IC (formerly IC Markets) review

Key facts

Indicative figures — spreads are variable, commissions and minimum deposits vary by account type and by the regional entity serving you. Confirm current terms on IC (formerly IC Markets)’s website. Last reviewed: 2026-07.

Our verdict on IC (formerly IC Markets)

IC, formerly IC Markets, is a raw-spread CFD broker covering forex, indices, metals, commodities and futures CFDs on MT4, MT5, cTrader and TradingView, with commissions of $3.50 per lot per side on MetaTrader and $3.00 on cTrader. The important detail is entity: the global site is served from Seychelles, where no FSCS or ICF cover applies.

Watch out:If you are routed to the global site you contract with Raw Trading Ltd under the Seychelles FSA, which carries no FSCS or ICF cover. EU residents go to the CySEC entity and Australians to the ASIC entity, each with different leverage caps — check which one your agreement names.

Regulation and what protection actually applies

IC operates under ASIC, CySEC and the Seychelles FSA, and those three are not interchangeable. The global site is served by Raw Trading Ltd under the Seychelles regulator, with no FSCS or ICF compensation cover behind it. EU residents are routed to the CySEC entity and Australian residents to the ASIC entity, each carrying its own leverage caps and its own investor-protection framework. The brand, the platforms and the spreads look identical across all three, which is precisely why the entity question is easy to skip and expensive to get wrong.

This mirrors the structure at Pepperstone, where an SCB entity sits alongside FCA, CySEC and ASIC ones. The practical approach is the same in both cases: read which company name appears on your client agreement, then ask what happens to client money if that specific company fails. Offshore entities usually pair looser leverage limits with weaker recourse. That combination is not automatically disqualifying, but it should be a decision you make deliberately rather than one made for you by whichever page the website served.

Pricing, platforms and market access

The Raw Spread account quotes EUR/USD from 0.0 pips, with commission of $3.50 per lot per side on MT4 and MT5 and $3.00 on cTrader. As with any raw-spread model, the 0.0 figure is a floor rather than a total: the commission is the fixed part of your cost and the spread floats around it. The cTrader discount is a genuine structural saving for high-frequency FX traders, and it is one of the few places in this list where the platform you choose changes the commission rather than only the interface.

The instrument range covers forex, index, metal, commodity, crypto and futures CFDs, all of them contracts for difference rather than exchange-traded products. A futures CFD references a futures market without being a futures contract, so it does not give you the order-book transparency or the standardised settlement of trading ES or GC directly through an FCM such as AMP or Interactive Brokers. The $200 minimum deposit is also higher than Pepperstone's $10 or the zero minimums at IBKR and TradeStation, which matters for a first funded account.