Forex trading with IC Markets
IC Markets was founded as recently as 2018 in Limassol, Cyprus by employees who previously worked at several of the largest European CFD and forex brokers. It is licensed in Cyprus through its CySEC license issued by the Cypriot Trade and Exchange Commission.
IC Markets has a huge range of products that can be traded through CFD contracts, these products include currencies, shares, indices, commodities and ETFs. These products can be traded via the most popular trading platforms on the market such as MT4, MT5 and cTrader.
IC Market’s main focus is on quality and pricing. They boast that their spreads are among the lowest in the world compared to all CFD brokers in the industry. They bring up EUR/USD as an example where that currency pair costs only 0.1 pips.
- Minimum deposit: €200
- Commodity trading: YES via CFD
- Stock trading: YES via CFD
- Crypto trading: YES via CFD
- CFD trading: YES
- Max leverage professional account: 1:500
- Founded: 2018
- Support: Chat, phone & email
- Platforms: Computer & mobile
- Currency deposit: EUR, USD etc.
- Licenses: 2 jurisdictions
IC Markets Review
IC Markets is a fast-growing forex broker with many currency pairs and low spreads as its guiding stars. Since you are new to the market, you have taken large market shares by attracting new customers with low fees, which you have largely succeeded in doing.
Unfortunately, there is no Swedish site, but you can shop via their English site. They also have no Swedish support, but on the other hand they have an English customer service of the highest quality that answers the most advanced questions in a short time.
You have a very good review on trustpilot, where you are praised for your professionalism and excellent customer support. IC Markets has a very high rating on trustpilot from those who have left reviews and 90% give the highest rating.
CFD trading
The products IC offers are CFDs of various kinds. CFDs stand for contract for difference and are issued by the broker so you can trade stocks, indices, commodities, currencies, cryptocurrencies and ETFs 24/7 on their platforms.
Contracts issued by the broker reflect the value of the asset so that one can speculate on both ups and downs. When you trade with CFDs, you usually use leverage to increase the capital base because the movements can sometimes be small when, for example, currency trading.
Shares
IC Markets offers trading on over 1600 stocks through CFDs, most of which can be found on the largest lists in the US and Europe. Unfortunately, there is not a large selection of Swedish shares, but there are enough well-known American ones to trade.
The markets you can trade on at IC are the ASX, which is a stock market from Australia, and the NASDAQ, where you can find many large American companies. As well as most companies on the NYSE, which is the New York Stock Exchange.
Raw materials
IC has a wide range of several commodities that are traded through CFDs. It offers trading on over 22 commodities with leverage up to 1:500 for professional clients and 1:30 for others. Below we have listed some of the most common raw materials that can be bought at IC.
Examples of commodities that can be traded on IC Markets:
- Aluminum
- Cobalt
- Gold
- Silver
- Tin
- Zinc
- Brent oil
- Cocoa
- Coffee
- Copper
- Maize
- Cotton
- Crude oil
- Natural gas
- Sugar
Indices
Indexes are one of the most popular products to trade on IC Markets and they offer trading on over 22 indices worldwide. Unfortunately, no trading is offered on the well-known Swedish index OMXS30.
Indexes consist of a number of shares that must follow the development of the stock market. For example, OMX30 includes Stockholmsbörsen’s most traded shares, where you can find HM and Evolution Gaming, among others.
Example of indices that you can trade at IC Markets:
- ADX
- ASX 200
- CAC40
- CNA50
- DAX
- DFM
- Dow Jones
- EURO50
- FANG
- HANG
- FTSE
- JSE
- IBEX
- MIB40
- Nasdaq
- Nikkei
- Nifty
- OMXH25
- OMXS30
- S&P500
Currency trading
Currency trading involves trading one currency against another. Trading in currencies turns astronomical amounts every day and is the largest and most liquid financial market in the world.
IC Markets offers trading on over 61 currency pairs with leverage up to 1:500 for professional clients and 1:30 for regular clients. It is possible to trade forex 5 days a week at all hours of the day. All currencies are traded through CFDs.
Exchange rate & currency pairs
When trading currencies, it can be useful to know concepts such as exchange rates and currency pairs. The exchange rate is the rate you pay when you buy a currency. For example, if you want to trade USD with SEK, you need to pay the current exchange rate for USD 1, which in recent years has averaged around SEK 8.
The currency pair contains a base currency and a counter currency. The base currency is the currency that stands first in the currency pair. In the example USD/SEK, USD is the base currency and SEK is the counter currency.
Example on currencies you can trade at IC Markets:
- USD/JPY
- NZD/USD
- USD/NOK
- EUR/SEK
- GBP/USD
- USD/CAD
- EUR/GBP
- USD/SEK
- EUR/USD
- USD/CHF
- EUR/JPY
- USD/DKK
Cryptocurrencies
Cryptocurrencies are a digital means of payment that has emerged strongly in the 2010s. The idea of cryptocurrencies is that it is a decentralized means of payment that is not regulated or issued by any central bank.
IC Markets offers trading on over 13 cryptocurrencies that can be traded with leverage up to 1:5. Another advantage of cryptocurrencies traded on IC Market is that one can trade them 24/7 and does not have to wait for a market to open.
Bitcoin (BTC)
The world’s most famous and traded cryptocurrency is Bitcoin (BTC) which was the first crypto currency to come to market in the early 2010s. Bitcoin can be traded on IC Markets through CFDs with leverage up to 1:5. One does not charge any fees for trading Bitcoin or other crypto on IC.
Ethereum (ETC)
The second most traded cryptocurrency is Ethereum , which is also commonly used as Ether. It is a currency that is based on a different technology is Bitcoin and has become very popular during the second crypto boom. Ether can be traded on IC Markets through contracts without a fee.
Ripple (XRP)
Ripple is has historically been the third most traded cryptocurrency and is abbreviated XRP. It can be traded at IC Markets free of charge during all hours of the day. The currency founding in 2012 has since experienced tremendous growth in recent years.
Other cryptocurrencies
Other cryptocurrencies that can be traded on IC Markets include Dash and Litecoin. Both currencies have been around for a long time in the so far short era of cryptocurrencies, but have experienced strong growth in recent years. Below we have listed all the cryptocurrencies that can be traded on IC Markets.
All cryptocurrencies that can be traded via CFDs:
- Bitcoin (BTC)
- Ethereum (ETC)
- Bitcoin Cash
- EOS
- Emercoin
- Litecoin (LTC)
- Dash (DASH)
- Namecoin
- Peercoin
- Ripple (XRP)
- Polkadot
- Stellar
- Chainlink
Leverage
When trading CFD products, it is almost more the rule than the exception to use leverage to get a larger capital base and thus make more money in the event of an upturn. IC Markets offers leverage on all products and if you are a professional trader you can get leverage up to 500 times the stake.
Forex usually has fairly small price movements, which means that a trade with leverage can cause your profit to increase dramatically. At a stake of SEK 1000 with leverage of 1:10, the capital base is increased to SEK 10,000, which means that if the price moves 10%, a profit of SEK 1000 has been made, which is 100% against deposited capital.
When using leverage, it must be remembered that you borrow money from the broker and this can be risky as it can be quick to lose your money if the price goes down. However, IC has protection against negative balance and you cannot lose more money than you have in the account.
Example: Leverage of 10% (or 1:10) means that if the price of the underlying asset changes by 1%, it’s like the CFD price changed by 10%. For example, a sum of SEK 100 increases by SEK 1:10 to SEK 1,000.
IC Markets costs and prices
CFD brokers charge fees in order to conduct their business. There are fees in the form of spreads, commission, overnight fee and inactive account. Below, we’ll go over what fees IC Markets charges when you use their platform and whether it’s high or low.
Spread
IC Markets is one of the cheapest in the market where you can trade 100% commission free with spreads as low as 1 pips. For example, if you sign up for their standard account, you can trade EUR/USD for only 0.1 pips, which is the lowest spread of the brokers we have gone through.
You can also choose to create a Raw account and then you trade without spreads, ie 0.0 pips with a commission instead that amounts to 6-7USD per trade. This too is not a bad option and IC is one of the cheapest brokers on the market.
Inactive account
Some brokers charge a fee if you are not active in your account for a period of time. This fee is usually referred to as an inactive account fee and is deducted from your account if you have not logged in for a period of time. IC Markets does not charge any fee for inactive account.
Nightly fees
Night fee is charged if you have not closed to trade before 00.00. It is therefore good to always be careful to close the trade before midnight to avoid having to pay any overnight fee to the broker.
Licenses
IC Markets is licensed to operate in Europe, Oceania, the UK and the rest of the world. In Europe, it is regulated by the Cypriot Financial Supervisory Authority CySEC – Cyprus securities and exchange commission under license number 362/18.
The following jurisdictions are licensed in IC Markets:
- CySEC (EU) with license number 362/18.
- Australia with license number 335692
- Seychelles with license number SD018.
- Bahamas with licens number SIA-F214
Platforms
IC Markets offers trading on the market’s leading platforms which are Metatrader 4 (MT4), Metatrader 5 (MT5) and cTrader. On these platforms, the largest share of the world’s currency and CFD trading is conducted. It also has Zulutrade and Myfxbook autotrade in its range.
MetaTrader 4 (MT4)
Metatrader 4, which is usually abbreviated MT4, is the world’s most widely used platform for forex trading and other CFD trading. It has an outdated interface, but many people choose to use it anyway because they are used to it. IC Markets offers its clients to conduct their trading on MT4.
MetaTrader 5 (MT5)
Metatrader 5, which is abbreviated MT5, is an updated version of MT4 with a much nicer interface and more features to take advantage of. It is available on IC Markets to download on your computer and also as mt webtrader. It is also possible to download MT Iphone / Ipad, MT Android, MT Mac if desired.
cTrader
The third platform IC offers its clients to trade on is cTrader which is one of the largest trading platforms in the world. It is available for PC, Mac, Android and IOS. You can thus use the platform to all your devices.
Robotics trading with IC Markets
Robot trading is an automated trading method where you set parameters that your trading platform works according to. There is also so-called social trading and copytrading that copies famous investors and copies their trading patterns.
Myfxbook Autotrade
Myfxbook Autotrade is an automated trading platform that connects with Metatrader 4 and gives you the opportunity to conduct robot trading of the highest quality. It is a very smooth solution that works with most platforms.
ZuluTrade
Zulutrade is an automated trading platform that allows you to copy trading patterns and make it easier and smoother to conduct your trading. IC Markets has Zulutrade in its range and works well on desktop, mobile and tablet.
Open an account with IC Markets
When opening an account at IC Markets, you can choose between a regular trading account where you trade with real money or a demo account where you trade to learn the platform and its range.
Demo account
To open a demo account with, you only need to enter which country you come from, first and last name, email address and phone number. Once this is done, you can trade just like for real, but since it is a demo account , you trade with fictitious money.
When you have a demo account, you can easily upgrade to a trading account if you get hot in the clothes of the demo account.
Standard trading account
When opening a trading account with IC, you need to fill in your first and last name, email address, phone number and some information about yourself to get started. You can also choose to open the account through your google, facebook or paypal account. It is completely free to open an account with IC Markets.
Minimum deposit requirements
The minimum deposit requirement with is 200USD. You can make your transfer through several well-known payment providers. You can use your credit card from Visa or Mastercard, you can also use Neteller, Skrill, Klarna or PayPal. IC does not charge any fees when transferring money to your trading account, it is completely free.
Withdrawal and Withdrawal Fees
IC Markets has the same payment providers when withdrawing money as when depositing money. You have fast withdrawals and you can get your money out from a few hours up to a few days depending on which payment service you choose at IC.
Tax and declaration
When trading CFDs, you are obliged to declare your profits and losses to the Swedish Tax Agency when it is time for declaration every year. At IC Markets you can see clear transaction lists of what you have paid for your various trades and it is saved so that you can see it far back in time.
If you are unsure about your tax return, the Swedish Tax Agency has a lot of information on their website about trading CFD products. Read more at the Swedish Tax Agency here.
Investment Savings Account (ISK) or Endowment Insurance (KF)
Most share savers in Sweden use an investment savings account (ISK) or an endowment insurance (KF) when buying and selling shares. Unfortunately, trading CFDs with IC Markets does not have that option.
IC Markets support
IC Markets offers support 24/7 via Email, phone or live chat. In live chat and on the phone, you usually answer within a few minutes. Unfortunately, support is not offered in Swedish.
The customer service’s opening hours are open at all hours of the day.
IC Markets offers support in the following languages:
- English
- Spanish
- German
- Portuguese
- Vietnamese
- Indonesian
- French
- Italian
- Czech
- Bulgarian
- Thai
- Malay
- Russian
- Arabic
- Croatian
- Korean
- Chinese
Pros and cons
All CFD brokers have both pros and cons. Below, we’ve listed some of the pros and cons we think stand out:
- Several trading platforms to choose from
- Round-the-clock support
- Low spreads and fees
- Good payment solutions
- Fast withdrawals and deposits
- No support in English
Summary
IC Markets is a great option if you are looking for a CFD broker that is at the forefront of innovation and customer experience. They have a very good rating on Trustpilot, which guarantees that customers are satisfied with IC.
It has a fast and easily accessible customer service that answers your questions 24-hours a day. IC has one of the lowest prices on the market for its CFD products and that is why it has become a popular player in the market. A negative point for Swedes is that you do not offer any support in Swedish or that you cannot transfer money via Swish.
IC is a serious broker with good products, low prices and a wide range of trading platforms suitable for both beginners and professional traders. We recommend IC and think they are one of the best brokers on the market when it comes to CFD trading.