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The Pepperstone trading account chosen impacts the fees charges with the standard account having higher average spreads but no commissions while the no dealing desk razor account has the lowest Pepperstone spreads from 0 pips but modest commissions which can be discounted by the active trader program.
By Justin Grossbard / Updated: Tuesday, February 18th, 2020
Pepperstone has some of the most competitive fees of any CFDs provider with the forex broker having some of the lowest spreads from 0.0 pips, ensuring that it is suitable for all investors. There are four types of Pepperstone fees which are details in the table below:
| Pepperstone Fee Type | Charge |
|---|---|
| Razor MetaTrader (Forex) - commission | AUD $7 Round-turn per standard lot |
| Razor (Forex) spreads From | 0.0 Pips |
| Standard Account - spreads (Forex) from | 1.0 Pips |
| cTrader Razor commission (Forex) | $7 per Standard Lot in base currency |
| Rollover / Overnight Fees | Varies |
| Withdrawal Fees | $0 (Except bank wire transfer) |
| Deposit Fees | $0 |
| Inactivity Fees | $0 |
Your spreads are the difference between the ask and bidding price for your currency pairs. There are different types of spreads, including fixed spreads and variable spreads. A variable spreads continuously changes value. A wider spread will mean greater cost so a narrow spread presents greater potential savings. If you want to calculate your spread then apply the formula
Spread (Pips) = Ask – Bid
Pepperstone essentially offers 3 main types of trading accounts and each account applies fees differently.
For all accounts, Pepperstone offers the following features
| Pepperstone (Standard) | Pepperstone (Razor) | IC Markets (RAW) | Plus500 | IG | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| EUR/USD | 1.16 | 0.16 | 0.1 | 0.6 | 0.6 |
| AUD/USD | 1.27 | 0.27 | 0.2 | 0.6 | 0.6 |
| GBPUSD | 1.49 | 0.49 | 0.4 | 1.1 | 0.9 |
| USDJPY | 1.25 | 0.25 | 0.2 | 0.70 | 0.79 |
Looking at the table it is clear that commission style accounts (generally) offer the narrowest spreads. In the case of Pepperstone, this is their Razor account.
You will note that Pepperstone fees for Razor account are slightly wider than IC Markets RAW commission accounts. This is simply because IC Markets use rounding to the 1st decimal however their spreads very similar, this is because both brokers use ECN ‘style’ trading and no dealing desk. Pepperstone explains ‘Electonic Communication Network ‘(ECN) and ‘Straight Through Processing’ trading with the following statement:
To iterate what Pepperstone explains: ‘ECN’ and/or ‘STP’ brokers spreads or fees are set by external liquidity providers and these fees are passed onto you without interference from a dealing desk. This is why ‘ECN’ or ‘STP’ style trading can offer the best spreads. Market-makers such as Plus500, IG Markets and CMC will incorporate their fees into your spreads which is why they are wider.
This is why we recommend ‘ECN’ and/or ‘STP’ style accounts if you want the lowest fees.
| Commission | Side-ways (Standard lot) | Round-turn (Standard lot) |
|---|---|---|
| Pepperstone | AUD$3.50 | AUD$7.00 |
| IC Markets | USD$3.50 | USD$7.00 |
| AxiTrader | USD$3.50 | USD$7.00 |
| Think Markets | AUD$3.50 | AUD$7.00 |
Of the brokers that offer commission style accounts, Pepperstone offers among the most competitive commissions in the industry.
When choosing a broker based on commission, you will want to check what currency the broker charges their commission in as some use USD. Pepperstone charge in AUD which provides them with a competitive advantage over other brokers for Australian traders.
Total cost = (Spread) x (Pip Cost) x (Number of Lots Traded)
Where Pip cost:
Pip cost will be converted to your account currency at the spot forex rate
There is no monetary commission with a Standard Account. Your cost is in the spread. Pepperstone adds 1 pip to your spread. This 1 pip is an industry-standard for no commission accounts for no dealing desk brokers.
Therefore it can be said your cost will be USD$10.00 for each standard lot you trade.
These accounts feature spreads from 0.0 pip and have a commission charge of AUD $7.00 per standard lot.
This means if you buy and sell 1 standard lot you will pay $AUD7.00 in commission.
Razor Account (cTrader) is for traders using the cTrader platform. Your commission will be 3.5% of the base currency though your final personal cost will be the commission currency converted to your account currency at market rates.
Pepperstone cTrader commission = USD$3.50 per USD$100,000 bought and USD$3.50 per USD$100,000 sold. This means your cost will be USD$7 (which then needs to be converted to your account currency.)
When choosing a broker you need to consider what type of fee structure suits your need. This means choosing between a commission or non-commission account.
The differences between the accounts can be summarised by below:
If you decide on a commission account then:
If you decide on a no-commission account:
We like to recommend the Pepperstone Razor MetaTrader account as this offers the lowest fees when spreads and commission are taken into account.
Pepperstone, like all forex brokers, applies swap rates when you hold your position after 5 pm American eastern time (New York time). This rollover interest can either be earned or paid depending on currency movements and market volatility.
Pepperstone release swap charges for each currency pair every week using standard lots (100,000 base units) as the standard size for measurement. This swap rate can be found when you log in to your Pepperstone account.
Pepperstone has no charges for deposits and most withdrawals. The sole exception is if you withdraw using an international bank wire. If you use bank wire then the following fees and minimum withdrawals will apply:
| Currency | Fee | Minimum withdrawal amount |
|---|---|---|
| AUD | 20 | 80 |
| EUR | 15 | 80 |
| CAD | 20 | 80 |
| CHF | 20 | 80 |
| GBP | 15 | 80 |
| SGD | 25 | 80 |
| USD | 20 | 80 |
| JPY | 1700 | 6700 |
| NZD | 25 | 80 |
| HKD | 140 | 540 |
These fees are competitive compared to many other brokers. Pepperstone, however, stand out as they have no inactivity charges which several other brokers charge for:
| Deposit Fees | Withdrawal Fees | Inactivity Fees | |
| IC Markets | ✘ | ✘ | ✘ |
| Pepperstone | ✘ | Bank Wire AUD$20 Minimum withdrawal $80 | ✘ |
| IG Markets | Credit Card (If AUD then Visa 1%, MasterCard 0.5%, Non AUD then 1.5% ) , PayPal 1%), Min AUD$450 deposit with Credit Card | ✘ | $50 per quarter if inactive for 3 months |
| Plus500 | ✘ | ✘ | USD$10 if not active for 3 months |
| Go Markets | ✘ | ✘ | ✘ |
| Think Market | ✘ (minimum deposit $0 for standard, $500 for go account) | ✘ | AUD$30 each month if inactive for 6 months of more |
| AxiTrader | ✘ | ✘ | ✘ |
| CMC Markets | Credit card payment will incur 1% fee or 0.6% for debit card | ✘ | AUD$12 per month if inactivty for 12 months |
One good thing about Pepperstone is the wide range of funding methods for deposits they will accept. These are:
With Pepperstone you can trade CFDs of 60 of the top listed companies in the NYSE. This means you can trade well-known companies such as Alphabet, Apple, Facebook, Boing and Microsoft.
A couple of points to note when trading Shares CFD with Pepperstone.
Cryptocurrency, commodities and indices are ‘spread only’ products. This means your fee is incorporated into the spread. Pepperstone do not charge commission nor do Pepperstone act as a market maker.
Pepperstone sources their fees from a deep pool of liquidity providers for commodities and indices and LMAX exchange for Cryptocurrency and then add a small markup by slightly widening the spread. By adding only a slight increase in the spreads, Pepperstone can keep spreads as close to ‘raw’ liquidity as possible. While this may mean lower revenue margins for Pepperstone for each trade, the low-cost environment allows them to attract high volume traders and achieve high retention rates.
As Pepperstone use liquidity providers and include your trading CFD costs in the spread, you have the following advantages:
Pepperstone has 5 different Cryptocurrencies for you to choose from. Cryptocurrency is a highly speculative derivative meaning it can have large swings. These swings present profit-taking opportunities making it an increasingly popular option with traders.
With Pepperstone, prices are taken from the LMAX exchange.
Pepperstone offers the following trading conditions
Please note: Cryptocurrency is a highly volatile product so can present a high risk. Please make you fully understand all risks involved with before you trading the cryptocurrency.
Several different types of commodities are available with Pepperstone. These fall into the following sections: metals, soft commodities and energy. Commodities tend to move in the same direction as the general market and inflation meaning they provide a good strategy to diversify your assets. Precious metals such as gold are a good defensive strategy as they become popular when markets struggle.
Pepperstone commodity trading has the following conditions:
6 different metal pairs are available for trade against the USD, AUD or Euro. This includes 4 silver and gold crosses.
Available on all trading platforms Pepperstone offer, trading is done against the USD.
Trading of agricultural goods that are grown is one of the oldest assets available for trade. While not as popular as hard commodities, owning soft commodities such as corn, cocoa and rice can form a valuable part of a diverse portfolio to protect yourself against volatility and risk.
Oil and gas products are tradable commodities on MetaTrader 4, MetaTrader 5 and cTrader and are available to all Pepperstone account holders. Trading of oil includes access to two major oil markets – West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude oil and Brent crude oil.
Energy instruments trade against the US and have a minimum trade size of 10c per pip.
Index CFDsTrading on indices allows you to speculate on some of the top financial and stock markets around. Indices are a calculation of the weighted average of share prices for groups of high performing stocks in a stock exchange. Pepperstone offers some of the most well-known indices such as the S&P 500, NASDAQ 100 and ASX 200.
Pepperstone offers the following
You can speculate on movements in the value of the USD against a grouping of 6 other currencies including the Pound, Euro and Yen).
Trading with Currency Index CFD with Pepperstone includes:
Our Pepperstone comparison with FXCM and OANDA found that Pepperstone has other features you may wish to use for more advanced trading experiences. Some of these features are free and some which come for a small cost.
Pepperstone offers you a demo practice account free for use for 30 days. If you wish for longer than 30 days you can contact support and they will extend your demo account period.
With the demo account, you will get $50,000 in virtual funds. If you run out of funds, Pepperstone support can reset the fund back to $50,000.
Demo account are available for MetaTrader 4, MetaTrader 5 or cTrader.
Pepperstone offers a suite of 28 smart trading tools that give you a superior trading experience. These features are free for all traders using MetaTrader 4 or MetaTrader 5.
Best features include
This is cTraders algorithmic trading program. Formerly known as cAlgo is available as an add on the app, cTrader Automate is now integrated into cTrader itself.
If you are using cTrader this program will appeal to you as it allows you to build automated trading robots and custom indicators using c# language.
There is no cost to use cTrader Automate with Pepperstone however cTrader may have fees from their side.
One of the most advanced tools on the markets for identification of chart and Fibonacci patterns. Autochartist can identify opportunities as they occur with constant simultaneous monitoring across thousand of forex instruments.
Pepperstone does not implement cost to install and use Autochartist however Autochartist may charge you to use their service. You will need to be using MetaTrader.
With Pepperstone, you have one of the largest range of social trading tools to choose from among all online brokers.
MyFxbook is AutoTrade is a forex copy service that aims to help you find only the best quality forex traders. The product does this two main ways.
Myfxbook is available via a browser meaning no need for software downloads and provides in-depth analysis tools for accurate statistics and figures to help with your copying which can be automated or manual.
Your cost to use Myfxbook is incorporated into the spread and will depend on what account type you have.
One of the more popular platforms that combine social and copy trading. With ZuluTrade, you can use automation tools to copy the trades of other experienced and successful traders. Its social features include the ability to post feedback on other traders and share your ideas with the community.
With over one million users ZuluTrade has a large community base to draw from to help you trade successfully.
To use ZuluTrade you need to be using a Standard account and 1.5 pip will be added to the spread.
Developed by Tradency, this web-based tool provides a powerful social trading interface that allows users to take full advantage of the power of social trading.
Mirror Trader analysis trading strategies of uses in its community and breaks it down so other traders can evaluate which strategies they would like to follow via the interface.
Sophisticated filtering allows traders to see in high and low-level detail all information about the strategies of other traders. Filters include weighted scores, maximum drawdowns and number of trades. Traders can then choose to automate, semi-automated or manually copy these traders.
Pepperstone charges no fees from their end however Mirror Trader may charge fees from their side.
This is a copy trading service built into the MetaTrader trading platform. MetaTrader has a phenomenally large marketplace with thousands of free and paid signals. MetaTrader signals sort these signal providers to help you find the signal that suits your needs. Sorting options include trading results, growth and equity charts. You can then choose the signal you desire so you can execute real-time copying of your desired traders.
Pepperstone does not charge fees to use MetaTrader Signals however MetaTrader may charge fees to use their service.
DupliTrade allows you to access a strategy marketplace where you can automate your trading. The product taps into the expertise of traders who own proprietary signals. These features allow you to grow your trading knowledge and develop a better understanding of the techniques to the professional traders.
To use DupliTrade you will need to have a minimum $AUD5000 deposit in your account and to be using MetaTrader 4 (not 5). Your spreads will receive a 1.8 pip markup when you trade. Duplicate trade is available for both Standard and Razor accounts.
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