Written by ForexBrokers.com
In this head to head comparison of City Index vs Exness, we will compare the trading platforms, mobile apps, range of investments, costs, market research, and more. Let's dive in.
CFDs are complex instruments and come with a high risk of losing money rapidly due to leverage. Between 51% and 89% of retail investor accounts lose money when trading CFDs. You should consider whether you understand how CFDs work and whether you can afford to take the high risk of losing your money.
City Index, founded in 1983, stands as a highly trusted online broker, evidenced by its stellar Trust Score of 99 from ForexBrokers.com. It holds an impressive seven Tier-1 licenses, providing a solid foundation for security and reliability. Additionally, City Index is publicly traded, offering an added layer of transparency and oversight. Despite not being a bank, its long-standing presence in the market and significant regulatory backing make it a prominent choice for traders prioritizing trust.
On the other hand, Exness, established in 2008, maintains a Trust Score of 81, positioning it in the trusted category according to ForexBrokers.com. Exness holds two Tier-1 licenses and further bolsters its credentials with three Tier-2 licenses. While it is not publicly traded, the company has steadily crafted a reputation for trustworthiness over the years. Even though both brokers are not banks, they offer differing levels of regulatory assurance, with City Index leading in terms of regulatory endorsement.
| Feature |
City Index
|
Exness
|
|---|---|---|
| Year Founded | 1983 | 2008 |
| Publicly Traded (Listed) | Yes | No |
| Bank | No | No |
| Tier-1 Licenses | 7 | 2 |
| Tier-2 Licenses | 1 | 3 |
| Tier-3 Licenses | 0 | 0 |
| Tier-4 Licenses | 1 | 3 |
When it comes to comparing online brokers, City Index and Exness stand out for their distinct approaches to commissions and fees, each with its own set of advantages. City Index aligns its pricing for trading CFDs, forex, and spread-betting products with industry averages, offering a competitive edge through its proprietary platforms and MetaTrader. For traders with deeper pockets, the Premium Trader account offers exclusive benefits for those depositing over £10,000, including special pricing and dedicated support. The standard City Index CFD account features an average spread of 0.74 pips on EUR/USD, typical for the market, although it doesn't quite match up with frontrunners like Tickmill. With a 4.5-star rating for its commissions and fees, City Index ranks #14 out of 62 brokers according to ForexBrokers.com.
Exness offers a versatile range of account types tailored to varied trading needs, with two standard and three professional account options. For traders interested in social trading, Exness provides Social Standard and Social Pro accounts designed for strategy sharing. The cost structure of Exness depends significantly on the account type, where commission-based accounts offer lower spreads compared to those without commissions. The Pro account offers both instant and market executions, and like the Zero Spread and Raw accounts, it charges a commission per trade while keeping leverage and stop-out restrictions lenient. Exness, with a 4-star rating for commissions and fees, is positioned at #38 out of 62 brokers in the same ForexBrokers.com category.
In summary, both City Index and Exness cater to different trading styles and budgets. City Index shines with its premium offering for more active traders, while Exness appeals with a wider array of account options suitable for standard and professional traders alike. Each has its merits, with City Index slightly leading in both star rating and market ranking, making it a preferred choice among many traders looking for a reliable platform with competitive fees.
| Feature |
City Index
|
Exness
|
|---|---|---|
| Minimum Deposit | £100.00 | $10 |
| Average Spread EUR/USD - Standard | 1.4 | N/A |
| All-in Cost EUR/USD - Active | 0.74 | N/A |
| Active Trader or VIP Discounts | Yes | No |
| ACH or SEPA Transfers | Yes | No |
| PayPal (Deposit/Withdraw) | Yes | No |
| Skrill (Deposit/Withdraw) | No | Yes |
| Visa/Mastercard (Credit/Debit) | Yes | Yes |
| Bank Wire (Deposit/Withdraw) | Yes | Yes |
Dive deeper: Best Low Spread Forex Brokers.
When comparing the range of investments available through online brokers City Index and Exness, traders will find differing levels of diversity. City Index stands out with a substantial offering of 13,500 tradeable symbols, making it a preferred choice for those seeking variety across different asset classes. On the other hand, Exness provides access to 227 tradeable symbols. Both brokers offer forex trading as CFDs with City Index facilitating 66 forex pairs, while Exness offers a slightly larger selection with 96 forex pairs. Neither City Index nor Exness offers clients the ability to invest in exchange-traded securities on U.S. or international exchanges, but they do support cryptocurrency derivatives, appealing to those interested in this modern asset class. Both brokers also provide copy trading services, catering to traders looking to mimic the strategies of others.
In terms of recognized performance, City Index earns a commendable 5-star rating for its range of investments, positioning itself as a highly diversified broker. It ranks 8th among 62 brokers according to ForexBrokers.com. Comparatively, Exness has a more modest 3.5-star rating and ranks 56th in the same evaluation. This indicates that while it does have a significant number of forex pairs, its overall range of offering might be less comprehensive than City Index, potentially influencing the choice of platform for investors seeking wider trading opportunities.
| Feature |
City Index
|
Exness
|
|---|---|---|
| Forex Trading (Spot or CFDs) | Yes | Yes |
| Tradeable Symbols (Total) | 13500 | 227 |
| Forex Pairs (Total) | 66 | 96 |
| U.S. Stock Trading (Non CFD) | No | No |
| Int'l Stock Trading (Non CFD) | No | No |
| Social Trading / Copy Trading | Yes | Yes |
| Cryptocurrency (Physical) | No | No |
| Cryptocurrency (Derivative) | Yes | Yes |
| Disclaimers | Note: Crypto CFDs are not available to retail traders from any broker's U.K. entity, nor to U.K. residents (except to Professional clients). | Note: Crypto CFDs are not available to retail traders from any broker's U.K. entity, nor to U.K. residents (except to Professional clients). |
Dive deeper: Best Copy Trading Platforms.
When it comes to trading platforms and tools, both City Index and Exness offer a comprehensive suite to accommodate traders at different experience levels. Each broker provides a proprietary platform, which assures unique features crafted by their in-house teams. For those preferring traditional software setups, both City Index and Exness support Windows-based desktop trading platforms, along with the increasingly popular web-based interfaces accessible through a browser. A major highlight for beginners looking to practice risk-free is the availability of simulated, or paper trading, accounts on both platforms, allowing users to hone their skills without financial risk.
In terms of advanced trading functionalities, both brokers support the renowned MetaTrader 4 (MT4) platform, yet only Exness offers the updated MetaTrader 5 (MT5). Traders can engage in copy trading with both platforms and execute trades directly from stock charts, though specific third-party services like DupliTrade and ZuluTrade are absent. City Index shines with a richer variety of charting tools, boasting 239 drawing tools compared to Exness's 87, and offers more fields for custom watch lists. These features contribute to City Index's higher platform rating of 4.5 stars and a #10 ranking among 62 brokers by ForexBrokers.com, while Exness follows with 4 stars and a #31 ranking.
| Feature |
City Index
|
Exness
|
|---|---|---|
| Virtual Trading (Demo) | Yes | Yes |
| Proprietary Platform | Yes | Yes |
| Desktop Platform (Windows) | Yes | Yes |
| Web Platform | Yes | Yes |
| Social Trading / Copy Trading | Yes | Yes |
| MetaTrader 4 (MT4) | Yes | Yes |
| MetaTrader 5 (MT5) | No | Yes |
| DupliTrade | No | No |
| ZuluTrade | No | No |
| Charting - Indicators / Studies (Total) | 88 | 107 |
| Charting - Drawing Tools (Total) | 239 | 87 |
| Charting - Trade From Chart | Yes | Yes |
| Watchlists - Total Fields | 11 | 7 |
Dive deeper: Best MetaTrader 4 Brokers, Best MetaTrader 5 Brokers.
City Index and Exness are two popular online brokers that offer feature-rich mobile trading apps for both iPhone and Android devices. Both apps provide essential functionalities like price alerts for stocks or forex, the ability to draw trendlines on charts, and the flexibility to view different time frames such as daily, weekly, or intraday. However, City Index stands out with its watchlist symbol syncing feature, allowing changes made on your mobile device to sync with your online account seamlessly, whereas Exness lacks this feature.
When diving deeper into technical charting features, City Index offers a significant advantage with 88 technical studies available compared to Exness's 35. City Index further enhances user convenience by automatically saving chart drawings, a feature absent in the Exness app. Both brokers enable the creation of watchlists with real-time quotes, catering to active traders on the move. In terms of user ratings and rankings, City Index excels with a 4.5-star rating and holds the 9th position out of 62 brokers in the Mobile Trading Apps category by ForexBrokers.com. In contrast, Exness earns a 4-star rating and ranks 32nd.
| Feature |
City Index
|
Exness
|
|---|---|---|
| Android App | Yes | Yes |
| Apple iOS App | Yes | Yes |
| Mobile Alerts - Basic Fields | Yes | Yes |
| Watchlist Syncing | Yes | No |
| Mobile Charting - Indicators / Studies | 88 | 35 |
| Mobile Charting - Draw Trendlines | Yes | Yes |
| Mobile Charting - Multiple Time Frames | Yes | Yes |
| Mobile Charting - Drawings Autosave | Yes | No |
| Mobile Watchlist | Yes | Yes |
Dive deeper: Best Forex Trading Apps.
When it comes to market research offerings, both City Index and Exness demonstrate strengths in several areas. They both provide daily market commentary and deliver forex news from reputable sources such as Bloomberg and Reuters. Each broker also employs Trading Central's services, supplying traders with essential technical analysis tools. Additionally, they offer sentiment-based trading tools to give insights into market positions and maintain an economic calendar to track global news events.
Despite these similarities, City Index leads with a more favorable research rating of 4.5 stars compared to Exness's 3.5 stars. This reflective difference places City Index at the 10th spot out of 62 brokers according to ForexBrokers.com, while Exness ranks at 41. Neither platform includes insights from Autochartist, TipRanks, or Acuity Trading. Ultimately, traders may find City Index's broader range of features and higher user satisfaction more appealing for research-focused trading.
| Feature |
City Index
|
Exness
|
|---|---|---|
| Daily Market Commentary | Yes | Yes |
| Forex News (Top-Tier Sources) | Yes | Yes |
| Autochartist | No | No |
| Trading Central (Recognia) | Yes | Yes |
| Social Sentiment - Currency Pairs | Yes | Yes |
| TipRanks | No | No |
| Signal Centre (Acuity Trading) | No | No |
| Economic Calendar | Yes | Yes |
Dive deeper: Best Brokers for Forex Research.
When comparing City Index and Exness in terms of educational resources for beginner traders, City Index clearly provides a more comprehensive offering. Both platforms extend at least 10 different educational materials focused on forex and CFDs, which include articles, videos, and archived webinars. City Index, however, goes a step further by offering monthly live webinars, allowing beginners to interact and learn in real-time, a benefit that Exness does not provide. For those unable to join live sessions, both City Index and Exness offer a searchable archive of past webinars, ensuring that learners can catch up at their convenience.
Further enhancing their appeal to beginners, City Index offers a wide array of educational videos covering basic trading concepts, while Exness matches this with their own set of beginner-oriented videos. However, when it comes to advanced trading concepts, City Index takes the lead by offering educational videos for experienced traders, an area where Exness falls short. Both brokers offer investor dictionaries with terms defined for trader understanding. As a result of these offerings, City Index ranks higher with a 4.5-star education rating and a commendable 9th place out of 62 brokers. In contrast, Exness holds a 3.5-star rating and is ranked 47th for education by ForexBrokers.com.
| Feature |
City Index
|
Exness
|
|---|---|---|
| Education (Forex or CFDs) | Yes | Yes |
| Client Webinars | Yes | No |
| Client Webinars (Archived) | Yes | Yes |
| Videos - Beginner Trading Videos | Yes | Yes |
| Videos - Advanced Trading Videos | Yes | No |
| Investor Dictionary (Glossary) | Yes | Yes |
Dive deeper: Best Forex Brokers for Beginners.
After testing 62 of the best forex brokers, our research and account testing finds that City Index is better than Exness. City Index finished with an overall rank of #8, while Exness finished with an overall rank of #43.
Backed by StoneX Group, City Index is a trusted brand known for its versatile trading platforms, excellent mobile app, diverse market research, and extensive range of tradeable markets.
| Feature |
City Index
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Exness
|
|---|---|---|
| Overall Rating |
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| Trust Score | 99 | 81 |
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Both City Index and Exness do not provide the option to purchase actual (delivered) cryptocurrency, however, they both offer the ability to trade cryptocurrency derivatives.
City Index supports ACH, SEPA, PayPal, Visa/Mastercard, and bank wire transfers for depositing and withdrawing funds, while Exness offers Skrill, Visa/Mastercard, and bank wire transfers, excluding ACH, SEPA, and PayPal options.
Please note:
We review each broker’s overall global offering – a “Yes” checkmark in our Compare Tool does not guarantee the availability of any specific features in your country of residence. To verify the availability of any features within your country of residence, please contact the broker directly.
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0 of 5| Overall Rating | City Index | Exness | |
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| Trust Score | 99 | 81 | |
| Winner | check_circle | ||
| Review | City Index Review | Exness Review |
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| Regulation | City Index | Exness | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Trust Score | 99 | 81 | |
| Year Founded | 1983 | 2008 | |
| Publicly Traded (Listed) | Yes | No | |
| Bank | No | No | |
| Regulated in one or more EU or EEA countries (MiFID). | Yes | Yes | |
| Tier-1 Licenses | 7 | 2 | |
| Tier-2 Licenses | 1 | 3 | |
| Tier-3 Licenses | 0 | 0 | |
| Tier-4 Licenses | 1 | 3 |
| Tier-1 Licenses (Highly Trusted) | City Index | Exness | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Australia (ASIC Authorised) | Yes | No | |
| Canada (CIRO Authorised) | Yes | No | |
| Hong Kong (SFC Authorised) | No | No | |
| Japan (SFC Authorised) | No | No | |
| Singapore (MAS Authorised) | Yes | No | |
| Switzerland (FINMA Authorised) | No | No | |
| United Kingdom (U.K.) (FCA Authorised) | Yes | Yes | |
| USA (CFTC Authorized) | No | No | |
| New Zealand (FMA Authorised) | No | No | |
| Regulated in one or more EU or EEA countries (MiFID). | Yes | Yes |
| Tier-2 Licenses (Trusted) | City Index | Exness | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Kenya (CMA Authorised) | No | Yes | |
| Israel (ISA Authorised) | No | No | |
| South Africa (FSCA Authorised) | No | Yes | |
| UAE (DFSA/Central Bank Authorised) | Yes | No | |
| India (SEBI Authorised) | No | No | |
| Jordan (JSC Authorised) | No | Yes |
| Investments | City Index | Exness | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Forex Trading (Spot or CFDs) | Yes | Yes | |
| Tradeable Symbols (Total) | 13500 | 227 | |
| Forex Pairs (Total) | 66 | 96 | |
| U.S. Stock Trading (Non CFD) | No | No | |
| Int'l Stock Trading (Non CFD) | No | No | |
| Social Trading / Copy Trading | Yes | Yes | |
| Cryptocurrency (Physical) | No | No | |
| Cryptocurrency (Derivative) | Yes | Yes | |
| Disclaimers | Note: Crypto CFDs are not available to retail traders from any broker's U.K. entity, nor to U.K. residents (except to Professional clients). | Note: Crypto CFDs are not available to retail traders from any broker's U.K. entity, nor to U.K. residents (except to Professional clients). |
| Cost | City Index | Exness | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Average Spread EUR/USD - Standard | 1.4 | N/A | |
| All-in Cost EUR/USD - Active | 0.74 | N/A | |
| Active Trader or VIP Discounts | Yes | No | |
| Inactivity Fee | Yes | No | |
| Execution: Agency Broker | No | Yes | |
| Execution: Market Maker | Yes | Yes |
| Funding | City Index | Exness | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Minimum Deposit | £100.00 | $10 | |
| PayPal (Deposit/Withdraw) | Yes | No | |
| Skrill (Deposit/Withdraw) | No | Yes | |
| Visa/Mastercard (Credit/Debit) | Yes | Yes | |
| Bank Wire (Deposit/Withdraw) | Yes | Yes | |
| ACH or SEPA Transfers | Yes | No |
| Trading Platforms | City Index | Exness | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Proprietary Platform | Yes | Yes | |
| Desktop Platform (Windows) | Yes | Yes | |
| Web Platform | Yes | Yes | |
| Social Trading / Copy Trading | Yes | Yes | |
| MetaTrader 4 (MT4) | Yes | Yes | |
| MetaTrader 5 (MT5) | No | Yes | |
| cTrader | No | No | |
| DupliTrade | No | No | |
| ZuluTrade | No | No |
| Trading Tools | City Index | Exness | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Virtual Trading (Demo) | Yes | Yes | |
| Alerts - Basic Fields | Yes | Yes | |
| Watchlists - Total Fields | 11 | 7 | |
| Charting - Indicators / Studies (Total) | 88 | 107 | |
| Charting - Drawing Tools (Total) | 239 | 87 | |
| Charting - Trade From Chart | Yes | Yes | |
| Charts can be saved | Yes | Yes |
| Mobile Trading | City Index | Exness | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Android App | Yes | Yes | |
| Apple iOS App | Yes | Yes | |
| Mobile Alerts - Basic Fields | Yes | Yes | |
| Mobile Watchlist | Yes | Yes | |
| Watchlist Syncing | Yes | No | |
| Mobile Charting - Indicators / Studies | 88 | 35 | |
| Mobile Charting - Draw Trendlines | Yes | Yes | |
| Mobile Charting - Multiple Time Frames | Yes | Yes | |
| Mobile Charting - Drawings Autosave | Yes | No | |
| Mobile Economic Calendar | Yes | Yes |
| Research | City Index | Exness | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Daily Market Commentary | Yes | Yes | |
| Forex News (Top-Tier Sources) | Yes | Yes | |
| Autochartist | No | No | |
| Trading Central (Recognia) | Yes | Yes | |
| TipRanks | No | No | |
| Social Sentiment - Currency Pairs | Yes | Yes | |
| Economic Calendar | Yes | Yes |
| Education | City Index | Exness | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Education (Forex or CFDs) | Yes | Yes | |
| Client Webinars | Yes | No | |
| Client Webinars (Archived) | Yes | Yes | |
| Videos - Beginner Trading Videos | Yes | Yes | |
| Videos - Advanced Trading Videos | Yes | No | |
| Investor Dictionary (Glossary) | Yes | Yes |
| Major Forex Pairs | City Index | Exness | |
|---|---|---|---|
| GBP/USD | Yes | Yes | |
| USD/JPY | Yes | Yes | |
| EUR/USD | Yes | Yes | |
| USD/CHF | Yes | Yes | |
| USD/CAD | Yes | Yes | |
| NZD/USD | Yes | Yes | |
| AUD/USD | Yes | Yes | |
| Review | City Index Review | Exness Review |
| Overall | City Index | Exness | |
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| Trust Score | 99 | 81 | |
| Winner | check_circle | ||
| Review | City Index Review | Exness Review |
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