IC Markets Review 2023

IC Markets is a reputed Raw spread forex broker that also accepts traders from South Africa. They have account with spreads from 0 pips & moderate commission of $7 per lot. But are they good?

IC Markets is a reputed global forex broker & one of the largest forex & CFD broker in terms of daily trading volume.

IC Markets are quite known for their simple Metatrader based low spread trading accounts. Their trading conditions are good overall, with multiple CFD trading instruments & high number of forex pairs.

Their support too is good. We tested their platform, fees, support, ease of deposit & withdrawals, and many other factors for this review.

Here is a quick review of IC Market’s pros & cons.

IC Markets – a quick look

Regulation and safety of funds

We consider IC Markets to be a safe broker for traders in South Africa. They are regulated with FSCA, and also with multiple regulators & are a well known forex broker.

Here is a breakdown of their important regulations:

1. Australian Securities and Investments (ASIC): IC Markets is regulated with ASIC under ACN number 123 289 109 as INTERNATIONAL CAPITAL MARKETS PTY. LTD.since 02-Jan-2007.



2. Cyprus Securities and Exchange Commission (CySEC): IC Markets (EU) Ltd is regulated with the Cyprus Securities and Exchange Commission (CySEC) under the CIF Licence No 362/18.



3. Financial Services Authority (FSA): IC Markets is regulated as Raw Trading Ltd with the Financial Services Authority of Seychelles with a securities dealer Licence number: SD018
4. FSCA: International Capital Markets Pty Ltd. is regulated with FSCA under FSP No. 50715. Their Australian company is authorized.

Overall, IC Markets is a low risk forex broker as they are regulated under multiple regulations.

IC Markets Fees and Spread

The fees structure & spread at IC Markets is quite straightforward & low overall compared to other forex brokers. Their spread is variable depending on the account type & CFD instrument that you are trading.

Here is what we noticed regarding their fees.

1. Variable 0.1 Spread with Raw Account: IC Markets offer variable spreads start from 0.1 on Raw spread trading account. We checked this benchmark for EUR/USD currency pair.



2. Trading Commission(s): On MT4 platform, IC Market’s commission charges are $3.5 per side per standard lot traded, whereas on their cTrader platform, $3 is charged per USD 100,000 traded each side including the execution price.

   Their Commission per lot with MT4 platform is higher than some other ECN type brokers like Tickmill & FXTM, but comparable to HotForex.

3. No Inactivity Fees: IC Markets does not charge any fee for the freeze account. But the inoperative account become freeze account after 4 months of inactivity. You may have to contact their support in that case.
4. Swap Charges: There are swap charges or overnight charges while trading with IC markets. The charges are different for Long and Short order. Their Swap charges are moderate & they also have a calculator on their website which you can use to calculate the exact Swap fees for each instrument.

Overall, the trading & non-trading fees at IC Markets are moderately low compared to other brokers during our tests. They have Raw spread account which has low spreads & moderate commission per lot.

The spreads with their Standard Accounts are low & there is no extra commission with that account type.

IC Markets Account Types

Like all other brokers, IC Markets to offer demo account & Standard accounts.

IC Markets Demo Account

They offer Free demo account, and South Africa traders can easily sign up on their website for opening this account within few minutes.

Note: While IC Markets demo accounts reflect as accurately as possible the conditions of the real account. But it will never be possible to guarantee they will be identical to Real account market conditions.

The demo accounts are good for familiarizing yourself with the functions of their platform only. They should not be compared to Live market conditions.

IC Markets Live Trading Accounts

1. Raw Acount: IC markets’s raw account is best for short time traders. The charges in raw accunt is good for trading with large value. The spread offer in raw account is as low as 0 pips for EUR/USD currrncy pairs. But they apply commision of $3.50 USD on per traded lot.
2. cTrader Account: This cTrader account comes with the flat commission of $3.50 USD on traded lot. IC markets offer extremely tight spread of 0 pips in cTrader account. cTrader account is just a newer platform with more modern design and functions there is not a big difference.
3. Standard Account: Standard account comes with spread starting from 0.1 pips and leverage of 500:1. The minimum deposit require for this account is $200. They do not charge a commission on Standard accounts but instead, there is a mark up on the spread by 1 pips above the Inter-bank rate received from their liquidity providers.

How to Open Account with IC Markets

It is very easy to open account with IC Markets. You simple need to follow the below steps to open account with them.

Step 1) Click on Client Login: First of all at home page of IC Markets, you need to click on Client Login button which is showing at the top right side of the screen.

Step 2) Open a Real Account: Now you will be redirected to a page where you need to select Demo or Live account. To open account with them for trading you need to click on Open a Real Account button.

Step 3) Fill in your personal details: In this page you need to fill your all personal details like name, email, phone number and then click NEXT button.

Step 4) Tell us more about yourself: At this page you need to provide more information about you like your date of birth, address, state, city, etc.

Step 5) Trading Account Configuration: Now you need to select the account type, base currency and trading platform before proceeding to next step.

Step 6) Upload Documents: This step is very important to verify your account with them. You need to upload your documents like Valid Passport, Valid Government ID, such as a Drivers Licence or State ID, Valid National Identity Card. And the details in your documents should match with your details used while signup.

Step 7) FUND MY ACCOUNT NOW: At last you need to add funds to your account using your preferred method to start trading with them.

Congratulations! Account setup process has been completed. You can now check your email for confirmation email and the details of your account that required to start trading.

IC Markets Trading Platforms

IC Markets offer Metatrader & cTrader platforms depending on your account type. You can choose this during account opening.

1. MetaTrader 4 And MetaTrader 5: Traders can download the both versions of MetaTrader from their website for windows, iOS and Android devices. There are more then 35 trading indicators in their MT5 and MT4 version trading platforms. MT4 and MT5 are the same the only difference they have is that MT5 can have stock CFDs as well.



2. cTrader: cTrader is a platform that was specially designed for trader who are using mobile. There are some advanced trading features in cTrader like integration with social trading platforms, more trading tools and for clients that trade high volume. But overall it depends on your familiarity & convenience. We like MT4 over their cTrader platform.

IC Markets Deposit & Withdrawal Methods

Funding & Withdrawals ate IC Markers are quite easy & fairly fast. IC Markets have a minimum deposit requirement of $200.

Deposit Methods

1. Debit/Credit Cards: There are no charges on depositing payment using your debit or credit card link VISA, MASTER card etc. Payment will be processed instantly.
2. E-Wallets: You can also use Neteller, Skrill, Paypal e-wallets for funding your account. There is instant action in case of e-wallets with no hidden charges.
3. Wire Transfer: IC Markets do not offer any local bank account for deposits in South African banks. But SA based traders can also transfer from their bank by making a wire transfer to IC Markets’s account. The processing time for this type of payment is 2-5 business days.

Withdrawal Methods

1. Debit/Credit Cards: IC Markets does apply any charges on withdrawal in the same card that you have made once on their website. Withdrawals may take 3-5 business days to credited to your card.
2. E-Wallets: You can send your E-Wallets details to them to receive withdrawal in your E-Wallets. The processing time for withdrawal is instant without any charges.
3. Wire Transfer: Traders can also transfer from their bank by making a wire transfer to IC Markets’s account. The processing time for this kind of payment is 2-5 business days. Moreover a processing fee of 20 AUD or currency equivalent is charged by our banking institution. Processing may take up to 14 days.

IC Markets Bonus

IC Markets does not offer bonuses or such promotions to their clients.

We asked their support regarding bonus & this was their response “As a fully regulated Forex CFD provider, we believe that those are not best practices for new clients.” And we agree with it.

IC Markets Customer Support

IC Markets offers support via 3 channels. We tested their support & here is what we experienced.

1. Fair Chat Support: Chat support is available on their website. We tested their chat and notice a little hod period in connecting with executive. After we were connected, their support was friendly & quite helpful in answering our queries.



2. Good Email Support: Traders can also contact them at their email [email protected] from your registered email. We got their response in under 1 hour during our tests. Their responses were helpful for our queries.
3. No Local Phone Number: There is no local phone number for South African clients. But you can call them anytime on their international call number +61 (0)2 8014 4280.

Do we recommend IC Markets?

Yes. if you are looking for a reputed broker that offers Raw spread accounts & doesn’t charge for withdrawals.

IC Markets is regulated with ASIC, which is a reputed regulator. The broker also has authorized FSP no. They have very low spread with their trading accounts. Their execution policy & speed is quite good too, and we did not experience any issues with their platform.

Their Customer support is responsive & knowledgeable. Overall, we do recommend IC Markets if you are looking for a low cost ECN Type broker. You should choose their Raw Spread account for spreads from 0 pips & moderate commission per lot.

IC Markets South Africa FAQs

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