CFDs are complex instruments and come with a high risk of losing money rapidly due to leverage. Between 72-89% of retail investor accounts lose money when trading CFDs. You should consider whether you understand how CFDs work and whether you can afford to take the high risk of losing your money. This content is intended for information and educational purposes only and should not be considered investment advice or investment recommendation.
FP Markets shines as a low-cost broker for trading forex and CFDs – as long as you use the MetaTrader platform. The Iress platform suite offers well over 8,000 tradeable symbols, but it’s mostly a share trading platform – and is generally a much pricier option.
Forex and CFD traders will find a versatile, affordable MetaTrader offering at FP Markets, but without the research and educational content offered by industry leaders.
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Minimum Deposit:
$100 AUD
Trust Score:
82
Tradeable Symbols (Total) :
9790
FP Markets pros & cons
Pros
- Founded in 2005, FP Markets is regulated in one tier-1 jurisdiction and one tier-2 jurisdiction, making it a safe broker (average-risk) for trading forex and CFDs.
- FP Markets offers the MetaTrader suite, along with ultra-competitive spreads available by way of its commission-based Raw ECN account.
- Thanks to its low trading costs, FP Markets again finished Best in Class in 2022 for both MetaTrader and Commissions and Fees.
- FP Markets provides access to the Iress platform suite which offers over 8,800 tradeable symbols.
Cons
- FP Markets’s new mobile app is a welcome addition to its mobile lineup, but it still lacks many of the features typically found in the best mobile trading apps.
- FP Markets’ educational content is not particularly strong, though it has improved year over year with the introduction of podcasts and more articles.
- FP Markets’ Iress platform is more focused on share trading than forex, and data fees can add up quickly unless you are an active trader or maintain a high-balance account.
- FP Markets’ Social Trading portal is compatible with MetaTrader 4, yet lacks the advanced performance metrics found with copy trading leaders.
Overall Summary
| Overall | |
| Trust Score | 82 |
| Offering of Investments | |
| Commissions & Fees | |
| Platforms & Tools | |
| Research | |
| Mobile Trading Apps | |
| Education |
Is FP Markets safe?
help
82
Trust Score
FP Markets is considered average-risk, with an overall Trust Score of 82 out of 99. FP Markets is not publicly traded, does not operate a bank, and is authorised by one tier-1 regulator (high trust), one tier-2 regulator (average trust), and zero tier-3 regulators (low trust). FP Markets is authorised by the following tier-1 regulator: Australian Securities & Investment Commission (ASIC). Learn more about Trust Score.
Regulations Comparison
| Year Founded | 2005 |
| Publicly Traded (Listed) | No |
| Bank | No |
| Tier-1 Licenses | 1 |
| Tier-2 Licenses | 1 |
| Tier-3 Licenses | 0 |
| Trust Score | 82 |
Offering of investments
FP Markets’ MetaTrader offering is limited to roughly 130 tradeable symbols, whereas the Iress platform suite offers an extensive range of CFDs to global clients, including 8,884 shares, 61 forex pairs, four metals, 12 indices, five cryptocurrencies, and three commodities.
Cryptocurrency: Cryptocurrency trading is available at FP Markets 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.
FP Markets offering of investments:
| Forex Trading | Yes |
| CFD Trading | Yes |
| Tradeable Symbols (Total) | 9790 |
| Forex Pairs (Total) | 63 |
| US Stock Trading (Non CFD) | No |
| Int’l Stock Trading (Non CFD) | No |
| Social Trading / Copy-Trading | Yes |
| Cryptocurrency (Physical) | No |
| Cryptocurrency (CFD) | Yes |
| Crypto Disclaimer (UK) | 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 and fees
FP Markets offers highly competitive pricing through its MetaTrader offering, making it one of the most cost-competitive brokers available to traders globally – at least for its commission-based ECN account offering. The Iress ViewPoint account option is less affordable, and is geared towards active traders with high-balance accounts.
MetaTrader Standard versus Raw ECN account: FP Markets’ Raw ECN account features competitive spreads – averaging 0.1 pips as of October 2021. Its Standard account is a pricier option due to its significantly higher spreads (averaging 1.2 pips as of October 2021 for the EUR/USD).
Iress ViewPoint Accounts (Australia): The FP Markets Iress platform suite offers three account options with varying minimum deposit requirements: Standard (AUD 1,000 minimum deposit), Platinum (AUD 25,000), and Premier (AUD 50,000). To avoid platform and data fees, you must either qualify for the Premier account or spend at least AUD 150 in commissions each month. Active traders and traders with high-balance accounts will find better deals at Saxo Bank and CMC Markets.
Iress Investor Account (Australia): For traders seeking a bare-bones, low-cost experience, FP Markets also offers its Iress Investor trading platform. Monthly fees are waived for this less expensive account option, but with the reduced price come some platform limitations. There is no streaming data by default (click to refresh quotes), and the charting package is far more limited than its ViewPoint platform counterpart. My take: if you can’t afford the ViewPoint account, then pass on Iress Investor.
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FP Markets pricing summary:
| Minimum Deposit | $100 AUD |
| Average Spread EUR/USD – Standard | 1.2 (September 2021) |
| All-in Cost EUR/USD – Active | 0.7 (September 2021) |
| Active Trader or VIP Discounts | Yes |
| Execution: Agency Broker | No |
| Execution: Market Maker | Yes |
Mobile trading apps
FP Markets delivers a good variety of mobile apps for forex and CFD traders. Its proprietary app has a nice layout for a new mobile app but lacks the advanced features that I’ve come to expect from the best brokers in this industry. Thankfully, Metatrader 4 and Metatrader 5 are available as reliable alternatives.
Apps overview: FP Markets offers three mobile trading apps: the popular MetaTrader platform suite developed by MetaQuotes software corporation, the Iress trading platform, as well as its proprietary FP Markets mobile software.
Ease of use: As Iress is mostly optimized for share trading – not forex – I focused on FP Markets’ MetaTrader offering and the FX Markets proprietary app for this review.
Charting: FP Markets’ mobile app offers rudimentary charting, with no drawing tools and no indicators. That being said, traders at FP Markets also have access to the impressive charting tools that come standard with the MetaTrader suite of platforms.
Trading tools: FP Markets mobile app lacks any substantial trading tools. There is a favorites watchlist, and several other predefined asset class lists – but that’s it. You won’t find any integrated research or streaming news headlines.
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FP Markets mobile trading:
| Android App | Yes |
| Apple iOS App | Yes |
| Alerts – Basic Fields | Yes |
| Watch List | Yes |
| Watch List Syncing | No |
| Charting – Indicators / Studies | MetaTrader (Default) |
| Charting – Draw Trendlines | Yes |
| Charting – Trendlines Moveable | No |
| Charting – Multiple Time Frames | Yes |
| Charting – Drawings Autosave | Yes |
| Forex Calendar | Yes |
Other trading platforms
FP Markets offers the Iress platform suite for share trading, but MetaTrader is the primary platform option for forex and CFD trading. With support for Autochartist plugin integration as well as platform add-ons from FX Blue as part of its Trader Toolbox offering, FP Markets finished among the best MetaTrader brokers again in 2022.
Platforms overview: FP Markets offers the entire MetaTrader platform suite, including MetaTrader 4 (MT4) and MetaTrader 5 (MT5). There are also three web-based platforms available by way of the Iress platform suite: Iress Trader, Iress Investor, and Iress ViewPoint for active traders. For forex traders, MetaTrader is the better choice, while the Iress platform (specifically its ViewPoint account) is more ideal for shares trading.
Charting: Charting on the Iress ViewPoint platform is powered by TradingView, and includes a clean watchlist tool and nearly 100 available technical indicators. That said, I had a hard time pulling up forex quotes and did not find any forex news headlines. Despite the decent charting tools available with the Iress platforms, MetaTrader remains the better choice for forex trading at FP Markets.
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FP Markets trading platform:
| Virtual Trading (Demo) | Yes |
| Proprietary Platform | Yes |
| Desktop Platform (Windows) | Yes |
| Web Platform | Yes |
| Social Trading / Copy-Trading | Yes |
| MetaTrader 4 (MT4) | Yes |
| MetaTrader 5 (MT5) | Yes |
| cTrader | No |
| DupliTrade | No |
| ZuluTrade | No |
| Charting – Indicators / Studies (Total) | 30 |
| Charting – Drawing Tools (Total) | 15 |
| Charting – Trade From Chart | Yes |
| Watchlists – Total Fields | 7 |
| Order Type – Market | No |
Market Research
Most of FP Markets’ research is found under the Traders Hub section on its website, where it is separated into technical and fundamental analysis. When compared to the best brokers for research, including IG, Saxo Bank, CMC Markets, FP Markets has room to improve, and could enhance its research offering by expanding it to include a wider array of daily content.
Research overview: FP Markets provides daily written articles and video content on its official YouTube channel. Headlines stream within the FP Markets MetaTrader platforms from top-tier sources such as Citibank, Rabobank, Commerzbank, Reuters, and other forex news providers.
Market news and analysis: FP Markets’ research section consists of a Daily Report, Technical Report, a weekly Market Insights outlook, and a Fundamental Analysis section that provides daily articles that cover global markets. It’s worth noting that the Forex News section had outdated content.
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FP Markets research:
| Daily Market Commentary | Yes |
| Forex News (Top-Tier Sources) | Yes |
| Autochartist | Yes |
| Trading Central (Recognia) | No |
| Delkos Research | No |
| Social Sentiment – Currency Pairs | Yes |
| Economic Calendar | Yes |
Education
Beyond some platform tutorials, an investor glossary, and archived content on its YouTube channel, there is little educational content available at FP Markets.
Learning center: FP Markets offers nearly sixty archived webinars as well as a handful of instructional videos on its YouTube channel, and there are at least 34 articles available under its Forex 101 section. I was pleased to see that FP Markets has launched a podcast, though I found it to be pretty basic. The podcast felt like a transcribed audiobook – not like an organic conversation. Adding interviews and more of a personal touch (and perhaps some market updates) would go a long way towards improving FP Markets’ foray into this new content format.
Room for improvement: I’d like to see FP Markets organize its educational content by experience level, and perhaps include a progress-tracking feature. These features combined with a general expansion of the range and depth of FP Markets’ educational material would help FP Markets compete with education leaders such as Admiral Markets and IG.
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FP Markets education:
| Has Education – Forex or CFDs | Yes |
| Client Webinars | Yes |
| Client Webinars (Archived) | Yes |
| Videos – Beginner Trading Videos | Yes |
| Videos – Advanced Trading Videos | Yes |
| Investor Dictionary (Glossary) | Yes |
Final thoughts
FP Markets stands out for the competitive pricing available to forex traders with its ECN account. However, that pricing is only available with the MetaTrader platform, and FP Markets offers only 764 symbols on MetaTrader 5 (MT5).
While there are over 8,000 symbols available for share trading, they are segmented away on the Iress platform, and its associated platform and data fees can be a hurdle – unless you are an active trader or you maintain a high-balance account.
Overall, forex and CFD traders will be satisfied by the MetaTrader experience provided by FP Markets, though the scope of its research and educational offering are limited, when compared to the best brokers.
About FP Markets
Headquartered in Sydney, Australia, FP Markets (First Prudential Markets) was founded in 2005 as an online retail forex and CFD broker. The brand’s entities are regulated in Australia and Europe, with a total of 95 employees as of 2019. Read more on Wikipedia about FP Markets.
2022 Review Methodology
For our 2022 Forex Broker Review we assessed, rated, and ranked 39 international forex brokers over a three-month time period resulting in over 50,000 words of published research.
Each broker was graded on 113 different variables, including our proprietary Trust Score algorithm. This innovative scoring system ranks the level of trustworthiness for each broker based on factors such as licenses, regulation and corporate structure. Read about Trust Score here.
As part of our annual review process, all brokers had the opportunity to provide updates and key milestones and complete an in-depth data profile, which we hand-checked for accuracy.
Ultimately, our rigorous data validation process yields an error rate of less than .1% each year, providing site visitors with quality data they can trust. Learn more about how we test.