Last update: 22 July 2020
5 min read
Non-recommended broker
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CMC Markets review

22 July 2020

This broker was not featured in our 2024 Broker Review Audit. This is because, in the past 12 months, it has failed to pass our initial screening process and is not recommended by our team of experts. As such some of the information found here may be out of date.

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CMC Markets is a multiple-award winning broker that has spent more than 25 years in the financial industry by setting up an FX brokerage as early as 1989. The company moved into the Forex markets as a full-fledged retail dealer in 1996, which was aided by the influence of internet and computers into the general trading consciousness. CMC Markets can be attributed as one of the pioneers in developing a dedicated retail Forex trading platform that provided market access to retail traders for the very first time in the history of the global financial markets.
Gradually, CMC Markets worked on enhancing its presence in other financial markets, and by 2007, the company was able to provide access to a staggering number of more than 10,000 financial products in their services portfolio. CMC Markets covers a huge variety of assets that include the full basket of currency pairs, commodities, shares, indices, bonds, and other ETFs. The broker also offers CFD trading, spread betting, and binary options trading as part of their brokerage services, which makes CMC Markets the only FX broker you will ever need for trading the markets.

cmcmarkets

Bonus

No

Regulation

FCA, ASIC

Mobile

Yes

Instruments

Forex, treasuries, commodities, indices

Website

www.cmcmarkets.com
Not Verified

The Origins Of The Company & CMC Markets Regulation

CMC Markets began its operations in the UK as a one-man FX dealer in 1989. Over the next seven years, the broker slowly built up its reputation to finally launch the world’s first retail online trading platform for Forex trading in 1996, which totally changed the company’s fortunes by establishing itself as a market leader in FX dealing services. Over the next decade, the company started incorporating several financial products under its portfolio and had established a strong presence in over 12 different countries around the world. The broker has set up its branch offices in several parts of Asia and Europe; however, the company had ceased its US operations in 2008 after the severe crackdown on brokers by CFTC and NFA. Therefore, CMC Markets no longer accepts any US traders.
cmcmarkets homeFCA is the primary regulatory agency that takes care of CMC Markets regulation. The broker makes it a priority to satisfy all regulatory guidelines to meet and even exceed their clients’ expectations when it comes to trust and security of customer funds. FCA imposes several guidelines that require monthly auditing, insurance under the FSCS scheme and keeping client funds in a segregated account.
CMC Markets has also incorporated an office in Sydney, Australia, which requires the broker to be a member firm of the ASIC. ASIC regulated brokers are also obliged to follow some major regulatory guidelines to be able to enjoy a regulated status in Australia, which further requires the broker to adhere to fair trading policies for a secure trading environment.

More Than 20 Years Of CMC Markets Platform Evolution

CMC deserves the credit for being the first broker to design a proprietary Forex trading platform way back in 1996, and their latest iteration was launched in 2010, named simply as the Next Generation platform. The CMC Markets trading platform was designed taking into consideration the different financial products that the broker offers and contains a highly feature-rich interface where traders can perform a wide variety of tasks without every worrying about any technical troubles. The highly intuitive platform is available for desktop as well as for CMC Markets mobile trading, and the broker only offers the Next Generation platform for all of their account holders. The lack of an MT4 platform might deter die-hard fans of the MT4, but the CMC Markets platform does offer advanced charting capabilities and live news feeds that can convert even the most avid MT4 users.
cmcmarkets platformsThe broker does not impose a minimum deposit limit, unlike other Forex brokers, as the smallest trade size starts from $1. However, the company recommends making at least $200 in deposits before tackling the markets. The maximum CMC Markets leverage is also on the higher side, with traders enjoying a whopping 1:500 leverage on currencies and a maximum of 1:200 on other instruments. Deposit and withdrawal options are limited to bank transfers and credit card payments, which is a severe drawback for traders who wish to fund their accounts using other payment options such as online payment processors.
CMC Markets spreads are highly competitive, and the spreads are one of the main reasons why large institutional traders choose CMC Markets as their preferred platform. Current spreads for majors are available from 0.7 pips on the STP account, which is what some brokers offer for their ECN accounts. Shares, Indices, and other ETFs also have a small commission starting from 0.10%, which is way less than other competing broker costs.
The broker also supports binary options trading and spread betting, and both forms of investments are available for the entire list of financial assets that are currently offered by the company. The great advantage of choosing CMC Markets is that traders can access all types of trading products through a single interface, either through the desktop platform or by using the dedicated CMC Markets mobile apps available for smartphones and tablets.

Trading Experience After Opening A CMC Markets Account

CMC Markets is a market maker model and offers trading products such as binary options trading and spread betting, which are essentially investment strategies that involve betting against the broker. Therefore, there are conflicts of interests between the broker and the client. CMC Markets is regulated by the FCA, which forces them to avoid indulging in any trading activities that are directly against the core principles of fair and honest brokerage services.
CMC Markets has employed a highly professional team of experts for tending to customer complaints and does everything in their power to ensure that traders are treated with respect and integrity. CMC Markets has the distinction of being one of the oldest Forex brokers, and their continued success in the market should be a testimony to their overall reliability and effectiveness in the global financial markets.
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