CMC Markets presents Forex traders with 330+ currency pairs, including cash and forward contracts. It offers a proprietary trading platform and provides a relatively balanced asset selection. Is CMC Markets the best choice for your portfolio, or should you consider alternatives? Read my in-depth CMC Markets alternatives analysis and find out.
Overview of CMC Markets Alternatives
Important Factors in Finding CMC Markets Alternatives
Many factors impact the competitiveness of a trading environment. My CMC Markets alternatives analysis focused on the five categories below, as I rank them among the most defining attributes separating average brokers from market leaders.
My CMC Markets alternatives analysis focused on the five attributes below:
1. Fees: Trading fees directly impact profitability and are always my top priority. They also reveal which strategies a broker supports or passively discourages, and they rank among the most important aspects of a trading environment.
2. Account Opening: All brokers use an online application, but some have a user-friendly process with minimal personal data collection, while others engage in regulatory-mandated data mining. The minimum deposit also differs among brokers.
3. Deposit & Withdrawals: With bank wires and credit/card deposits available at all brokers, traders can gauge the competitiveness by evaluating non-banking options, cryptocurrencies, localized options, and withdrawal times.
4. Trading Platforms: Algorithmic trading accounts for 80%+ of daily Forex trading volumes, making MT4 the undisputed industry leader. Some brokers offer MT5, cTrader, TradingView, and other third-party options or push their proprietary alternatives.
5. Markets & Products: There are notable differences in the markets and products portfolios brokers maintain, and traders must ensure their broker meets their requirements.
CMC Markets Alternatives
FP Markets
Traders receive quality MT4/MT5 upgrades, five trading platform choices, MAM/PAMM accounts for traditional account management, and a well-balanced asset selection.
Fees
FP Markets Fees offers Forex traders a competitive commission-based cost structure with raw spreads from 0.0 pips for a commission of $6.00 per 1.0 standard round lot.
Pros | Cons |
|---|---|
Low Forex fees | None |
Competitive swap rates | |
No hidden costs |
Account Opening
While FP Markets has a straightforward multi-step online application, it collects more data than many competing brokers.
Pros | Cons |
|---|---|
Digital account application | Lengthy application with data mining |
Ten account base currencies | |
Trusted broker |
Deposit & Withdrawals
FP Markets shines with its 25+ payment processors and fast withdrawal processing, including bank wires, credit/debit cards, online payment processors, and cryptocurrencies.
Pros | Cons |
|---|---|
No deposit fees | Potential currency conversion fees |
No withdrawal fees | |
18+ deposit currencies |
Trading Platforms
The trading platform choices at FP Markets are MT4, MT5, cTrader, TradingView, Iress, proprietary mobile apps, Myfxbook Autotrade, and Signal Start.
Pros | Cons |
|---|---|
12 quality MT4/MT5 plugins, and Trading Central and Autochartist | None |
MAM/PAMM modules for traditional account management | |
VPS hosting for low-latency 24/5 market access |
Markets & Products
FP Markets offers traders a balanced asset selection, including cryptocurrencies, ETFs, and bonds, with a competitive choice of copy trading solutions.
Pros | Cons |
|---|---|
Good choice of ETFs and commodities | None |
Balanced asset selection | |
In-house copy trading service |
Verdict
FP Markets bests CMC Markets with its choice of payment processors.
FXTM
Demanding market participants like algorithmic traders, scalpers, and other high-frequency, high-volume traders will thrive in the ultra-low-cost FXTM trading environment.
Fees
The FXTM Advantage account presents traders with raw spreads of 0.0 pips for a commission between $0.80 and $4.00 per 1.0 standard round lot.
Pros | Cons |
|---|---|
Excellent commission-based Forex pricing environment and transparency | $5 monthly inactivity fee after six months of dormancy |
Price improvement technology with an average cost reduction of $3.00 per lot | |
No internal deposit or withdrawal fees |
Account Opening
FXTM account opening only requires a name, country of residence, valid phone number, e-mail, and password to onboard new traders.
Pros | Cons |
|---|---|
User-friendly, digital account application | Limited account base currencies |
Fast account opening process | |
Low minimum deposit requirement |
Deposit & Withdrawals
The FXTM deposit and withdrawal methods are bank wires, credit/debit cards, Skrill, Neteller, Perfect Money, PayRedeem, GlobePay, Google Pay, FasaPay, M-Pesa, and localized payment options.
Pros | Cons |
|---|---|
No deposit fees | Potential currency conversion fees |
Fast deposit processing times | |
User-friendly back office |
Trading Platforms
Traders get the MT4/MT5 trading platforms, which enable algorithmic and copy trading, and they can also use the proprietary mobile app FXTM Trader, which is ideal for FXTM Invest, the in-house copy trading service.
Pros | Cons |
|---|---|
MT4/MT5 trading platforms for algorithmic and copy trading | Insufficient trading platform upgrades |
Proprietary mobile app ideal for the in-house copy trading service | |
MT4 plugin and actionable trading recommendations |
Markets & Products
The FXTM asset selection consists of fewer but highly liquid trading instruments, with Forex traders getting 55+ currency pairs.
Pros | Cons |
|---|---|
A balanced choice of liquid assets covering five sectors | No ETFs |
Physical share dealing in 399 US blue chip stocks | No bonds or other fixed-income assets |
Embedded MT4/MT5 copy trading services and FXTM Invest |
Verdict
FXTM leads CMC Markets with its ultra-low pricing environment.
Eightcap
Traders will benefit at Eightcap from Capitalise AI, offering algorithmic trading solutions in a code-free environment, one of the most cutting-edge trading tools.
Fees
Eightcap fees maintains a commission-based pricing environment of raw spreads from 0.0 pips with a commission of $7.00 per 1.0 standard round lot.
Pros | Cons |
|---|---|
Competitive Forex fees | No volume-based rebate program |
No non-trading fees | |
Good pricing transparency |
Account Opening
An e-mail address, desired password, name, and country of residence are all traders must provide to open an Eightcap account via the user-friendly online account application.
Pros | Cons |
|---|---|
User-friendly, digital account application | None |
Fast account opening process | Text |
Seven account base currencies | Text |
Deposit & Withdrawals
Besides geographically localized payment processors, Eightcap offers bank wires, credit/debit cards, Skrill, Neteller, PayPal, BPay, Union Pay, FasaPay, PIX, Dragon Pay, and cryptocurrencies.
Pros | Cons |
|---|---|
No deposit fees or withdrawal fee | Potential currency conversion fees |
Fast payment processing times | |
User-friendly back office |
Trading Platforms
Eightcap presents MT4 with the Capitalise AI plugin, but traders can opt for MT5 with the FlashTrader plugin or TradingView with its 50M+ social trading community.
Pros | Cons |
|---|---|
VPS hosting for low-latency 24/5 Forex trading | None |
Capitalise AI for code-free algorithmic trading | |
TradingView for social traders |
Markets & Products
The well-balanced asset selection of 800+ instruments across five asset classes makes Eightcap a top choice for most traders.
Pros | Cons |
|---|---|
Well-balanced asset selection | No bonds or other fixed-income assets |
Excellent beginner research and education via Eightcap Labs and Trade Zone | No ETF trading |
AI-powered economic calendar |
Verdict
Eightcap trumps CMC Markets with the Capitalise AI plugin for MT4.
AvaTrade
AvaTrade offers traders an excellent choice of trading platforms, including specialized ones, and ranks among the most trusted brokers industry-wide.
Fees
The commission-free Forex fees at AvaTrade, of 0.9 pips or $9.00 per 1.0 standard round lot provide traders with a reasonable cost structure.
Pros | Cons |
|---|---|
Reasonable Forex fees | Inactivity and administration fee |
Competitive commodity spreads | |
No hidden costs |
Account Opening
AvaTrade has a user-friendly account application that requires a name, e-mail, and phone number.
Pros | Cons |
|---|---|
User-friendly, digital account application | None |
Fast account opening process | |
Seven account base currencies |
Deposit & Withdrawals
Traders can use bank wires, credit/debit cards, Skrill, Neteller, WebMoney, and PayPal to conduct financial transactions with AvaTrade.
Pros | Cons |
|---|---|
No deposit fees | Currency conversion fees |
No withdrawal fees | |
Trusted withdrawal process |
Trading Platforms
The excellent trading platform choices consist of MT4, MT5, WebTrader, AvaOptions, AvaTradeGO, Ava Social, the mobile apps of MT4/MT5, and DupliTrade for copy traders.
Pros | Cons |
|---|---|
MT4 Guardian Angel plugin | None |
Trading Central plugin | |
VPS hosting for low-latency 24/5 market access |
Markets & Products
Traders benefit from a balanced asset collection, including cryptocurrencies, ETFs, bonds, FX options, and an industry-leading educational program.
Pros | Cons |
|---|---|
Good choice of ETFs | None |
Well-balanced asset selection | |
Industry-leading education for beginners |
Verdict
AvaTrade trumps CMC Markets with its choice of trading platforms.
BlackBull Markets
Traders can excel in the low-cost ECN pricing environment and superb trading infrastructure at BlackBull Markets, which also maintains an industry-leading asset selection.
Fees
BlackBull Markets fees offers raw spreads from 0.0 pips for a commission between $4.00 and $6.00 per lot, making it one of the lowest-priced Forex brokers.
Pros | Cons |
|---|---|
Competitive Forex fees and low swap rates | None |
No internal deposit or withdrawal fees | |
Pricing transparency |
Account Opening
Traders can use their Google, Facebook, or Apple IDs or submit a desired e-mail address, password, name, date of birth, country of residence, and phone number.
Pros | Cons |
|---|---|
Digital account application | None |
No data mining | |
Well-regulated and trusted |
Deposit & Withdrawals
The BlackBull payment processors are bank wires, credit/debit cards, Skrill, Neteller, FasaPay, Union Pay, POLi, Boleto, beeteller, AstroPay, FXPay, HexoPay, PaymentAsia, Use Pay, SEPA, Help2Pay, cryptocurrencies, and localized options.
Pros | Cons |
|---|---|
No deposit fees | $5 withdrawal fee |
Low minimum deposit requirements | |
Choice of deposit currencies |
Trading Platforms
BlackBull Markets has MT4, MT5, cTrader, TradingView, BlackBull CopyTrader, and BlackBull Trade, allowing trades to trade markets arithmetically, manually, or by copying others.
Pros | Cons |
|---|---|
VPS hosting for low-latency 24/5 Forex trading | None |
API trading | |
ZuluTrade, Myfxbook Autotrade, and BlackBull Social for copy traders |
Markets & Products
The industry-leading asset selection of 26,000+ trading instruments includes 200 currency pairs and ensures that BlackBull Markets caters to all strategies.
Pros | Cons |
|---|---|
Excellent asset selection | None |
Cutting-edge trading infrastructure | |
Quality research and education for beginners |
Verdict
BlackBull Markets leads CMC Markets with its asset selection.
Bottom Line
My review of CMC Markets alternatives concluded with the following results:
- FP Markets maintains excellent payment processors
- FXTM presents active high-volume traders with the lowest trading fees
- Eightcap delivers the Capitalise AI plugin for MT4
- AvaTrade features outstanding trading platform choices
- BlackBull Markets has the best asset selection
