This IC Markets vs FOREX.com comparison found FOREX.com has more FX pairs (91 vs 63) but IC Markets has lower spreads and commissions for retail traders. Other key trading features compared include platforms and account types.
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Are you looking for a new forex broker? We compare IC Markets vs FOREX.com to help you choose between them.
IC Markets was founded in 2007 in Australia, and since then have grown to become the largest forex broker in the world by trading volume. Each day 18.9 billion transactions are traded via the broker platforms.
Unlike the independent IC Markets, FOREX.com is part of the StoneX group (following their purchase of Gain Capital). FOREX.com focus on traders in the Americas (the US and Canada), the UK, Europe and Japan.
Account types generally differ based due to the way the broker applies their brokerage trading fees. Standard accounts are spread-only which means the bid-ask spread, or simply the ‘spread’ is the main cost to be aware of. The second type of trading fee is a commission on trades. These types of accounts are closer to pure STP or ECN conditions where spreads are set by liquidity providers and you pay a commission on top of this.
On a standard account, you will only pay spread costs, as the account is typically commission-free. However, brokers will artificially increase spreads above market prices as their brokerage fee.
We’ve created a typical spreads module for you to easily compare the spreads you will get on different brokers.
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Standard Account Spreads
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0.62 | 0.77 | 1.27 | 0.83 | 0.74 |
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1.20 | 1.80 | 1.60 | 1.70 | 1.60 |
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1.10 | 1.20 | 1.40 | 1.40 | 1.40 |
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1.13 | 1.01 | 1.71 | 1.66 | 1.12 |
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1.20 | 0.90 | 1.50 | 1.80 | 1.80 |
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1.20 | 1.40 | 1.50 | 1.60 | 1.50 |
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1.10 | 1.20 | 1.40 | 1.50 | 1.20 |
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1.10 | 1.30 | 1.30 | 1.30 | 1.30 |
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1.20 | 1.80 | 1.90 | 1.90 | 1.60 |
Avg. spreads are taken from each broker's website and updated monthly. Last update on 01/09/2023
View IC Markets ReviewVisit IC Markets
From the module, you can see that IC Markets has one of the lowest typical spreads in the market. Spread with IC Markets is typically in the 0.6 – 0.65 pip range for the EUR/USD. This is much better than FOREX.com’s typical spread which is in the 1.5 – 1.6 pips range.
On IC Markets’ standard account, the minimum spread you will get is 0.6 pips, on all major forex pairs like the EUR/USD. For minor and exotic currency pairs, the minimum spread is 1 pip.
On FOREX.com’s standard account, the minimum spread you will get is 0.8 pips (but this will be 1 pip if you trade in the USA). However, this only applies to the EUR/USD and AUD/USD. For other forex pairs, you face higher minimum spreads, for example, at 1.8 pips for the EUR/JPY.
Unlike standard accounts, an STP-style/ECN-like, or commission-based account, comes with both types of trading fees. This means that there will be a spread component and a commission component to the fee you pay for trading. However, the spread will be ‘raw’, which means you get top-of-book pricing or the best available price from the broker’s pool of liquidity providers.
Like above with our standard account comparison, we’ve compiled a spreads module below to help you quickly compare average spreads for the STP-style accounts of different brokers, including IC Markets’ ‘Raw Spread’ account.
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ECN Broker Spreads
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0.47 | 0.50 | 0.12 | 0.40 | 0.22 |
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0.20 | 0.30 | 0.10 | 0.30 | 0.20 |
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0.20 | 0.30 | 0.20 | 0.40 | 0.20 |
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0.30 | N/A | 0.30 | 0.50 | 0.40 |
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0.24 | N/A | 0.17 | 0.54 | 0.30 |
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0.30 | 0.70 | 0.20 | 0.50 | 0.40 |
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0.30 | 1.10 | 0.10 | 0.60 | 0.50 |
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0.77 | 1.41 | 0.44 | 1.13 | 1.23 |
Avg. spreads are taken from each broker's website and updated monthly. Last update on 01/09/2023
View FOREX.com ReviewVisit FOREX.com
While FOREX.com does not provide typical spreads, you can see that the spread range for the EUR/USD on the IC Markets Raw Spread account will be around 0 – 0.05 pips wide.
The minimum spread on the Raw Spread account is 0 pips, which is on all majors, and all but two minor forex pairs. Many exotic currency pairs also come with a minimum spread of 0 pips.
On IC Markets, commission fees are at $7 AUD or USD round-turn per standard lot of 100k units. These commission costs are pretty standard for the industry. For other base currencies commission is at; £5.0 GBP, €5.5 EUR, or $9 SGD for a standard lot round-turn. On other currencies like CAD, CHF or NZD, your commission will be converted at spot rates from USD.
FOREX.com has two types of commission-based accounts.
The commission account is available Commission account has a minimum spread of 0.2 pips, which applies to popular forex pairs. On the STP Pro account, spreads begin from 0 pips.
Commission fees differ depending on the account type you choose and which FOREX.com entity you are trading with/
A commission account with a flat commission of $5 per standard lot ($10 round-turn) for traders in the US and traders with the brokers ‘offshore’ subsidiary based in the Cayman Islands subsidiary.
A DMA account (called an STP account in the US) with a tiered commission is also available. This account offers reduced commissions for high-volume traders. These accounts are available to all FOREX.com clients except traders in Europe where no equivalent account exists. Traders in the UK and with the broker’s offshore entity can pay commissions as low as $40 for each million traded while traders in the US and Canada can pay as low as $60 for each million traded.
If you use the FOREX.com DMA or STP account, you will need to be using one of the FOREX.com trading platforms. MetaTrader 4 is not available as an option.
The two most commonly asked questions around funding are what the minimum deposit is, and the deposit methods you can use.
IC Markets has no minimum deposit, meaning you could start trading with $1 if you wanted to. However, to reach margin requirements, IC Markets recommends that you deposit $200 in your base currency.
While funding methods in Europe are limited, IC Markets do have an impressive range of eWallets one can choose from in addition to traditional funding methods like Visa and Mastercard credit and debit cards. eWallets one can select from include BPay, POLi, PayPal and Klarna.
Meanwhile, FOREX.com accounts have a minimum deposit of $100 in your chosen base currency. Funding methods vary depending on which subsidiary of FOREX.com you are trading with.
Its interesting to note that eWallets are generally limited. Traders in the US and Canada don’t even have eWallet options.
It is also worth noting that neither broker has fees from their end for making deposits or withdrawals.
IC Markets has much lower brokerage fees for both account types. As a result, they are our broker choice over FOREX.com. With no minimum deposit and a very wide range of funding methods, it is also a lot easier to get started with trading on IC Markets.
View IC Markets ReviewVisit IC Markets
We will measure safety by regulation – which we divide into tier-one, and tier-three regulators. Tier-three regulators are sometimes referred to as offshore regulators since brokers use them as their regulators when they don’t have regulation from the country you are trading from.
IC Markets are regulated by two different top-tier regulators, plus a third-tier regulator. These are:
This means traders in Australia and the European Union are regulated by ASIC and CySEC respectively. All other traders sign up with the broker’s offshore subsidiary based in Seychelles.
In comparison, FOREX.com are regulated by three top-tier and one second-tier regulator:
FOREX.com is more extensively regulated that IC Markets. So will be a more suitable choice for traders in the UK, Canada and US. Markets where IC Markets are not regulated and in the case of the US and Canada will not accept traders from.
While FOREX.com don’t serve the Australian, Singapore and UAE markets, their sister company City Index are regulated in their countries. City Index products are much aligned with FOREX.com so can be a suitable alternative if you have a particular interest in joining FOREX.com.
FOREX.com are regulated in more countries, so if regulation with a tier-1 broker is important to you then FOREX.com is likely to be a better choice. IC Markets however is the world’s largest broker, so while many traders might be with their Seychelles entity, your funds are still segregated and IC Markets reputation as a trusted broker remains strong.
Both IC Markets and FOREX.com offer a range of platforms and trading tools for you to choose between.
On IC Markets, you can trade on MetaTrader 4 & MetaTrader 5 (MT4/MT5) and cTrader.
FOREX.com has MT4 and TradingView available, as well as NinjaTrader and their proprietary platform. Traders in Europe have MT5 in place of MT4 available while traders with the broker’s offshore subsidiary can choose either MT4 or MT5.
One advantage of choosing the FOREX.com trading platform is the availability of a guaranteed stop loss, something IC Markets don’t offer.
You get access to a strong set of trading tools on IC Markets, with a particular focus on social trading. You can copy trade on the MetaTrader Signals, Myfxbook or ZuluTrade platforms at the click of a button, following the ideas of more experienced or highly successful traders.
FOREX.com only provides two trading tools, TradingCentral and its proprietary suite of tools. TradingCentral is a research tool that you can use to search for trading ideas. The FOREX.com proprietary tools include the performance analytics tool and advanced charting tools discussed above. However, there are no copy trading tools available.
This section is pretty close, but we give the win to IC Markets. You get access to MetaTrader 5 and cTrader, two highly popular CFD trading platforms. The suite of tools with IC Markets is also slightly wider than FOREX.com’s offering.
The financial instruments offered by the two brokers are contracts-for-differences (CFDs). These are a form of derivative, with underlying assets ranging from forex pairs to shares/ETFs/indices, commodities, and even cryptos.
IC Markets offer over 61 different currency pairs and over 18 different cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin. If you are a retail trader, your leverage will be capped at 30:1 on major forex pairs, but if you are a pro trader or trade outside Australia or the EU, you can get up to 500:1 leverage,
You will be able to get more currency pairs with FOREX.com, at 82 in the US, and 91 outside of the US. However, you only get 8 different cryptos to trade. Leverage is set at 50:1 in the US and 33:1 in Canada, and for other regions, at 200:1. If you are classified as a pro trader, leverage goes up to 400:1.
Overall, FOREX.com’s more comprehensive range of CFD products, led by forex CFDs gives them the win in the products category.
Thanks to similarweb, we can easily compare the number of visits that IC Markets and FOREX.com receive to measure popularity.
IC Markets recorded an incredible 3.1 million visits in August 2022, just shy of three times the number of visits that FOREX.com get, which is at 1.1 million over the same period.
As a result, IC Markets is the top broker, with a resounding endorsement from other forex traders.
IC Markets is our overall winner. With much lower trading fees compared to FOREX.com, strong regulatory coverage, plus extraordinary levels of popularity, it feels like a no-brainer to trade forex with IC Markets. However, FOREX.com does pull its weight on products, with slightly more forex pairs available.
