IC Markets Review 2026

IC Markets offers two account types with different cost structures. The Raw Spread account has the tightest spreads in our test group but charges a per-lot commission. The Standard account is commission-free but has noticeably wider spreads. For any trader placing more than a handful of trades per month, the Raw account is almost always the lower all-in cost option.

One important distinction that many reviews miss: IC Markets charges different commission rates depending on which platform you use. MT4 and MT5 accounts cost A$3.50 per side per lot. cTrader Raw accounts cost A$3.00 per side — the same as Pepperstone’s cTrader. If you’re choosing between MT4 and cTrader at IC Markets purely on cost, cTrader is A$1.00 cheaper per round-turn.

On 12 February 2026 (US CPI release day), we placed EUR/USD market orders at IC Markets within 2 minutes of the data release. The cTrader feed showed the spread widen to 3.4 pips momentarily before returning to normal within 90 seconds. This is standard ECN behaviour during high-impact events — the raw liquidity pool thins out and the spread widens briefly. It is not a problem with IC Markets specifically; all ECN brokers do this.

If you regularly trade around major news releases, set wider stop-losses than you would during normal market conditions, and expect spreads to temporarily widen to 3–5 pips on major pairs during the 30–60 seconds after a high-impact data release. This applies at IC Markets, Pepperstone and FP Markets equally.

IC Markets offers three platforms — MT4, MT5 and cTrader. Unlike Pepperstone and FP Markets, there is no TradingView integration as of April 2026. The absence of TradingView is IC Markets’ most notable platform gap: TradingView has become the most widely used charting tool among retail traders globally, and both major competitors now support live order execution directly from TradingView charts.

IC Markets’ MT4 implementation is one of the most EA-friendly in Australia. Servers run on Equinix NY4 (New York) and LD4 (London) infrastructure, with the 34ms average execution we recorded being the fastest MT4 result in our Q1 2026 test group. Scalping and automated trading are explicitly permitted — IC Markets does not restrict EA strategies, even those placing multiple orders per second.

IC Markets also offers free VPS hosting for accounts generating 20+ standard lots per month — a concrete benefit that neither Pepperstone nor FP Markets matches. For algo traders who need 24/7 server uptime, this removes a meaningful ongoing cost.

MT5 at IC Markets adds 21 timeframes (versus 9 in MT4), additional order types, and — critically — access to share CFDs that are not available on MT4. If you want to trade individual company share CFDs alongside forex, MT5 is the account to choose. The important caveat: MT4 EAs are not compatible with MT5. If you have existing MT4 strategies, you stay on MT4.

cTrader is our preferred platform at IC Markets for three reasons: the spread is tighter (0.08 pip vs 0.10 pip EUR/USD average), the commission is lower (A$3.00/side vs A$3.50/side on MT4), and the interface is significantly more modern. The depth-of-market (DOM) display shows full Level II pricing — exactly how much liquidity exists at each price level — which is genuinely useful for ECN traders who want to understand the order book before executing.

cTrader also supports cAlgo — C#-based algorithmic trading — for traders who want automated strategies but prefer a more modern development environment than MT4’s MQL4. In our 10-trade scalping simulation on cTrader, we recorded zero requotes and consistent fills at or within 0.1 pip of the quoted price.

All three platform apps are available on iOS and Android. The cTrader mobile app is the most polished — clean interface, fast charting and one-tap order placement. MT4 and MT5 mobile apps are functional but the UI is visibly dated compared to newer broker apps. For serious analysis, desktop remains the better environment at IC Markets. Mobile is best used for monitoring positions and placing simple market orders.

A demo account with A$100,000 virtual funds is available on all three platforms. Islamic (swap-free) accounts are available on request. AUD is available as a base currency — no FX conversion on AUD deposits and withdrawals.

IC Markets accepts AUD deposits with no minimum beyond the A$200 account minimum. In our testing, card deposits were credited within minutes. Our AUD bank transfer withdrawal arrived in our Australian bank account 1 business day after submission — no fees, no delays. The minimum withdrawal amount is A$50.

Our test: AUD bank withdrawal submitted 9am AEDT, funds cleared in our bank account the following business day. AUD base account available — no FX conversion fees on AUD transactions.

IC Markets offers 24/7 live chat and email support. Phone support is not available — a notable gap compared to Pepperstone and IG Markets, both of which offer phone support during Australian business hours. For urgent account issues, you are reliant on live chat.

In our testing, we contacted support at 11:30pm AEDT on a weeknight with a standard account query. The live chat response arrived in 4 minutes — slower than Pepperstone (90 seconds) and Swyftx (90 seconds for crypto), but not unreasonably long. During business hours, typical response times are 2–5 minutes. During peak periods (major news events, month-end), we recorded wait times of 10+ minutes.

IC Markets is one of the safest brokers available to Australian traders, holding licences from three regulatory bodies including ASIC — the most rigorous regulator for retail traders in this region. The broker has maintained a clean regulatory record since founding in 2007 with no enforcement actions on record. We have no concerns about IC Markets’ safety or legitimacy.

IC Markets holds ASIC licence AFSL 335692 — verify this directly on the ASIC Connect register. Client funds are held in segregated accounts at major Australian banks, completely separate from IC Markets’ operational capital. The compensation scheme note: Australia does not have a government-backed investor compensation scheme equivalent to the UK’s FSCS, but the segregation of client funds provides meaningful protection if a broker were to become insolvent.