forex broker cost calculator runs that spread-plus-commission total across all 32 ASIC brokers at whatever monthly volume you trade. The rest of our free forex trading calculators cover margin and position size, and the pip value calculator converts one pip to AUD for any pair and lot size.
For a standard lot of EUR/USD with the account base in AUD and AUD/USD trading at 0.66, the commission-to-pip conversion works out roughly as follows:
| Round-turn commission (AUD) | Pip equivalent on EUR/USD |
|---|---|
| AUD 3.00 (ACY Securities ProZero) | 0.20 pips |
| AUD 4.50 (Fusion Zero, Axi Pro) | 0.30 pips |
| AUD 5.00 (Vantage RAW Classic) | 0.33 pips |
| AUD 6.00 (GO Markets) | 0.40 pips |
| AUD 7.00 (Pepperstone, Eightcap, Global Prime, FP Markets, ThinkMarkets) | 0.46 pips |
| AUD 9.00 (IC Markets Raw Spread) | 0.59 pips |
Two takeaways. First, an Eightcap quote of “0.00 pip spread” is really 0.46 pips at the till. Second, the gap between Fusion Markets and the AUD 7 commission group is roughly 0.16 pips per round-turn. On 100 standard lots a month, that’s around AUD 250 in saved commission, which matters more than 0.04 pips of spread difference.
Add the two together and the order changes. Axi is the lowest all-in cost among the brokers whose commission we can source, at 0.46 pips once the A$4.50 round turn is converted to spread, against 0.61 at ACY Securities.
For the commission-led view of the same accounts, see lowest commission forex brokers.
When spreads widen, and how much it matters
Headline averages cover the calm hours. Real spreads move with liquidity. The four windows worth knowing about:
News releases. Non-Farm Payrolls, FOMC, RBA, ECB, BoE: the major releases blow spreads out for 30 to 90 seconds. EUR/USD on a RAW account that averages 0.15 pips can hit 5 to 10 pips at the print. Slippage on stops gets ugly. If you trade through these events, model your worst-case spread, not the average.
Asian session quiet. The handover between New York close and Tokyo open (roughly 5 to 7 AM AEST) is the thinnest liquidity window of the day for most pairs. EUR/USD spreads can drift to 0.5 to 1.0 pips on a RAW account during this hour. AU traders trading the Sydney open should expect this and not size up.
Weekend gap-open. Sunday afternoon AEST when forex reopens for the trading week, spreads can sit at 1 to 3 pips for the first 15 minutes while liquidity returns. Avoid market orders at the open.
Rollover (5 PM New York, 7 AM AEST in southern winter). Every broker reports brief widening at rollover when banks recalculate swap. The tighter raw brokers typically recover within 30 seconds. Some brokers stretch this to several minutes. The size of the swap charge itself depends on the interest rate differential between the two currencies in the pair.
The point isn’t to avoid these windows. It’s to know they exist and not to choose a broker on a 5-second average that ignores them.
AUD-base account vs USD-base: what actually changes
Most ASIC-regulated RAW accounts let you choose your base currency. The two practical options for AU traders are AUD or USD. The tradeoff:
AUD-base account. Your account balance, P&L and commission are quoted in Australian dollars. No currency conversion when you deposit from an Australian bank. Commission is quoted in AUD (e.g. Pepperstone AUD 7 round-turn). Position sizing on AUD-quoted pairs feels native because the quote currency matches your base.
USD-base account. Account balance and commission in US dollars (e.g. USD 7 round-turn, at AUD/USD 0.65 that’s roughly AUD 10.77, materially more than the AUD 7 you’d pay on an AUD-base equivalent at the same broker). Useful only if you trade USD-quoted pairs almost exclusively and want to avoid one layer of currency conversion on your P&L.
For most AU retail traders, AUD-base is the right choice. Lower effective commission, no FX conversion on deposits and withdrawals, native sizing on AUD pairs.
ASIC fee transparency: what brokers must disclose
ASIC’s design and distribution obligations and the Corporations Act both require ASIC-licensed CFD brokers to publish a Product Disclosure Statement (PDS) that discloses the cost structure of every account. For RAW account spread disclosure, this means:
- Typical spread: the broker’s representative average for each instrument
- Maximum spread: the cap above which the broker won’t quote (rare in practice, but disclosed)
- Commission rates: round-turn cost per standard lot, by base currency
- Swap rates: overnight financing on long and short positions
- Currency conversion fees: where applicable
The PDS sits alongside a Target Market Determination (TMD), introduced under ASIC’s Design and Distribution Obligations regime in October 2021, which states the type of retail client the product is suited to. Both documents must be linked from the broker’s homepage and presented before account opening.
Where ASIC oversight matters here: if a broker quotes “0.0 pip spreads” in marketing but the PDS lists a typical EUR/USD spread of 0.3 pips, the marketing is non-compliant. AFCA has heard several complaints on this point in recent years, and the broker has been required to refund the difference. The PDS is the document of record. Read it before you fund.
Compare brokers by the factor that decides it
Each shortlist below re-ranks the market for one decision factor, tested the same way as this page.
The platform decides it
Rankings change once the trading software is fixed. Pick yours first, then compare.
Your strategy decides it
Execution speed, copy functionality and EA support separate these shortlists.
What you trade decides it
CFD shortlists re-ranked for the asset class you trade most.
FAQs
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Related pages
About the author
Justin co-founded CompareForexBrokers in 2014 and has traded forex since 1998. Based in Melbourne, he has tested every ASIC-regulated broker on this site personally and has written for Forbes, Kiplinger, Finance Magnates, the Australian Financial Review and The Age. He holds a Bachelor of Commerce (Honours) and a Master of Marketing from Monash University. Justin is the co-founder and CEO of CompareForexBrokers.