CMC Markets Review

Written by Steven Hatzakis
Edited by John Bringans
Fact-checked by Blain Reinkensmeyer

September 15, 2024

CFDs are complex instruments and come with a high risk of losing money rapidly due to leverage. 67% of retail investor accounts lose money when trading CFDs with this provider. You should consider whether you understand how CFDs work and whether you can afford to take the high risk of losing your money.

CMC Markets is well-trusted across the globe, and delivers a terrific trading experience thanks to its excellent pricing and selection of nearly 12,000 tradeable instruments.

CMC Markets’ proprietary Next Generation trading platform is packed with quality research and innovative trading tools, and CMC Markets finished Best in Class across 8 categories for 2024, including for Commissions & Fees and Overall.

CMC Markets pros & cons

Overall Summary

Feature	CMC Markets
Overall Rating info
Trust Score info	99
Offering of Investments
Commissions & Fees
Platform & Tools
Research
Mobile Trading
Education

--> View CMC Markets Features List

Is CMC Markets safe?

Trust Score

99

CMC Markets is considered Highly Trusted, with an overall Trust Score of 99 out of 99. CMC Markets is publicly traded, does not operate a bank, and is authorised by five Tier-1 regulators (Highly Trusted), one Tier-2 regulator (Trusted), zero Tier-3 regulators (Average Risk), and zero Tier-4 licenses (High Risk). CMC Markets is authorised by the following Tier-1 regulators: Australian Securities & Investment Commission (ASIC), Canadian Investment Regulatory Organization (CIRO), Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS), Financial Markets Authority (FMA), and the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA). Learn more about Trust Score or see where the different CMC entities are regulated.

Feature	CMC Markets
Year Founded info	1989
Publicly Traded (Listed) info	Yes
Bank info	No
Tier-1 Licenses info	5
Tier-2 Licenses info	1
Tier-3 Licenses info	0
Tier-4 Licenses info	0

Offering of investments

CMC Markets offers nearly 12,000 CFDs, a large number of forex pairs, and access to international equity markets (such as Australia). CMC Markets also quotes its 158 currency pairs both ways (not just EUR/USD – but also the inverse USD/EUR quote). This unique feature doubles the number of CMC Markets’ available pairs – bringing the total up to 316 and helping CMC win our 2024 Annual Awards for #1 Most Currency Pairs.

Cryptocurrency: Cryptocurrency trading is available through CFDs, but not available through trading the underlying asset (e.g. buying Bitcoin). 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).

The following table summarizes the different investment products available to CMC Markets clients.

Feature	CMC Markets
Forex Trading (Spot or CFDs) info	Yes
Tradeable Symbols (Total) info	11925
Forex Pairs (Total) info	156
U.S. Stock Trading (Non CFD) info	Yes
Int'l Stock Trading (Non CFD) info	Yes
Social Trading / Copy Trading info	Yes
Cryptocurrency (Physical) info	No
Cryptocurrency (Derivative) info	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).

Commissions & fees

In our 2024 Annual Awards, CMC Markets finished Best in Class in the Commissions and Fees category thanks to its consistently low spread offering, which is available for all customer segments and account types.

Average spreads: CMC Markets offers competitive pricing that ranks above the industry average, with typical spreads of 0.61 pips on the EUR/USD – according to CMC Markets’ price data for August 2023.

Active trader program: CMC Markets recently revised its active trader offering as part of its new Price Plus Scheme. This program allows you to realize discounts on trading costs based on your collected Trading Points. Trading Points are calculated based on the markets you trade and on your overall monthly volumes. Two Trading Points can be earned for every standard lot (100,000 units) traded, for example. In this scenario, an investor would need to trade 1,250 standard lots in a given month to trigger the 20% spread discount available at Tier 4.

Commission-based pricing: In 2022, CMC Markets launched a new pricing structure called FX Active, which charges a commission per trade on top of highly competitive spreads. Rolled out in the Southeast Asia region, as well as in Australia, New Zealand, Canada, and the U.K., FX Active is available on both MT4 and Next Generation platforms.

FX Active’s commission-based pricing comes in at $2.50 per side with minimum spreads of zero pips, resulting in a 0.5 pip all-in cost when trading the EUR/USD (using August 2023 data) and five other currency pairs. For example, the spread on the NZD/USD on CMC Markets’ standard account offering comes in at 1.5 pips, but drops to an all-in cost of 0.5 pips (after commissions) with the FX Active pricing.

It’s always important to examine the average spread – rather than the minimum spread – when comparing spreads and trading costs across different forex brokers. That said, CMC Markets’ average spreads have historically not deviated much from its advertised minimum spreads, which is one of the reasons that we rank CMC Markets highly in this category. FX Active has only further solidified CMC Market’s position as a pricing leader.

Alpha rebates for shares trading: CMC Markets’ Alpha offering (only available in the U.K., New Zealand, Canada, and Australia) provides free access to services such as premium reports, and market data. Alpha discounts on spreads can reach as high as 20% for the most active traders (tier 5) depending on your monthly trading volumes. Alpha consists of three tiers – Classic, Active Investor, and Premium Trader – each with its own trading requirements. The Classic base tier requires 11 trades per month, while the Active Investor tier requires 11-30 trades per month – or five trades with at least $500 in commission spend. Lastly, Premium Trader becomes available if you place more than 30 transactions per month. Each tier comes with a base charge of AUD 9.90 per trade, in addition to respective discounts ranging from 0.1 bps to as little as 0.075 bps for larger trade sizes.

Guaranteed Stop-Loss Order (GSLO): Like many of its peers, CMC Markets offers GSLOs. These orders guarantee the stop-loss order price will be honored, though – like with most brokers – there is a premium for using GSLOs. The extra cost is displayed in the trade ticket window, and CMC Markets refunds this cost automatically if the GSLO is not triggered.

Feature	CMC Markets
Minimum Deposit info	$0
Average Spread EUR/USD - Standard info	0.61 info
All-in Cost EUR/USD - Active info	0.51 info
Active Trader or VIP Discounts info	Yes
ACH or SEPA Transfers info	Yes
PayPal (Deposit/Withdraw) info	Yes
Skrill (Deposit/Withdraw) info	No
Visa/Mastercard (Credit/Debit) info	Yes
Bank Wire (Deposit/Withdraw) info	Yes

Mobile trading apps

CMC Markets' mobile app is cleanly designed and comes packed with multiple research tools, powerful charts, predefined watchlists, integrated news and educational content, and much more. Bottom line: CMC Markets delivers a terrific mobile experience and one of the best mobile trading apps.

Ease of use: I only found one minor drawback; indicators added in the web version do not automatically sync with its mobile counterpart – a feature provided by industry titans Saxo and Charles Schwab. That being said, watchlists do sync with the web-version, and once indicators have been added, the layout can be saved as a preset to apply to other charts on CMC Markets’ mobile app.

App overview: The overall look and feel of the CMC Markets mobile app closely resembles the web-based version of the Next Generation platform. There’s no question; CMC Markets invested ample time in the app's development, especially given the challenge of organizing so much information with such limited screen space.

Charting: Charting on CMC Markets’ mobile app is just as impressive as the web version of the Next Generation platform. Even though just 30 of the 79 technical indicators are available, it is still a strong offering compared to many of CMC Markets' competitors.

Market research: CMC Markets’ in-house staff provides research under the Intraday Update, Morning Call, Evening Call, and Price Mover categories, along with a slew of other themes available in the Next Generation mobile app. Available research material includes CMC TV, integrated educational content, webinars, and 23 videos that cover trading strategies. Also, a notable useful feature: once subscribed to an event in CMC Markets’ economic calendar, you’ll receive an alert to notify you when the event or news release time approaches.

Other tools: The predefined watch lists in the CMC Markets mobile app are great for identifying trade opportunities. Watch lists include popular products, price movers, and currently trending categories.

Check out our walkthrough of CMC Markets' excellent mobile app:

Feature	CMC Markets
Android App info	Yes
Apple iOS App info	Yes
Mobile Alerts - Basic Fields info	Yes
Watchlists - Total Fields info	11
Watchlist Syncing info	Yes
Charting - Indicators / Studies (Total) info	79
Charting - Drawing Tools (Total) info	40
Mobile Charting - Draw Trendlines info	Yes
Mobile Charting - Multiple Time Frames info	Yes
Mobile Economic Calendar info	Yes

Other trading platforms

The CMC Markets Next Generation trading platform is a market leader that will impress even the pickiest of traders; it’s fast, reliable, and packed with impressive tools and features.

Platform usability: During my testing of CMC Markets’ platforms, I was extremely impressed with Next Generation’s design, which focuses on speed and usability. The platform’s layout wizard lets you choose between floating or fixed windows, in addition to predefined layouts or custom setups. Module linking is supported and features five color-coded levels. This useful function saves time, by prompting an update to the instrument displayed on your chart when you click on the corresponding symbol in your watchlist. Though it takes some time to set up the platform if you don’t use the default layout, the ease-of-use factor is comparable to Saxo’s SaxoTraderGO platform – another favorite of mine.

Charting: The Next Generation platform features rich charting, with 80 technical indicators and studies, 40 drawing tools, and 60 easily attachable candlestick patterns (or 73 if you count the 13 available chart patterns). Standout charting features for the Next Generation platform include its Breakout and Emerging Patterns tools. These chart patterns auto-adjust when the chart time-scale is changed, enabling traders to scan from a one-minute chart to a monthly chart, and easily identify any existing patterns. You can also trade from the charts, including the ability to drag-to-modify your stop-loss or limit, but the process to do so isn't readily apparent and can take a few clicks to figure out.

Automated trading: CMC Markets’ Next Generation platform doesn't feature the ability to run automated trading strategies – though advanced order types (such as its Boundary Order) are available to help traders set deviation parameters and limit potential slippage. Traders looking for an automated trading experience can use CMC Markets’ MT4 offering – though its product range is far more limited.

MetaTrader: The range of forex pairs that CMC Markets offers on MetaTrader was boosted from 38 to 176, bringing the total tradeable products to 220. This doesn’t yet compete with the staggering 11,925 products that are offered on the CMC Markets Next Generation platform, but CMC Markets’ MT4 offering continues to improve with numerous enhancements designed to align its execution quality with the proprietary platform.

Feature	CMC Markets
Virtual Trading (Demo) info	Yes
Proprietary Platform info	Yes
Desktop Platform (Windows) info	Yes
Web Platform info	Yes
Social Trading / Copy Trading info	Yes
MetaTrader 4 (MT4) info	Yes
MetaTrader 5 (MT5) info	No
DupliTrade info	No
ZuluTrade info	No
Charting - Indicators / Studies (Total) info	79
Charting - Drawing Tools (Total) info	40
Charting - Trade From Chart info	Yes
Watchlists - Total Fields info	11

View More

Market research

CMC Markets secured Best in Class honors for its research offering in our 2024 Annual Awards, thanks to its diverse lineup of high-quality in-house and third-party market research and analysis.

Research overview: CMC Markets' research offering is rich with in-house content, including its Insights News module, CMC TV, a bi-monthly print magazine, and the Opto Trading intelligence portal, which features articles, podcasts and a print magazine published every four months. There is also third-party content from Reuters and Morningstar.

Market news and analysis: In addition to news headlines from Reuters, CMC Markets' team of analysts produces quality research in written format, such as content from Opto, available under its News and Analysis section. Both the Insight series and Weekly Outlook series provide broad market coverage, and can be filtered by asset class. Additional articles can be found on the CMC Markets Opto Trading Intelligence portal, including daily market analysis articles that cover global markets.

Video content: CMC TV is the broker's flagship in-house broadcasting offering (comparable to IG’s similar IG TV), which produces high-quality market analysis videos. CMC Markets has ramped up its YouTube video production in 2023, with multiple official channels featuring weekly forex and CFD content. The broker's Opto YouTube channel covers share trading and broader macroeconomic themes. CMC Markets won our 2024 Annual Award for #1 Podcast Series, thanks to its excellent Opto Sessions podcast.

Feature	CMC Markets
Daily Market Commentary info	Yes
Forex News (Top-Tier Sources) info	Yes
Autochartist info	Yes
Trading Central (Recognia) info	No
Social Sentiment - Currency Pairs info	Yes

Education

CMC Markets competes with the best in the industry by offering forex and CFD traders a diverse selection of education in a variety of formats, including written articles, video updates, podcasts, and live webinars.

Learning center: CMC Markets’ educational offering spans a variety of topics and covers a range of trader experience levels. From forex trading basics with related beginner articles, to advanced strategy guides that feature content about cryptocurrency trading, CMC provides a wealth of educational material. I also counted an additional 140 articles that covered topics such as fundamental and technical analysis.

Educational videos and podcasts: CMC Markets hosts a variety of educational videos, platform tutorials, and podcasts on its YouTube channel. Some of this content is also available on its website and trading platforms – such as the Artful Trader Series, the Opto Sessions series, and its trading strategies video playlist.

Webinars: CMC Markets provides a good selection of webinars from its offices in Australia and the U.K., led by in-house analysts as well as third-party provider Trade with Precision.

Room for improvement: Adding quizzes and progress tracking, and centralizing all its educational materials in one place for easy accessibility would help CMC Markets to better compete with educational leaders IG and AvaTrade. Also, in 2021 CMC Markets slowed production of video content on its main YouTube channel, compared to its Opto CMC channel which continues to create excellent content.

Feature	CMC Markets
Education (Forex or CFDs) info	Yes
Client Webinars info	No
Client Webinars (Archived) info	Yes
Videos - Beginner Trading Videos info	Yes
Videos - Advanced Trading Videos info	Yes
Investor Dictionary (Glossary) info	Yes

Final thoughts

With competitive pricing and almost 12,000 instruments spanning virtually every market and asset class, CMC Markets is a great choice for global forex and CFD traders. Furthermore, the CMC Markets Next Generation platform is powerful and versatile, with plenty of customization tools and configuration options.

Overall, CMC Markets finished Best in Class across 8 categories in our 2024 Annual Awards, continuing its streak near the top of the industry in all key areas.

Is CMC Markets a good broker?

Yes, CMC Markets is an excellent broker that ranks at the top of nearly every key category of importance. As an online forex and CFD broker, CMC Markets goes above and beyond to offer a rich trading experience. Its trading costs, platforms, ease of use, education, mobile apps, research, range of markets, and trading tools are all exceptional.

Is my money safe with CMC Markets?

Yes, your money is safely held by CMC Markets, which has operated as a broker for CFDs and forex for decades, holds a wide variety of regulatory licenses, and is a publicly traded company (LSE: CMCX).

Under the FCA’s Client Money rules, CMC Markets is required to segregate client money (unless you agree otherwise) from CMC’s own funds. The funds held in segregated bank accounts do not belong to CMC and will be held in a way that enables it to be identified as client money.

CMC Markets is considered a safe broker to hold client assets, including your cash money, as it has a market capitalization of over £375 million as of January 2024 – making it a well-capitalized broker. Investing and trading carry risks; it is important to use a broker that is well-capitalized to reduce your potential counterparty risk.

Furthermore, depending on the CMC Markets entity that holds your account, you may be eligible to receive compensation in the extraordinary event of the broker’s insolvency (contingent on any related investor compensation scheme available and whether you are designated as a Professional or Retail trader).

For example, in Canada there is up to $1 million in protection available per eligible client, under the Canadian Investor Protection Fund (CIPF). In the U.K., if eligible, your funds are protected up to £85,000 under the Financial Services Compensation Scheme (FSCS). FSCS is an independent body that offers protection to customers of financial services firms that have failed. The compensation amount may be up to £85,000 per eligible person, per firm. Eligibility conditions apply. You can contact the FSCS for more information.

What is the minimum deposit for CMC Markets?

There is no minimum deposit requirement at CMC Markets. Regardless of the CMC Markets entity you choose — i.e., U.K., Singapore, Australia, Germany or Canada — the minimum deposit is zero.

That being said, you’ll still need to fund your CMC Markets account if you want to partake in any live forex trading. PayPal has become a popular method of sending and receiving funds for forex traders, and CMC Markets is one of our picks for the best forex brokers that support the use of PayPal. PayPal supports a wide range of global currencies and has an extensive international presence. Read our full PayPal guide to learn more about using PayPal to fund your forex trading account.

About CMC Markets

Founded in 1989, CMC Markets (LSE: CMCX) has grown to become one of the leading retail forex and CFD brokerages globally. Including forex clients, CMC Markets serves over 152,000 active clients worldwide - with £501 million in client trading assets under management - through its 14 offices globally, and with a staff count of nearly 1200 people across its entities regulated in the U.K., Canada, and Australia. CMC Markets holds over £326 million in Tier 1 regulatory capital as of March 31, 2023. The company has a market capitalization of £375 million as of January 2024. Read more on Wikipedia.

ForexBrokers.com 2024 Annual Awards

For the ForexBrokers.com 2024 Annual Awards, brokers were evaluated against ForexBrokers.com’s 8 Primary Categories: Commissions & Fees, Offering of Investments, Platforms & Tools, Mobile Trading Apps, Research, Education, Trust Score, and Overall.

Best in Class honors were awarded to the Top 7 forex brokers in each of the following areas: Beginners, Social Copy Trading, Ease of Use, MetaTrader, Algo Trading, Crypto Trading, and Professional Trading.

ForexBrokers.com also recognized brokers that demonstrated excellence and innovation with our exclusive Industry Awards.

Category awards

CMC Markets	Overall [Dynamic]	Commissions & Fees	Platforms & Tools	Mobile Trading Apps	Research	Beginners	MetaTrader	Professional Trading
Rank #1
Streak #1
Best in Class	check	check	check	check	check	check	check	check
Best in Class Streak	8	8	6	8	8	4	3	3

Industry awards

CMC Markets	#1 Most Currency Pairs	#1 Podcast Series
Rank #1	check	check
Streak	3	2

2024 Review Methodology

At ForexBrokers.com, our reviews of online forex brokers and their products and services are based on our collected data as well as the observations and qualified opinions of our expert researchers. Each year we publish tens of thousands of words of research on the top forex brokers and monitor dozens of international regulator agencies (read more about how we calculate Trust Score here).

Our research team conducts thorough testing on a wide range of features, products, services, and tools (collecting and validating thousands of data points in the process). We test all available trading platforms for each broker – whether they are proprietary or come from third-party providers – and evaluate them based on a host of data-driven variables.

We also take an in-depth look at each broker’s commissions and fees, such as bid/ask spreads – including the average spread data for some of the most popular forex currency pairs. We research other trading costs, such as inactivity or custody fees, minimum deposit requirements, VIP rebates and/or discounts, and a range of other important fee-based data points.

Some of the other important research categories that are factored into our testing include mobile trading accessibility and capability, availability of market research and educational content, and each broker’s overall Trust Score.

All content on ForexBrokers.com is handwritten by a writer, fact-checked by a member of our research team, and edited and published by an editor. Our ratings, rankings, and opinions are entirely our own, and the result of our extensive research and decades of collective experience covering the forex industry.

Read our full explanation and accounting of our research and testing process to learn more about how we test.

Forex Risk Disclaimer

There is a very high degree of risk involved in trading securities. With respect to margin-based foreign exchange trading, off-exchange derivatives, and cryptocurrencies, there is considerable exposure to risk, including but not limited to, leverage, creditworthiness, limited regulatory protection and market volatility that may substantially affect the price, or liquidity of a currency or related instrument. It should not be assumed that the methods, techniques, or indicators presented in these products will be profitable, or that they will not result in losses. Read more on forex trading risks.

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Article Resources

CMC Regulation, Opto CMC YouTube Channel

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About the Editorial Team

Steven Hatzakis is the Global Director of Online Broker Research for ForexBrokers.com. Steven previously served as an Editor for Finance Magnates, where he authored over 1,000 published articles about the online finance industry. A forex industry expert and an active fintech and crypto researcher, Steven advises blockchain companies at the board level and holds a Series III license in the U.S. as a Commodity Trading Advisor (CTA).

John Bringans is the Managing Editor at ForexBrokers.com. An experienced media professional, John has a decade of editorial experience with a background that includes key leadership roles at global newsroom outlets. He holds a Bachelor’s Degree in English Literature from San Francisco State University, and conducts research on forex and the financial services industry while assisting in the production of content.

Blain Reinkensmeyer has 20 years of trading experience with over 2,500 trades placed during that time. He heads research for all U.S.-based brokerages on StockBrokers.com and is respected by executives as the leading expert covering the online broker industry. Blain’s insights have been featured in the New York Times, Wall Street Journal, Forbes, and the Chicago Tribune, among other media outlets.