Pepperstone is a non-dealing desk forex broker with trading in 60 currency pairs using 4 trading platforms. Markets.com is a market maker also with MT4 and MT5 plus 50+ fx pairs. This Pepperstone vs IC Markets compares the brokers.
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Pepperstone and Markets.com are relatively contrasting brokers due to the way they execute your trades. Pepperstone is a no-dealing desk broker with STP execution meaning the liquidity providers they connect you with are your counterparty. Markets.com by contrast is is a market maker meaning they are the counterparty to your trades.
We compare Pepperstone vs Markets.com to help you choose between them.
Founded in 2010, Pepperstone is an Australian broker and has grown into one of the largest forex CFD brokers in the world. Their global presence includes regulation in 6 countries plus the EU. However, note that Pepperstone does not serve Canadian and US traders.
Markets.com was founded in 2009 and is now in three countries plus the EU. Over 4.3 million users are trading with Markets.com across the world.
When trading, the two main forms of brokerage that you should take note of are the spread cost and commission fees. While there are other fees like swap costs, spreads and commissions are two important costs to consider when trading.
Both brokers only offer variable or floating spreads not fixed.
A standard forex account is distinguished by the fact that there is no commission fee meaning you only need to pay spread costs. However, the spread cost will be a bit wider than on an STP account, as the spread includes the broker’s trading fees.
Our spread module below allows you to easily compare spreads across brokers.
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Standard Account Spreads
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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 |
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1.32 | 1.95 | 1.37 | 1.70 | 1.40 |
Avg. spreads are taken from each broker's website and updated monthly. Last update on 01/09/2023
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A trading account using a straight-through-processing (STP) sometimes incorrectly called ECN execution comes with spreads plus commission. This means spreads are tighter because they are sourced directly from the liquidity providers with no manipulation from the broker. Since there is no manipulation, spreads can be as low as 0.0 pips, meaning you don’t pay a spread cost.
Pepperstone’s Razor Account spread is an example of this, with spreads of 0.0 pips commonly available for major pairs. Typically though, spreads fall within the 0.1 – 0.3 pip range for pairs like the EUR/USD, as you can see in our STP-style spread module below.
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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 Markets.com ReviewVisit Markets.com
Commission fees on the Pepperstone Razor Account at AUD 7 or USD per standard lot (100k units) round-turn. In other currencies, you can expect to pay EUR 5.20, GBP 4.50, or CHF 6.60.
Markets.com does not have an STP-style account, which is why they do not feature in the spread module.
To initiate a trading position, it is necessary to fund your trading account with at least the mandatory minimum deposit. Pepperstone does not impose a minimum deposit requirement, but they recommend a deposit amount of $200 to ensure margin requirements are met during trading.
The funding methods at your disposal depend on the country you are trading from, and no funding fees are typically charged (except for international bank transfers, where fees may apply). Visa and MasterCard credit and debit cards are accessible for traders in all countries, excluding the UAE, where retail traders can only use debit cards for funding.
It is important to note that eWallets are not available for traders in the EU or the UAE, and only PayPal is accessible in the UK and Kenya. In regions outside these, traders can utilize various eWallets, including Skrill, Neteller, BPay, POLi, and Union Pay.
The minimum deposit requirement for Markets.com is $100 in AUD or USD. If you deposit at least $2,500 then Markets.com will reimburse you should you have any external transaction fees.
Markets.com allows deposits via credit cards or eWallets (Neteller, Skrill, PayPal and in Europe Sofort and iDeal).
Pepperstone is our winner for both CFD trading account types. You can expect to pay lower spreads with Pepperstone on the Standard account, and Pepperstone wins by default on the STP-style account, as this is not available on Markets.com.
View Pepperstone ReviewVisit Pepperstone
Below shows the head-to-head Pepperstone and Markets regulated status. It shows that in common both brokers are regulated by the following tier-1 regulatory bodies; ASIC, FCA, CySEC. Pepperstone though has the edge with another ‘tier 1’ regulator (BaFin in Germany) as well as the Tier 2 regulatory body in UAE (DFSA). The regulator bodies after that are ‘tier 3’ and have little weighing on our trust critera.
Pepperstone is the clear winner when it comes to regulation and trust. We gave Pepperstone a trust score of 77 vs 69 for Markets.com. It’s worth noting that Pepperstone’s increase in popularity and higher review scores also led to Pepperstone being named the most trusted broker of the two.
You get a wide variety of platform offerings with Pepperstone, however, Markets.com only has three different platforms available.
The platforms offered by Pepperstone are MetaTrader 4 and MetaTrader 5 (MT4/MT5), Capitalise.ai, TradingView, and cTrader.
The two MetaTrader platforms are the most popular platforms used by traders across the world. Their longevity and ease of use make them great choices by themselves, but the availability of Expert Advisors (EAs), automated functions that you can implement when trading, makes them an even better option.
Capitalise.ai and TradingView are platforms designed with one very specific use in mind. Capitalise.ai is a code-free algorithmic trading platform, making algo trading much more friendly to beginners. TradingView is one of the best chart-trading platforms available, with all the charts and indicators that you might need to chart-trade effectively. You can even create custom tools on TradingView.
cTrader is a more advanced platform, making it better for experienced traders looking to take their trading to the next level. Their three ‘Depth of Market’ options allow them to provide you with higher liquidity and therefore faster execution. The platform is also highly customisable, so you can modify it to include the features you need when trading.
Markets.com makes both MetaTrader platforms available for you to trade with, alongside their proprietary trading platform. This proprietary trading platform comes with unique sentimental tools so you can see what others in the market are thinking. It also has some useful technical and fundamentals tools.
Pepperstone has a lot of trading tools available, mostly centred around social trading. These include MetaTrader Signals, which gives you trading ideas, to Myfxbook, DupliTrade, and Pelican Trader, which are copy-trading tools. Note that Pelican Trader is only available in the UK, while DupliTrade is available outside of the UK.
Unfortunately, Markets.com has no extra trading tools available for you to use when trading.
Pepperstone is an easy winner for both trading platforms and tools. You can get a wider variety of platforms on Pepperstone to suit your trading needs, on top of access to a wide range of copy trading tools (which Markets.com does not offer at all).
A contract-for-difference (CFD) allows you to easily trade on the price of assets. Common examples of CFDs are forex, shares/indices or ETFs, commodities, and crypto.
Pepperstone provides you with 62 different currency pairs, and over 1,000 share CFDs. The broker also has a good crypto selection including 3 crypto indices – Crypto10, Crypto20 and Crypto30 and 3 Currency Indices.
Pepperstone offers the maximum allowable leverage in each region. In Australia, the UK, Europe and the UAE this means up to 30:1 for major fx pairs and 20:1 for minor fx pairs for retail traders. This can be extended to 500:1 if you qualify as a pro trader. Leverage is capped at 400:1 in Kenya, and 200:1 outside Australia, the UK, and the EU.
Meanwhile, you can trade 52 forex pairs on Markets.com, with 2005 shares, and 22 indices. available for you to trade, but they have many more share CFDs, at 12,000+.
Leverage is similar to Pepperstone, with retail traders at a maximum of 30:1 leverage, but pro traders only get up to 294:1 leverage.
Overall, Pepperstone has a stronger range of products, as you can observe in the comparative image we have above. You also get more leverage as a pro trader to trade more CFDs.
We use TrustPilot reviews to assess user feedback on brokers.
Markets.com received an ‘Excellent’ score of 4.7/5 stars. Users were particularly pleased with the professionalism of the service received.
While Pepperstone received the same score, 4.7 stars, we note that Pepperstone’s score accumulated over 1.7 thousand users, just under 2.5 times the number of reviews Markets.com got.
As a result, the consistently excellent user reviews Pepperstone receive give them the win on user reviews.
Between Pepperstone and Markets.com, our winner in this VS comparison is Pepperstone. Winning every single category makes this final decision very easy, but just as a reminder, Pepperstone is cheaper to trade with and has more offerings for products, platforms, and tools.
