Our Pepperstone vs Tickmill review found the forex brokers have 60 forex pairs (e.g. EUR/USD). Pepperstone has 16 indices, 6 cryptos, 22 metals and commodities and Shares. Tickmill has 14 indices, gold, silver and oil but no shares or crypto.
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Pepperstone offers two main account types designed for forex and CFD trading. A no-commission Standard Account and an ECN-style Razor Account. Both account types offer ultra-fast order execution and low spreads thanks to Pepperstone’s straight-through processing (STP) and no dealing desk (NDD) execution.
Both Standard and Razor Accounts are available as a live account or a risk-free demo account. Although Pepperstone recommends a minimum deposit of $200 for both account types, no initial minimum deposit is enforced by the broker.
With tight, commission-free spreads starting from 1.0 pip, Pepperstone’s Standard Account is ideal for beginner traders wanting a simple pricing structure. While spreads are higher than the broker’s Razor Account, you do not need to perform complex fee calculations to work out commission costs, making it a great option if you are new to trading forex and CFDs.
The Razor Account is the broker’s ECN-like account type, designed for experienced traders, scalpers, day traders and automated trading strategies. As Razor spreads are as low as 0.0 pips for major currency pairs (i.e. EUR/USD), you pay a competitive commission fee of $3.50 per side, per 100k traded. Due to the account types low fees and overall trading costs, the Razor Account is the most popular choice at Pepperstone.
Tickmill offers you the choice of three account types: The Pro Account, Classic Account, and VIP Account. These accounts are accessible as demo accounts but the VIP trading conditions are only available via a live trading account.
All accounts have swap-free Islamic account options
If you are with either Pepperstone UK or Tickmill UK which have FCA or BaFIN regulation and you meet two of the following criteria, then you can qualify for a professional account. With this account, clients can access higher leverage of 1:500. Tickmill clients will be able to maintain negative balance protection but professional Pepperstone clients will no longer have this.
Both online brokers offer no-commission and ECN-like account types with competitive spreads and trading costs. Yet, Pepperstone’s Razor and Standard Accounts offer lower average spreads on a wider range of currency pairs than Tickmill. For instance, Pepperstone’s Standard Account provides minimum spreads of 1.6 pips commission-free, while Pepperstone offers 1.0 pips with no commission fees.
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Both Pepperstone and Tickmill offer competitive spreads for their commission-based accounts. To achieve pricing similar to ECN spreads, both brokers use top-tier liquidity providers and use no dealing desk execution. The table below measures the averages spreads offered by Tickmill and Pepperstone compared to other top forex brokers.
When average spreads for major currency pairs are compared, Pepperstone offers the lowest spreads for most fx pairs. For example, if you want to trade the EUR/JPY, Pepperstone’s Razor Account provides average spreads of 0.34 pips, while Tickmill and broker’s such as XTB and FXTM offers 0.50 pips.
Likewise, for the EUR/GBP, Pepperstone Razor Account holders can access average spreads of 0.35 pips, while Tickmill Pro and VIP accounts are offered wider average spreads of 0.4 pips.
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ECN-Style Commission Spreads
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|---|---|---|---|---|---|
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0.12 | 0.22 | 0.40 | 0.43 | 0.50 |
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0.10 | 0.10 | 0.40 | 0.50 | 0.20 |
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0.30 | 0.50 | 0.50 | 0.50 | 0.60 |
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0.44 | 1.23 | 1.13 | 1.23 | 1.41 |
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n/a | 0.50 | 0.60 | 0.40 | 0.30 |
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0.50 | 0.70 | 0.60 | 0.80 | 0.80 |
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0.20 | 0.40 | 0.50 | 0.70 | 0.70 |
Avg. spreads are taken from each broker's website and updated monthly. Last update on 01/09/2023
Pepperstone’s Standard Account and Tickmill’s Classic Account both offer commission-free trading. Overall, Pepperstone’s Standard spreads are significantly tighter than Tickmill’s. While Tickmill offers no-commission spreads starting from 1.6 pips, Pepperstone’s minimum spreads of 1.0 pip are much lower, resulting in lower overall trading costs.
When Pepperstone and Tickmill’s average spreads are compared, Pepperstone offers the lowest spreads overall. Both Pepperstone’s Standard and Razor Account holders gain access to average spreads significantly lower than Tickmill’s Classic, Pro and VIP spreads. Therefore, Pepperstone is the lowest cost broker overall.
Leverage is a tool used in trading that allows you to borrow money to trade with. The purpose of this is to accentuate the trade position on relatively small price movements. By borrowing capital from the broker, you can magnify the trading position and increase the potential profit or loss of the trade.
For example, if you have $1,000 in your account and trade with 1:100 leverage, you can trade up to $100,000 worth of funds. When trading with leverage, as you are magnifying both gains and losses, as well as increasing the high risk of forex and CFDs.
Maximum leverage limits vary between the country and its financial regulator. Many brokers are regulated by multiple financial authorities around the world, and the maximum leverage you can trade with depends on the subsidiary you sign up to.
Tier-1 regulators in the UK, Australia and throughout Europe cap leverage due to the high-risk nature of CFD trading, yet if you want high leverage, both brokers operate offshore entities. Below shows the leverage limits available in different locations.
Pepperstone:
Tickmill:
Both Pepperstone and Tickmill offer the maximum allowable leverage for each location. However, since Pepperstone operates more subsidiaries than Tickmill, there is a greater variety of leverage on offer. As leverage increases the high risk of trading forex and CFDs, traders should be cautious of how leverage magnifies both gains and losses.
Pepperstone operates different subsidiaries around the world:
Given the high level of regulation, the forex community considers Pepperstone a safe and trusted CFD broker.
Tickmill operates in five different locations around the globe:
Pepperstone and Tickmill are both regulated in several countries and are safe to trade with. Pepperstone have higher tier regulation, but either broker would be a safe and suitable choice.
Pepperstone offers three trading platforms being MetaTrader 4, MetaTrader 5, and cTrader, while Tickmill traders are restricted to MetaTrader 4. Both brokers use VPS hosting for these platforms.
MT4 is one of the most popular platforms worldwide, known for its algorithmic trading tools (Expert Advisors) that allow you to fully automate trading.
Both Tickmill and Pepperstone offer the above MT4 features, yet Pepperstone goes one step further and offers an add-on package of Smart Trader Tools. The broker’s Smart Trader Tools are available on both MT4 and MT5 and provide an additional 28 Expert Advisors and technical indicators.
MT5 offers many similar features to MT4 in regards to automated trading, advanced charting, and a user-friendly workstation. Yet, unlike MetaTrader 4, MT5 is a multi-asset trading platform where you can trade Share CFDs in addition to currencies, commodities, indices and cryptocurrencies. Key features of MT5 include:
Pepperstone offers MT5, while Tickmill only offers MT4.
| MetaTrader 4 | MetaTrader 5 | |
|---|---|---|
| Technical Indicators | 30 | 38 |
| Analytical/graphical indicators | 33 | 46 |
| Timeframes | 9 | 21 |
| Pending Order Types | 4 | 6 |
| Order Execution Types | 3 | 4 |
| Order Fill Policy | Full | Full or Partial |
| Instrument Categories Available | 5 | 6 |
| Speed / Technical Specs | Fastest | Fast |
| Social Trading Choices | 6 | 1 |
cTrader provides access to algorithmic trading systems, a personalised interface, and extensive back-testing facilities. The trading platform offers enhanced modification options and advanced order placement, providing you with an institutional-grade trading environment.
The software is available as trading apps for mobile and tablet devices, a webtrader platform, or a desktop trading platform. Currently, only Pepperstone offers the cTrader trading platform.
As Pepperstone offers a greater selection of trading platform options, they win this round. As a Pepperstone client, you can choose between the world’s three most popular trading platforms – MetaTrader 4, MetaTrader 5 and cTrader, while Tickmill only provides access to one trading platform – MetaTrader 4. Additionally, Pepperstone offers an add-on package of 28 EAs and technical indicators, greatly enhancing your MT4 and MT5 trading experience.
Pepperstone offers a range of tradeable instruments from various asset classes. As well as forex, you can trade a diverse collection of CFDs derived from indices, commodities, cryptocurrencies and shares. As MT4 and cTrader are forex trading platforms and MT5 a multi-asset platform, share trading is only available on MT5.
Forex is the most popular financial markets to trade as CFDs due to the volatile price movements and 24/5 availability. When trading forex with Pepperstone, you have over 60 different currency pairs that you can use to develop trading strategies. Spreads on major forex pairs such as the EUR/USD can be as low as 0.0 pips through the brokers’ Razor Account, with minor and exotic currency pairs also offering tight spreads.
As well as 60+ currency pairs, you can trade the following CFD financial instruments as a Pepperstone trader:
*Note: Under new FCA guidelines, UK retail traders are no longer permitted to trade cryptocurrencies.
Over 60 forex currency pairs are available through Tickmill including all the popular major, minor, and exotic pairs. You can trade currency pairs that include the USD, EUR, and GBP from spreads of 0.0 pips and a trade execution speed of 0.20 seconds.
Tickmill also offers an extensive range of tradeable instruments in addition to forex including stock indices, oil, precious metals, and bonds. Unfortunately, Tickmill does not currently provide access to cryptocurrencies.
Pepperstone has a more diverse range of CFDs to trade than Tickmill and therefore has a better selection of complex instruments. A major benefit Pepperstone offers compared to Tickmill is the selection of Cryptos available.
Trading forex and CFDs comes with a high risk of losing money due to volatile financial markets and the ability to trade with high leverage. It is important to be aware of the risk management strategies that brokers offer to protect yourself against large losses.
Pepperstone offers a selection of free basic order types that can be used to manage the high risk of trading forex and CFDs. If you live in the United Kingdom or Ireland and are trading with the broker’s FCA regulated branch Pepperstone provides negative balance protection that further reduces the risk of trading.
You can pre-set prices at where you want to enter or leave the market to cap losses and collect gains.
A downside to Pepperstone’s risk management tools is that premium order types such as guaranteed stop-loss orders (GSLO) are not available. The broker’s free basic order types do not guarantee exit and entry prices, and slippage and gapping may occur if financial markets are extremely volatile.
Similarly to Pepperstone, Tickmill offers three main basic stop orders – stop-loss, take profit and trailing stop orders. While the broker does not offer any premium order types like GSLO’s, Tickmill provides negative balance protection to all clients, regardless of where you reside.
Negative balance protection (NBP) is a risk management policy that ensures your trading account does not enter a negative balance. NBP means if your balance drops below zero, the Tickmill will wipe your negative balance and you will not end up in debt to the broker.
Tickmill offers Negative Balance Protection to all clients regardless of which Tickmill subsidiary you are a client with or if you are a professional trader. This differs from Pepperstone who only offer it to the UK and European retail traders.
Tickmill also provides a wide library of resources to help improve your trading skills. By providing this, Tickmill ensures that clients are well-prepared and knowledgeable before testing their skills with a trading account.
Both broker’s offer the same basic order types, yet Tickmill provides negative balance protection to all traders, while only UK Pepperstone clients receive NBP.
Pepperstone provides a comprehensive range of options for deposits and withdrawals. The broker also charges no transaction fees and no account inactivity fees.
Tickmill also provides several options to deposit into or withdraw from your account. Tickmill covers any transaction fees up to $100 and the broker charges zero fees for any minimum deposit made by bank transfer over $5,000. In certain circumstances, Tickmill will charge an account inactivity fee.
As Pepperstone requires no specific initial minimum deposit and charges no funding fees, the broker is the clear winner when it comes to funding your trading account.
Pepperstone provides customer support 24-hours a day, 5 days a week via phone, live chat, and email.
The broker has a global presence throughout the world with head office in Melbourne and other offices in Shanghai, Dallas, Bangkok, and London. With years of experience in the financial services industry, Pepperstone holds many awards for benchmark customer service and support.
Tickmill phone support operates between 7:00 and 16:00 GMT Monday to Friday. Contact methods such as email and live chat are available and respond within 24 hours on business days. One good thing about the live chat accounts is the range of languages available. While you can choose from 18 different languages, these languages include European and Asian languages, not all languages are available at all times. English for example appears to be only available during UK business hours.
Both Pepperstone and Tickmill have a wide variety of educational and research resources to help you improve your knowledge and skills. These resources include webinars, seminars, eBooks, video tutorials, advanced analytics, economic calendars, news, glossaries, FAQ and live updates. F
While both providing phone, email, live chat, and an array of useful resources, Pepperstone is slightly more reliable for contact and has received many awards for its high-quality customer service.
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Pepperstone and Tickmill are both safe forex brokers providing a range of benefits for trading forex and CFDs. Pepperstone provides a wider range of CFDs with more trading platform options with MetaTrader 4, MetaTrader 5, plus cTrader.
Most importantly, Pepperstone provides ultra-tight spreads via the broker’s Razor Account. While Tickmill provides a good service for beginner traders, Pepperstone offers more variety and flexibility for trading forex and CFDs.
Account Types
Spreads
Leverage
Regulation
Trading Platforms
Forex Pairs + CFDs
Minimum Deposit
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