CMC Markets is well-trusted across the globe, and delivers a terrific trading experience thanks to its excellent pricing and selection of over 12,000 tradeable instruments.
CMC Markets’ proprietary Next Generation trading platform is packed with quality research and innovative trading tools, and CMC Markets finished Best in Class across 8 categories for 2024, including for Commissions & Fees and Overall.
Offering of investments
CMC Markets offers over 12,000 CFDs, a large number of forex pairs, and access to international equity markets (such as Australia). CMC Markets also quotes its 158 currency pairs both ways (not just EUR/USD – but also the inverse USD/EUR quote). This unique feature doubles the number of CMC Markets’ available pairs – bringing the total up to 316 and helping CMC win our 2024 Annual Awards for #1 Most Currency Pairs.
Cryptocurrency: Cryptocurrency trading is available through CFDs, but not available through trading the underlying asset (e.g. buying Bitcoin). Note: Crypto CFDs are not available to retail traders from any broker’s U.K. entity, nor to U.K. residents (except to Professional clients).
Commissions & fees
In our 2024 Annual Awards, CMC Markets finished Best in Class in the Commissions and Fees category thanks to its consistently low spread offering, which is available for all customer segments and account types.
Average spreads: CMC Markets offers competitive pricing that ranks above the industry average, with typical spreads of 0.61 pips on the EUR/USD – according to CMC Markets’ price data for August 2023.
Active trader program: CMC Markets recently revised its active trader offering as part of its new Price Plus Scheme. This program allows you to realize discounts on trading costs based on your collected Trading Points. Trading Points are calculated based on the markets you trade and on your overall monthly volumes. Two Trading Points can be earned for every standard lot (100,000 units) traded, for example. In this scenario, an investor would need to trade 1,250 standard lots in a given month to trigger the 20% spread discount available at Tier 4.
Commission-based pricing: In 2022, CMC Markets launched a new pricing structure called FX Active, which charges a commission per trade on top of highly competitive spreads. Rolled out in the Southeast Asia region, as well as in Australia, New Zealand, Canada, and the U.K., FX Active is available on both MT4 and Next Generation platforms.
FX Active’s commission-based pricing comes in at $2.50 per side with minimum spreads of zero pips, resulting in a 0.5 pip all-in cost when trading the EUR/USD (using August 2023 data) and five other currency pairs. For example, the spread on the NZD/USD on CMC Markets’ standard account offering comes in at 1.5 pips, but drops to an all-in cost of 0.5 pips (after commissions) with the FX Active pricing.
It’s always important to examine the average spread – rather than the minimum spread – when comparing spreads and trading costs across different forex brokers. That said, CMC Markets’ average spreads have historically not deviated much from its advertised minimum spreads, which is one of the reasons that we rank CMC Markets highly in this category. FX Active has only further solidified CMC Market’s position as a pricing leader.
Alpha rebates for shares trading: CMC Markets’ Alpha offering (only available in the U.K., New Zealand, Canada, and Australia) provides free access to services such as premium reports, market data, and Trading Central. Alpha consists of three tiers – Classic, Active Investor, and Premium Trader – each with its own trading requirements. The Classic base tier requires 11 trades per month, while the Active Investor tier requires 11-30 trades per month – or five trades with at least $500 in commission spend. Lastly, Premium Trader becomes available if you place more than 30 transactions per month. Each tier comes with a base charge of AUD 9.90 per trade, in addition to respective discounts ranging from 0.1 bps to as little as 0.075 bps for larger trade sizes.
Guaranteed Stop-Loss Order (GSLO): Like many of its peers, CMC Markets offers GSLOs. These orders guarantee the stop-loss order price will be honored, though – like with most brokers – there is a premium for using GSLOs. The extra cost is displayed in the trade ticket window, and CMC Markets refunds this cost automatically if the GSLO is not triggered.
Mobile trading apps
CMC Markets’ mobile app is cleanly designed and comes packed with multiple research tools, powerful charts, predefined watchlists, integrated news and educational content, and much more. Bottom line: CMC Markets delivers a terrific mobile app experience.
Ease of use: I only found one minor drawback; indicators added in the web version do not automatically sync with its mobile counterpart – a feature provided by industry titans Saxo and TD Ameritrade. That being said, watchlists do sync with the web-version, and once indicators have been added, the layout can be saved as a preset to apply to other charts on CMC Markets’ mobile app.
App overview: The overall look and feel of the CMC Markets mobile app closely resembles the web-based version of the Next Generation platform. There’s no question; CMC Markets invested ample time in the app’s development, especially given the challenge of organizing so much information with such limited screen space.
Charting: Charting on CMC Markets’ mobile app is just as impressive as the web version of the Next Generation platform. Even though just 30 of the 79 technical indicators are available, it is still a strong offering compared to many of CMC Markets’ competitors.
Market research: CMC Markets’ in-house staff provides research under the Intraday Update, Morning Call, Evening Call, and Price Mover categories, along with a slew of other themes available in the Next Generation mobile app. Available research material includes CMC TV, integrated educational content, webinars, and 23 videos that cover trading strategies. Also, a notable useful feature: once subscribed to an event in CMC Markets’ economic calendar, you’ll receive an alert to notify you when the event or news release time approaches.
Other tools: The predefined watch lists in the CMC Markets mobile app are great for identifying trade opportunities. Watch lists include popular products, price movers, and currently trending categories.
Other trading platforms
The CMC Markets Next Generation trading platform is a market leader that will impress even the pickiest of traders; it’s fast, reliable, and packed with impressive tools and features.
Platform usability: During my testing of CMC Markets’ platforms, I was extremely impressed with Next Generation’s design, which focuses on speed and usability. The platform’s layout wizard lets you choose between floating or fixed windows, in addition to predefined layouts or custom setups. Module linking is supported and features five color-coded levels. This useful function saves time, by prompting an update to the instrument displayed on your chart when you click on the corresponding symbol in your watchlist. Though it takes some time to set up the platform if you don’t use the default layout, the ease-of-use factor is comparable to Saxo’s SaxoTraderGO platform – another favorite of mine.
Charting: The Next Generation platform features rich charting, with 80 technical indicators and studies, 40 drawing tools, and 60 easily attachable candlestick patterns (or 73 if you count the 13 available chart patterns). Standout charting features for the Next Generation platform include its Breakout and Emerging Patterns tools. These chart patterns auto-adjust when the chart time-scale is changed, enabling traders to scan from a one-minute chart to a monthly chart, and easily identify any existing patterns.
Automated trading: CMC Markets’ Next Generation platform doesn’t feature the ability to run automated trading strategies – though advanced order types (such as its Boundary Order) are available to help traders set deviation parameters and limit potential slippage. Traders looking for an automated trading experience can use CMC Markets’ MT4 offering – though its product range is far more limited.
MetaTrader: The range of forex pairs that CMC Markets offers on MetaTrader was boosted from 38 to 176, bringing the total tradeable products to 220. This doesn’t yet compete with the staggering 12,000 that are offered on the CMC Markets Next Generation platform, but CMC Markets’ MT4 offering continues to improve with numerous enhancements rolled out in 2022 designed to align the execution quality with its proprietary platform.
