Eightcap
CMC Markets
Our Rating
8.50
7.17
Eightcap review
CMC Markets Review
Eightcap don't provide % of clients who lose money
73% of retail investor accounts lose money when
spread betting and/or trading CFDs with this provider

Regulations and Licenses

Feature
Eightcap
CMC Markets
ASIC (Australia)
FCA (UK)
MAS (Singapore)
IIROC (Canada)
FMA (New Zealand)
SCB (Bahamas)
Unregulated

Brokerage

Feature
Eightcap
CMC Markets
EUR/USD Avg. Raw Spread
0.06
-
GBP/USD Avg. Raw Spread
0.73
-
AUD/USD Avg. Raw Spread
0.27
-
EUR/USD Standard Spread
1.06
-
EUR/USD Fixed Spreads
-
-
Commissions (USD Base)
$3.50
-
Minimum Deposit
$250 (Raw)
$500 (Standard)
$0
Swap Free Account
No Inactivity Fees
Funding Methods
8+
6+
No Funding Fees

Markets and Instruments

Feature
Eightcap
CMC Markets
Currency Pairs
40+
338+
Cryptocurrency CFDs*
250+
19+
Index CFDs
10+
46+
Share CFDs
400+
9,000+
Commodities CFD
4+
124+
Stockbroking
-
9,000+
Retail Max Leverage (Australia)
Major Pairs 30:1
Minor Pairs 20:1
Major Pairs 30:1
Minor Pairs 20:1
Pro. Max Leverage (Australia)
500:1
500:1
Retail Max. Leverage (The United Kingdom)
-
Major Pairs 30:1
Minor Pairs 20:1
Pro. Max. Leverage (The United Kingdom)
-
500:1
Retail Max. Leverage (Europe)
-
Major Pairs 30:1
Minor Pairs 20:1
Pro. Max. Leverage (Europe)
-
500:1
Retail Max. Leverage (Canada)
-
Major Pairs: 52:1
Minor Pairs 16:1
Retail Max. Leverage (Singapore)
-
Major Pairs 20:1
Minor Pairs 10:1
Pro. Max. Leverage (Singapore)
-
500:1
Retail Max. Leverage (With offshore regulators)
500:1
Major Pairs 30:1
Minor Pairs 20:1

*Cryptocurrency CFDs are not available to retail traders in the UK due to FCA regulations

Trading Platforms + Tools

Feature
Eightcap
CMC Markets
MetaTrader 4 (MT4)
MetaTrader 5 (MT5)
cTrader
TradingView
Proprietary Platform
Automated Trading
Social + Copy Trading
Standard Stop Loss
Guaranteed Stop Loss
Demo Account
Unique Feature
Low ECN Spreads
Offers both CFD and Stock trading

Overall

Eightcap
CMC Markets
Our Rating
8.50
7.17
Eightcap review
CMC Markets Review
Visit Site
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Is EightCap or CMC Markets the cheaper broker to use?

The two most significant costs you may incur when trading forex or other contract-for-differences (CFDs) are the spread cost and commission fees.

On a standard account with forex brokers, you can expect to only pay a spread cost. However, remember to keep in mind that this spread will be above market prices, as your broker artificially increases it as their service fee.

Both EightCap and CMC Markets provide you with a standard account, however, if you trade share CFDs on CMC Markets, you can still expect to pay a commission fee on top of your spread cost.

Some brokers also provide you with access to a STP or ECN-style account. This type of account sees your broker connect all of your trades with their liquidity partners, giving you access to market-price spreads. To facilitate this, brokers will add on a commission fee in lieu of the artificially increased spreads.

CMC Markets does not offer you a STP/ECN-style account, however it is available with EightCap as their ‘Raw Account’, giving EightCap the win by default in this category.

EightCap has a cheaper standard account than CMC Markets

The EightCap Standard Account comes without any form of commission fees, with the only trading cost you pay being their bid-ask spread.

Spreads on EightCap start from just 1 pip on major forex pairs such as the EUR/USD. Almost all forex pairs you can trade will have a minimum spread of below 1.5 pips on EightCap.

Standard Account Spreads
1.06 1.27 1.42 1.73 1.23
0.75 0.85 1.40 1.19 0.86
0.86 0.74 1.19 1.19 0.83
0.70 1.30 1.30 2.20 1.40
0.80 0.90 1.70 1.80 0.80
1.20 1.10 1.10 1.70 1.40
1.30 1.50 1.80 2.00 1.30
1.10 1.20 1.40 1.50 1.20
1.30 1.40 1.50 1.50 1.40
1.20 1.20 1.40 1.40 1.20

Data taken from broker website. Accurate as at 01/05/2022

Eightcap Review >>Visit Eightcap >>

CMC Markets only offers a Standard Account if you choose to trade CFD products with them.

Their lowest spreads start from 0.7 pips on the EUR/USD; however, their minimum spread costs are much higher for minor or exotic forex pairs. The lowest spread you can get for the EUR/AUD for example is 1.3 pips.

If you choose to trade share CFDs with CMC Markets, you will also be charged a commission on top of your spread fee. While it varies depending on the market your share CFD is traded on, Australian share CFDs come with a 0.07% commission fee, with a minimum cost of AUD $7.

As a result, overall, EightCap has a cheaper standard account than CMC Markets, winning this category off the back of their consistently low minimum spreads on forex CFDs, and the fact that they don’t charge you commission if you trade share CFDs.

If you want spreads with no commission, you are better to consider Pepperstone or IC Markets which have lower spreads for this type of account.

Eightcap Review >>Visit Eightcap >>

Only EightCap has a STP-style account (Commission Account)

Unlike a typical broker’s standard account, a straight-through-processing (STP) style account sees your trades being connected to the market with no dealing desk intervention. This gives you access to market priced spreads; however, you will have to pay a commission fee on trades to your broker for facilitating this type of transaction.

ECN Broker Spreads
0.26 0.47 0.17 0.40 0.24
0.20 0.30 0.20 0.40 0.20
0.50 0.60 0.30 0.50 0.50
0.30 N/A 0.30 0.50 0.40
0.20 0.83 0.44 0.40 0.42
0.24 N/A 0.17 0.54 0.30
0.30 0.70 0.20 0.50 0.40
0.30 1.10 0.10 0.60 0.50
n/a 0.30 n/a 0.60 0.50
0.48 1.21 0.33 0.92 1.11

Data taken from broker website. Accurate as at 01/05/2022

View CMC Markets Review >>Visit CMC Markets >>

CMC Markets does not provide this type of account for you to use, meaning you must go to EightCap, giving them the win by default.

To say that EightCap’s Raw Spread account only wins the STP-style account category by default, however, would be misrepresentative. That is because EightCap is one of the best brokers to use if you are looking for a low-cost STP-style account.

Minimum spreads on EightCap start from just 0 pips for major pairs like the EUR/USD, and 0.1-0.4 pips for most minor and exotic forex pairs, with the EUR/AUD’s minimum spread at 0.2 pips.

Commission fees are also highly competitive compared to other brokers. To trade a standard lot of 100 thousand units, your round-trip (combined commission paid on buying and selling) will be AUD/USD $7.

If you choose to pay commission in another currency, you will be charged GBP £4.5, EUR €5.5, SGD/CAD $7, or the equivalent of USD $7 in your preferred currency.

Eightcap Review >>Visit Eightcap >>

EightCap is the leading cryptocurrency CFD broker

The range of cryptocurrency CFDs on EightCap is unparalleled compared to rival brokers. EightCap has over 250 different options to choose from, ranging from 120 coins vs the USD, 20 different coins against other fiats (even against Bitcoin!), and even a selection of 5 different cryptocurrency indices if you simply want to track the crypto market.

As we will discuss below, EightCap enhances the experience you get when trading crypto via a series of different tools with their partners and is supplemented by the extensive power of MetaTrader 5 (which CMC Markets does not have).

If you really want to, you can even use cryptocurrency to deposit funds into your trading account. Bitcoin, TRC20 and ERC20 are all available for you to deposit with, however note that this is only possible if you have the USD as your base currency and are not trading from Australia.

CMC Markets Has More Trading Products

CMC Markets do offer more trading products overall compared to Eightcap. The broker offers some 338 forex pairs (not sure how but this is what they advertise), over 7000 stocks across the globe, 82 indices, 124 commodities, 900 ETFs and 55 Treasuries. Not many brokers can compete with this range. One thing to note is that most of these products are only available with the CMC Next Generation Trading Platform.

Is it safer to trade with EightCap or CMC Markets?

Both brokers will be safe for you to trade with, however we recommend that you pick a broker which is regulated in the country in which you are trading from.

If you are a retail trader under ASIC, CySEC or FCA regulation, you also automatically have access to negative balance protection. This means you cannot lose more money than what is already in your account, hence protection from having a ‘negative balance’.

CMC Markets is regulated by more global agencies than EightCap

If you are looking to trade forex or other CFD products, it is likely that you will receive strong regulatory protection on either EightCap or CMC Markets.

The one regulatory environment shared by both brokers is in Australia, under the regulation of the Australian Securities and Investments Commission (ASIC).

CMC Markets is regulated by a wide range of different agencies. These include:

  • The Financial Conduct Authority (FCA, UK) and the Federal Financial Supervisory Agency (BaFIN, Germany and Austria), protecting you in the European region.
  • The Investment Industry Regulatory Organization of Canada (IIROC, Canada)
  • The Financial Markets Authority (FMA, New Zealand) and the Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS, Singapore), protecting you in Asia.

EightCap does not offer any more region-specific regulatory environments, however, you will always be protected no matter where you trade from. This is because you get classified by the international subsidiary of EightCap, which is regulated by the Securities Commission of the Bahamas (Bahamas).

TrustPilot reviews rank EightCap as a better broker

One of the best ways to judge whether a broker is safe to use, is to look at the reviews of other traders who have used them.

On TrustPilot, EightCap receives an ‘Excellent’ score with 4.5/5 stars. Many users commented on the great customer service provided by EightCap, as well as the low costs of trading.

In contrast, TrustPilot users only rated CMC Markets 4.1/5 stars, corresponding to a ‘Great’ tag. Their reviews are rather mixed, with some customers claiming to have had great experiences with the CMC proprietary platform and friendly customer service, however other users claim the opposite.

Eightcap Review >>Visit Eightcap >>

Is a minimum deposit required on either of EightCap or CMC Markets?

CMC Markets does not require a minimum deposit to use their trading account, however, EightCap does.

In Australia, you need a minimum deposit of AUD $250 and AUD $500 for the Raw Spread and Standard accounts respectively.

If you are outside of Australia, your minimum deposit will be $100 in your base currency for both of the account types.

Neither EightCap nor CMC Markets charges any form of transaction fee for when you deposit or withdraw funds from your account. Despite this, be careful when funding your account with an international bank, as your bank might charge you transaction fees.

You can deposit funds into both EightCap and CMC Markets in a plethora of different ways. The common methods- Visa/Mastercard, Bank Transfer and PayPal are all available for you.

If you use EightCap, you can deposit in even more ways. eWallets such as Neteller and Skrill are available for you to deposit on. In Australia, you can deposit with BPay and POLi. If you really want to, you could even deposit funds into your account via cryptocurrency, however this is not available for Australian traders.

View CMC Markets Review >>Visit CMC Markets >>

What platforms are offered by EightCap and CMC Markets?

You can access MetaTrader 4 on both EightCap and CMC Markets, but its successor, MetaTrader 5, is only available on EightCap.

CMC Markets also has its own proprietary trading platform, their ‘Next Generation’ CFD platform. They also have a share-specific trading platform for you to use.

EightCap has a superior MetaTrader 4 offering than CMC Markets

MetaTrader 4 (MT4) is the most popular forex and CFD trading platform in the world, with a reputation for great ease-of-use and being extremely reliable. It not only has a plethora of tools and functions built into the platform but gives you scope to do much more, adding in your own widgets, indicators or even utilising different algorithmic trading programs.

MT4’s best feature is its library of Expert Advisors, EAs. These are automated functions that can help you perform any task you might need when trading- giving you up-to-date news, identifying new trading opportunities, or even executing trading programs you craft up.

As the most popular platform in the world, MT4’s community of traders has curated the largest library of EAs and functional tools out of all trading platforms. This means that should you need a particular EA, there probably is one out there already, built by another trade who had the same problem as you.

EightCap is our recommended broker to use MetaTrader 4 to trade with, rather than CMC Markets. EightCap’s extra tools that they provide you with to enhance your trading experience simply outmatch CMC Markets, meaning you probably be better off trading with EightCap.

One of the biggest reasons why traders don’t utilise automated trading algorithms is because the barrier of knowledge needed to learn how to code effectively is too high. EightCap solves this for you by partnering with Capitalise.ai, which allows you to write a trading algorithm in plain English.

For example, if you want to buy Apple shares every time the SP500 opens up, you simply write that sentence in, and Capitalise.ai will automate your strategy for you.

EightCap provides you with bonus risk management via Amazing Trader. Amazing Trader’s algorithm dynamically adjusts to your risk preferences, and you can turn it on and off at your own discretion.

Most importantly for EightCap’s extensive cryptocurrency offerings, they offer you use of Cryptocrusher. This all-in-one crypto trading tool can give you trading ideas, provide you with sentiment analysis, and even educational resources.

CMC Markets’ main MT4 feature is their partnership with FX Blue Labs (which is also available on EightCap). This is a series of widgets giving you quick access to add-ons ranging from chart analysis to a mini terminal.

However, this is much less than what EightCap provides traders with, making EightCap our preferred broker to use MT4 with.

Only EightCap offers MetaTrader 5

MetaTrader 5 (MT5) was released as the successor to MT4 in 2010. It boasts a range of new features and tools, however most importantly, it allows you to trade on both centralised and decentralised markets. This allows you to trade more stocks and cryptocurrencies, which is unavailable on MT4, as MT4 only gives you access to centralised markets.

Extra functions by MT5 include their 38 in-built technical indicators, more than the 30 in MT4. The processing power of MT5 is at 64 bits, much higher than the 32-bit processing power on MT4.

On EightCap, you greatly benefit from the extra advantage provided by MT5, as this allows you to trade more of EightCap’s extensive cryptocurrency range. The power of MT5 makes it even more attractive to use their Raw Spread account to scalp or trade at higher frequencies as well.

You will also still have access to the tools EightCap provides in MT4, such as Cryptocrusher. In fact, these tools will provide even more use for you, as Cryptocrusher can now recommend crypto trading ideas which you couldn’t act upon if you chose to use MT5.

In contrast to EightCap, CMC Markets does not offer MT5, so EightCap automatically wins our MT5 broker category

CMC Markets offers their own CFD trading platform

To compensate for their lack of MT5, CMC Markets have two proprietary platforms available for you to use.

‘Next Generation’ is their exclusive CFD trading platform, and they also have a share trading platform available.

While Next Generation comes with a wide range of in-built tools- over 115 trading indicators and 70 different chart patterns, it is not as flexible as MT4 or MT5, and restricts you to use what CMC Markets provide you with. However, it is a popular platform, with CMC Markets advertising that over 1 million people trade with it.

The CMC Markets share trading platform prides itself on their suite of equity research, with insights from Morningstar provided, as well as ‘CMC TV’, their own daily video series on the financial markets.

Another feature offered by their share trading platform is a partnership with Sharesight, which allows you to track your portfolio more easily, and automatically generates tax reports for you.

Eightcap Review >>Visit Eightcap >>

Neither broker offers an Islamic or swap-free account to Muslim traders

Unfortunately, neither EightCap nor CMC Markets provide an Islamic/swap-free account.
This will severely impact your ability to trade forex and other CFD products if you are a Muslim trader.

Sharia law prevents Muslims from taking or paying interest, as it is deemed to be an unethical and exploitative practice. Much of CFD trading comes with the use of leverage via a margin loan, however, as a loan, you will be forced to pay interest on it. As neither broker has an Islamic account that has no interest, you will have to trade margin-free if you use EightCap or CMC Markets.

Eightcap Review >>Visit Eightcap >>

About the author: Justin Grossbard

Justin Grossbard has been investing for the past 20 years and writing for the past 10. He co-founded Compare Forex Brokers in 2014 after working with the foreign exchange trading industry for several years. He also founded a number of FinTech and digital startups including Innovate Online and SMS Comparison. Justin holds a Masters Degree and an Honours in Commerce from Monash University. He and his wife Paula live in Melbourne, Australia with his son and Siberian cat. In his spare time, he watches Australian Rules Football and invests on global markets.

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