IC Markets was founded in Sydney, Australia in 2007 and has grown into one of the largest ECN Forex brokers in the world by trading volume. The broker is consistently recognised for its institutional-grade execution infrastructure, razor-thin spreads on Raw accounts, and deep liquidity sourced from major global banks and non-bank liquidity providers.
IC Markets holds regulatory licences from ASIC in Australia and CySEC in Cyprus, providing meaningful investor protection for clients in Australia and the European Economic Area respectively. The CySEC entity is particularly relevant for European traders, as it means IC Markets is subject to ESMA regulations including leverage caps and negative balance protection.
The broker is a firm favourite among scalpers, high-frequency traders and algorithmic traders due to its consistently low latency — IC Markets' servers are co-located with the Equinix NY4 data centre in New York and LD4 in London, ensuring sub-millisecond execution for VPS-hosted strategies.
IC Markets offers two primary live account structures: the Raw Spread account and the Standard account.
The Raw Spread account provides direct market pricing with spreads from 0.0 pips on EUR/USD. A commission of $3.50 per lot per side ($7 round turn) applies. This is the account type favoured by professional and semi-professional traders who require the most accurate representation of market prices and the tightest possible transaction costs.
The Standard account has no commission, with spreads starting from around 1.0 pip on EUR/USD. The spread markup on this account implicitly covers the broker's revenue rather than explicit commissions, making it simpler for traders who prefer predictable costs without commission calculations.
Leverage for European traders (via the CySEC entity) is capped at 1:30 for major currency pairs in accordance with ESMA regulations. Traders onboarding through the FSA (Seychelles) entity may access higher leverage, though this comes with correspondingly higher risk and reduced investor protection. For more on leverage and how it affects risk, read our article: What Is Leverage in Forex Trading?
IC Markets sources liquidity from over 25 institutional providers including Citibank, Barclays, Deutsche Bank, Morgan Stanley and UBS. This deep liquidity pool means that even large orders can be filled with minimal slippage during normal market conditions.
IC Markets offers MetaTrader 4, MetaTrader 5 and cTrader — three of the most widely used platforms in retail Forex trading. There is no proprietary platform, which reflects the broker's focus on catering to traders who already have established platform preferences and trading systems.
IC Markets' MT4 environment is well-configured for scalping and algorithmic strategies. The broker offers low-latency MT4 access via their Equinix-hosted servers, which is a significant advantage for EA-based strategies. VPS hosting is available at a subsidised rate for active traders.
MT5 is available with a larger number of instruments, additional order types (including Buy Stop Limit and Sell Stop Limit), and enhanced backtesting functionality. Stock CFDs and commodity CFDs not available on MT4 can be accessed through MT5.
cTrader on IC Markets is a strong offering for traders who value execution transparency. The platform displays full Level II order book depth, provides cAlgo for algorithmic trading, and offers copy trading functionality through cMirror. Many professional traders prefer cTrader's native order management interface for its clarity and responsiveness. For a full comparison of platforms, see our guide: How Forex Trading Platforms Differ.
IC Markets keeps its account lineup relatively simple compared to some competitors:
A demo account is freely available and mirrors live account conditions closely, which is useful for testing strategies before deploying capital.
IC Markets accepts deposits via Visa and Mastercard, bank wire transfer, PayPal, Skrill, Neteller, Bpay, POLi and various regional payment methods. Most card and e-wallet deposits are processed instantly.
Withdrawals are typically processed within 1–3 business days. IC Markets does not charge internal processing fees on withdrawals to e-wallets and cards, though the $200 minimum deposit is higher than entry-level brokers such as RoboForex. This reflects IC Markets' positioning as a broker for more committed traders rather than casual dabblers.
IC Markets provides 24/7 customer support via live chat and email. During our testing, live chat response times were consistently under three minutes at most hours, with particularly quick responses during Sydney and London business hours.
Support staff demonstrated strong technical knowledge across platform configuration, account management and trading queries. Phone support is available for Australian clients via a local number, with international lines also available for other regions.
The knowledge base and FAQ section are well-developed and cover most common queries around deposits, platforms and account verification.
IC Markets holds licences from the Australian Securities and Investments Commission (ASIC), the Cyprus Securities and Exchange Commission (CySEC), and the Financial Services Authority (FSA) in the Seychelles. ASIC and CySEC are both considered Tier-1 regulatory bodies with strong client protection frameworks.
European clients typically access IC Markets through the CySEC-regulated entity (IC Markets EU). Under CySEC regulation, IC Markets EU is required to maintain client funds in segregated accounts, provide negative balance protection, and participate in the Investor Compensation Fund (ICF), which covers eligible claims up to €20,000 in the event of broker insolvency.
This regulatory framework places IC Markets among the more robustly regulated brokers we review. For traders who prioritise regulatory certainty, IC Markets is the strongest option in our current comparison. Read more in our guide: How to Choose a Regulated Forex Broker.
IC Markets is an outstanding choice for traders who require true ECN execution, competitive spreads, and Tier-1 regulatory protection. The combination of CySEC licensing, 0.0 pip raw spreads, and access to all three major platforms (MT4, MT5, cTrader) represents a compelling proposition for serious retail traders.
The $200 minimum deposit places it out of reach for the most budget-constrained traders — for whom RoboForex's $10 entry point may be more appropriate. However, for traders who can meet this threshold, IC Markets delivers institutional-grade conditions within a well-regulated framework.