IC Markets Review: True ECN or Typical CFD
IC Markets is an Australian Forex broker with more than 13 years of experience and claims it has an impeccable reputation among the investors.
It’s easy to say that you are the best.
Now you can find a lot of Forex brokers promising you will be the rich person if you trade with them.
But in 90% of cases after such promises, the client will lose his money.
Safetrading is here to help you to find a good broker to trade. And today, in this IC Markets review, we will go through IC Markets, IC Markets leverage, IC Markets US and users’ reviews.
Let’s go!
What is IC Markets?
IC Markets was opened in 2007 in Australia by a team of professional traders. This broker is regulated by CySEC (IC Markets (EU)) and FSA.
Their goal is to make a profit effectively and to reach this goal they use a technology True ECN which means all the deals are opened with minimal fees.
(Of course, the fees are minimal, because it is the CFD broker).
This broker is owned by International Capital Markets Pty Ltd.
Okay, this broker is registered in… Seychelles. That is why you need to understand that in the case of any issue (especially when you lose a big amount of money) you need to fly to Seychelles to sue.
We advise you to go to the website of the Central Bank in your country and check if the broker is registered in YOUR country, and it’s not only about IC Markets.
About IC Markets US clients - IC Markets US does not accept applications from residents of the US, Canada, Israel, and the Islamic Republic of Iran.
Terms & Conditions
The first thing you need to do when you see the abbreviation “CFD” is to go through the Terms & Conditions.
Usually, when the broker really says he is CFD, he needs to mention that:
The client (you) don’t own any asset.
Here, I can’t see this phrase.
They write they are ECN but in reality, they are not.
Then.
“The average order execution time between the trade being received, processed, and confirmed as executed by us is 36,5 milliseconds.
Of course, they are fast! Because IC Markets don’t open the real deals.
IC Market Reviews
Today, in IC Markets review, we are not going to discuss the broker’s features because you can find them everywhere!
Let’s go through the clients’ reviews and discuss them.
Review 1
As you can see, the best thing the client can mention is support. And it is true! When the main goal of the broker is to convince the client to stay with them and to invest more and more, they need to have good support!
Review 2
Okay, the first red flag - problems with withdrawals when the client is in profit. Understandable. They just don’t want the client to withdraw.
Review 3
The same as we had above - IC Markets withdrawal issue.
Remember, that is the case you need to withdraw $100,000, for example, and you have problems with this for a long time living in, for example, Germany, you can solve the problem only in Seychelles.
Review 4
And again the same IC Markets withdrawal review.
As I see, the reviews are mostly about losing the money and problems with withdrawals.
And now it’s time to go through their website - what do they promise?
Website
I see the phrase “the best spreads” and “lower spreads” everywhere. Actually, it is true, because there are no IC Markets spreads.
Example
You bought 1 BTC for $7,000.
Then you see that it is $7,400 now and you want to sell it.
Then, you get your $400 additionally and the broker gets nothing.
But, let’s imagine this your BTC is $6,500 now and it’s time to sell it. Then you give the broker $500.
Here it’s not about commissions.
And usually traders use IC Markets leverage, that is why your loss can be more than just $500.
By the way, the maximum IC Markets leverage is 1:500 and the minimal deposit is $200 in every type of account.
And I can’t say it is not reliable - it is just a type of business.
When the CFD broker gives the opportunity to withdraw all the profits, it’s okay.
But here, with IC Markets, we see that they have some problems in this area.
Education
The best thing I like in all the brokers is free education for beginners, ha-ha.
So you can visit the website and go through the education material.
IC Markets offer you the following opportunities:
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Getting Started - here you can find the education for completely inexperienced traders who want to know Forex;
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Advantages of Forex;
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Advantages of CFD;
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Video Tutorials - here you can find the videos for traders of all levels for Forex trading.
Final Thoughts
Today in this IC Markets review we discussed its regulations, users' reviews, type of this broker, education, and IC Markets US.
This broker offers different instruments to trade - Forex CFD, Indices CFD, Commodities CFD, Stocks CFD, Bonds CFD, Crypto CFD, and Futures CFD.
Remember that CFD is not illegal but you need to be aware of this process and carefully read all the agreements!
There are a lot of complaints from users about withdrawal problems.
The thing I really don’t like is that the information that clients don’t own their assets is hidden somewhere and that they have A LOT of problems with withdrawals.
I think after this review you may need to go through other brokers, and we have
eToro or
Pepperstone review for you.
Trade with approved services!