IC Markets Review Australia 2026

IC Markets quick facts

Trading costs and fees

Raw Spread account, IC Markets’ headline product

Raw Spread is what IC Markets is known for. The eight major pairs we track averaged a measured 0.15 pips on Raw Spread across our May to June 2026 captures, and EUR/USD alone averaged 0.01 pips. Add the AUD 9.00 round-turn commission per standard lot (AUD 4.50 per side) and the commission-inclusive cost on EUR/USD works out to about 0.59 pips at an AUDUSD rate of 0.65. That keeps IC Markets competitive with Pepperstone’s Razor and Fusion’s Zero account, though Fusion charges lower commission (AUD 4.50 round-turn versus IC’s AUD 9.00). The 0.15-pip measured average matched Eightcap for the tightest result in our lowest spread forex brokers test, while the AUD 4.50 per-side rate sits at the dearer end of our commission comparison.

Standard account for casual traders

Spread-only pricing, no commission. EUR/USD averaged 1.0 pips in our May to June 2026 captures, with the eight-major average at 1.2 pips. Use this if you trade infrequently and don’t want to track commissions. Active traders save with Raw Spread.

cTrader account

Raw Spread pricing on cTrader, and on TradingView, which shares the same commission basis. This is where IC Markets differs from most of the field, and it is worth understanding because it can change which platform is cheaper for you.

MetaTrader charges a flat amount per lot: AUD 4.50 per side, AUD 9.00 round turn on an AUD account, whatever you trade. cTrader and TradingView instead charge USD 3.00 per USD 100,000 actually traded, per side, converted to your base currency at spot. So the commission tracks the US dollar value of the position rather than the lot. IC Markets publishes the worked example: one lot of EUR/USD at 1.30 is USD 130,000 of notional, which bills USD 3.90 to open and USD 3.93 to close, USD 7.83 for the round turn. Not USD 6.00, and not a fixed number.

The consequence matters most to an Australian trading the local pair. A lot of AUD/USD is 100,000 Australian dollars, which is a smaller US dollar notional than a lot of EUR/USD, so it attracts a smaller commission on cTrader while MetaTrader would charge the same AUD 9.00 either way. Trade AUD/USD and cTrader is the cheaper venue; trade EUR/USD and the flat MetaTrader rate can win. Work it out on the pairs you actually trade rather than assuming the platforms cost the same.

Other fees AU traders should check

Overnight swaps are competitive, especially on AUD pairs. Currency conversion on non-base-currency instruments is charged at interbank plus a spread. Withdrawals are $0 on most methods and there is no inactivity fee. The VPS is free for qualifying active clients; confirm the current deposit and volume threshold on the IC Markets site.

Trading platforms

IC Markets runs the three mainstream third-party terminals, MT4, MT5 and cTrader, plus native TradingView trading on a Raw Spread account. What it does not build is a platform of its own, so the terminal you use here is one you could take to another broker.

cTrader (the IC Markets pick)

Our recommended platform with IC Markets. cTrader’s level 2 depth-of-book pricing pulls directly from IC’s liquidity providers (25+ banks plus non-bank market makers). Order types include market range, OCO, stop limit and trailing stop. cTrader Copy is integrated. cTrader Automate (formerly cAlgo) handles algo development.

MetaTrader 5

MT5 connects to the same liquidity engine as cTrader. The right pick if you have existing MT5 EAs or want native equity, futures and indices alongside forex.

MetaTrader 4

Still supported. Default for legacy EAs and traders who learned forex on MT4. New users are better off on MT5 or cTrader.

Copy and social trading

Copy trading here runs through cTrader Copy, the layer built into cTrader itself: you browse strategy providers from inside the platform and mirror their positions on your own account, on the same pricing the cTrader account uses. That is the one copy route this review can confirm at IC Markets. The platform list is MT4, MT5 and cTrader, so there is no proprietary social feed of the kind eToro is built around, and the MetaTrader accounts here are set up for expert advisors rather than for copying other people. If copying other traders is your main reason for picking a broker, that is a point against IC Markets rather than for it.

Mobile apps

IC Markets has no app of its own, so mobile trading happens in the platform vendors’ apps. MT4, MT5 and cTrader all ship iOS and Android builds that connect to an IC Markets account with the same login you use on desktop. The cTrader app is the one we would pick, for the same reasons the desktop version is our platform pick here.

Execution speed and slippage

IC Markets held fast, no-dealing-desk routing throughout our latency testing. Market orders filled in an average of 32ms in our May to June 2026 cycle, measured from a London VPS with LD4 co-location, and slippage on EUR/USD market orders averaged 0.05 pips over the same window. That record makes it a lead pick in our ECN forex brokers rankings.

AU clients can also opt into NY4 routing for US session trading, which often trims a little latency off USD pairs during US hours.

Trust and safety

Trust score: 8/10.

ASIC regulation and global licences

International Capital Markets Pty Ltd holds AFSL 335692 with ASIC, continuously since 2007. No material ASIC enforcement actions in the last 36 months.

Globally:

• CySEC (Cyprus, EU), Tier 1
• SCB (Bahamas), Tier 3, used for offshore wholesale
• FSA (Seychelles), Tier 3, offshore wholesale

Wholesale clients meeting the Corporations Act criteria can be reclassified as professional on the ASIC entity. That lifts leverage to as much as 500:1 on the same Standard or Raw Spread account. The offshore entities serve clients by country of residence; Australian residents are placed on the ASIC entity.

Client money and negative balance protection

IC Markets holds retail client money in segregated accounts at an Approved Australian Bank, separate from the company’s own funds. ASIC requires negative balance protection on retail CFD accounts, so a retail account cannot lose more than the money in it. If a dispute with the broker goes wrong, AFCA can hear claims up to $1,263,000 and award compensation up to $631,500. The Compensation Scheme of Last Resort sits behind that with a $150,000 cap, but it excludes CFD trading losses, so it protects you against unpaid awards for misconduct, not against losing trades.

For how IC Markets sits against the field on protection, see our list of the safest ASIC-regulated brokers and our explainer on how negative balance protection works.

History and ownership

Founded by Andrew Budzinski in Sydney in 2007. Privately held. Reported daily turnover of US$1.4 trillion+ across the group as of 2024, among the top global forex brokers by volume. Australian-headquartered and continuously Australian-regulated since launch.

Public reviews

Trustpilot 4.9/5 from 35,000+ reviews, among the highest-rated brokers globally. Common positives: spreads, execution, support. Common negatives: occasional withdrawal verification delays.

Account types and minimum deposit

Account options for AU clients

IC Markets asks for a $200 minimum deposit on every retail account, higher than the $0 entry at Pepperstone, CMC, IG and Fusion. Three account types cover the pricing choices: Raw Spread on MetaTrader, the cTrader account with its own commission schedule, and the Standard account with costs rolled into the spread. Swap free (Islamic) terms are available as a variant of the Standard and Raw Spread accounts, with a flat-rate holding fee charged in place of overnight swaps.

There is no separate wholesale or pro account product. Wholesale (professional) status under the Corporations Act is a reclassification of the same Standard or Raw Spread account on the ASIC entity, with leverage up to 500:1.

A 30-day renewable demo mirrors the Raw Spread feed and features in our demo account comparison, useful for validating the spread claims before you fund.

Minimum deposit

IC Markets’ minimum deposit is AUD 200, and it applies to the Standard, Raw Spread and cTrader accounts alike. That is the one entry barrier on this page. Pepperstone, CMC, IG and Fusion Markets all open at $0, so they let you place a first trade at whatever size you like while IC asks for the $200 up front. It is not a large sum, and it is the reason the demo matters here: you can test the Raw Spread feed before you commit anything.

Funding and withdrawals

Deposit methods (AU clients)

Withdrawals

$0 fee on most methods. AML compliance requires withdrawals to use the same source as deposits where possible. Card refund 1 to 3 business days. Bank transfer 1 to 2 business days. Neteller/Skrill same day.

Account opening

Fully online. One ID and one proof of address. Most AU applications approved within hours. Onboarding score: 12/15.

Product range

IC Markets is a forex broker first, and the shape of the range says so: 60 plus pairs on the currency side, then a step down against the multi-asset CFD houses everywhere else. The range covers what forex traders need; multi-asset CFD traders get more at CMC or IG. Set against the CFD asset classes we cover, the list here runs to six:

Forex is the class the whole page turns on, and the costs section above carries the tested numbers for it. Commodities beyond gold cover the energy and soft contracts at ASIC’s 10:1 retail cap. Bonds and treasuries are thin, so rates traders should look at the broader-range brokers in the compares table below.

Share CFDs

IC Markets lists approximately 2,000 share CFDs across ASX, NYSE, NASDAQ and LSE, tradeable on MT5 only. The range trails CMC, IG and IBKR, which is why the cons name it. IC Shares, the separate share investing platform, is closed to new registrations as of May 2026, so new clients cannot use it as an ASX ownership route. For how the class works and who leads it in this market, see our guide to ASX and global share CFDs.

Crypto CFDs

The crypto list runs to 18 plus CFDs including BTC and ETH, and ASIC’s 2:1 retail cap applies to all of them. These are CFDs rather than coins you own or can withdraw to a wallet. Our guide to crypto CFDs in Australia sets out how the class compares across the AU field.

Gold and index CFDs

Gold, silver and the energy set trade alongside 25 plus indices including the ASX 200 and S&P/ASX SPI 200. The retail caps sit at 20:1 for both gold and major indices. For the wider field see our guides to gold and metals CFDs and ASX 200 and index CFDs.

Leverage for AU traders

IC Markets applies the ASIC retail caps identically across Raw Spread, Standard and cTrader accounts; the account choice changes your commission model, never your leverage.

ASIC caps retail CFD leverage at 30:1 on major forex pairs, 20:1 on minor pairs, gold and major indices, 10:1 on commodities other than gold, 5:1 on share CFDs and 2:1 on crypto assets. The caps come from a product intervention order that ASIC has extended to 23 May 2027, so they apply at every ASIC broker, not just IC Markets. IC Markets offers higher leverage to wholesale clients who pass the eligibility tests: up to 500:1, granted as a reclassification of the same Standard or Raw Spread account for clients who meet the Corporations Act wholesale criteria.

ASIC requires every CFD issuer to close out a retail client’s positions once account equity falls below 50 percent of the total initial margin on all open positions. The rule is set by the product intervention order and applies to IC Markets the same way it applies to every ASIC-licensed CFD issuer. Positions cannot be netted off against each other to reduce that figure, and a gapping market can close a position below the 50 percent level.

If you are weighing that trade-off, read forex leverage explained first, then our comparison of brokers offering higher leverage.

Customer service

Live chat and email run 24/7. Phone support is 24/5, from Sunday 10:00 PM to Friday 10:00 PM GMT. Sydney-based support team during AU business hours, global team overnight. Average live chat response is under 90 seconds, and the agents know the platforms well, cTrader especially.

Languages: English, Mandarin, Spanish, Italian, Portuguese, Vietnamese, Thai.

Research and education

• IC Markets Insights blog with daily and weekly market analysis
• Webinars on platform use and trading topics
• Smart Trader Tools for MT4 and MT5
• Free VPS for qualifying clients
• Trading Central daily research
• Autochartist pattern recognition

A solid research stack for active traders. Beginners get more hand-holding at Plus500 or eToro.

How IC Markets compares to alternatives

The closest head-to-head is covered in Pepperstone vs IC Markets compared.

No single broker wins for everyone. Weigh IC Markets against the wider field in our guide to the best forex brokers in Australia, then match the table below to what you value most.

Should you open an account with IC Markets?

Open an IC Markets account if raw spread pricing and execution depth are the whole decision. The Raw Spread account’s tested costs sit with the tightest in our capture and cTrader is the strongest build of the platform on the AU market. Skip it if you fund small; the $200 minimum is a real barrier next to $0 at Pepperstone and Fusion Markets, and if you want a broker-built platform rather than a third-party terminal, Pepperstone carries one and IC does not. A demo account lets you test Raw Spread execution before committing the $200.

Open an IC Markets demo → (affiliate link, see our advertiser disclosure)