FPmarkets Broker

FpMarkets Review

FP Markets is an online forex broker that offers a wide variety of trading opportunities, including currency pairs, CFDs, and share trading. The company was established in Australia in 2005 and quickly developed as one of the most reliable forex brokers. The company has regulatory approval from the Australian Investments & Securities Commission (ASIC) and the Cyprus Securities and Exchange Commission (CySEC). Both of these regulatory bodies are highly regarded, and so you can rest assured this broker can be trusted to operate responsibly and securely at all times.

Company Information

FP Markets is a Forex and CFD broker which was established in 2005. The company is owned by First Prudential Markets Pty Ltd., which is headquartered at Level 5, Exchange House, 10 Bridge St, Sydney NSW 2000 Australia.. The company has a robust reputation and though you can find occasional complaints there are no red marks associated with FP Markets. Since it’s inception in 2005, the company has notched up over 35 different awards from several different organizations.  The awards are scattered throughout several categories including operational functionality, transaction execution, and client satisfaction to name a few. FP Markets has won the highest overall client satisfaction award for the past 5-years. The company covers a wide range of capital markets products and is used by both retail and institutional traders.

Registration

The registration process is straight forward, but is based on the jurisdiction that regulates your domicile. You can start with a demonstration account, which provides access to most of the functionality available with a real-money account.  You have a choice of base currencies when you register with the broker, including including the AUD, GBP, EUR, USD, SGD, CHF, CAD, NZD, JPY and HKD. Additionally, you have a choice of platforms which include MT4, MT5, WebTrader and IRESS. If you open a real-money account you will be asked about the account type you are opening which include individual, joint, corporate or trust accounts.

Assets available

FP Markets provides a range of products which include Forex, shares and CFDs. The platform to trade forex is an ECN, while the CFDs are traded as a traditional broker. The CFD section provides investors with thousands of underlying products, including commodities, indices, equities, metals, currency pairs and cryptocurrencies.  FP market also offers CFDs on ETF, as well as sector based ETFs.

Not all the shares that are traded are leverage CFDs. FP Market does offer share trading on ASX shares. This means that you can buy shares of a company and receive a dividend. If you purchase shares the leverage will be lower as FP Markets will need to abide by the maximum leverage allowed by the Australian Investments & Securities Commission.  If you are interested in trading CFDs, the products are transacted on the IRESS platform, which is web-based and an alternative to the MT4 and MT5 systems.  FP Markets offers 51 currency pairs.  For non-retail clients FP Markets offers MAM/PAMM accounts where a manager can offer portfolio management to several clients on different trading accounts. MAM/PAMM accounts offer access to assets traded on MT4 and MT5.

Mobile Trading

IRESS and MT4/5 are available for download on your mobile devise through the Apple App store or Google Play. These mobile trading apps contain many of the same capabilities as the desktop platforms by are optimized for use on iOS and Android.

Customer support

Customer support is robust and this is reflected by the awards FP Markets consistently wins as number-1 in client satisfaction. FM Markets offers several choices to communicate with a customer support specialist. These methods include live chat, telephone, email and social media. The company caters to their global client base by offering information that is translated into a number of languages including English, Arabic, Chinese, Russian, German, Italian, Spanish,  French, Thai, Indonesian, Malay, Vietnamese and Portuguese.

Types of Platforms

FP Markets offers 2-types of platforms, neither which has been developed in house. For Forex they offer the industry staple MT4/5.  There are no surprises with Meta Trader which is an industry-standard platform. This tells you that the company is focused on providing liquidity and breadth of products, and not trying to reinvent the wheel. You can run the expert advisor on MT4/5 allowing you to backtest and fully automate your trading strategy. The platform offers 1-click trader as well as a VPS service.

If you’d rather, you can also access both the MT4 and MT4 platforms in your browser via WebTrader. With this easy-to-use platform, you can trade in the browser of your choice, on your preferred device (whether that’s Windows or Mac), without the need to download any software. This makes it perfect for traders who are on the go or have web-based devices, such as Chromebooks.

CFD trading, is transacted through the IRESS platform, which is a state of the art platform with excellent charting and analytic capabilities. IRESS Trading Platform is a HTML web-based platform that can be accessed from any browser. This platform has access to all of FP Markets global markets, and support multiple order types. IRESS offers more than 59-technical indicators and dozens of drawing tools, including trend lines and Fibonacci retracements.  The platform offers the ability to save templates allowing you to see hundreds of different screens.

Deposits and Withdrawals

There are several methods that can be used to deposit and withdraw funds. For countries that allow credit card deposits (not the United States), there is a variable charge when making IRESS platform deposits that ranges from 1.6% for Australian clients to 3.18% for FP International clients. Depending on your location, you can also deposit via PayPal, Union Pay, Skrill, Neteller, Fasapay, Paytrust88, Ngan Luong and Online Pay. They also offer standard bank transfers as well as BP pay and broker to broker transfers.

Withdrawals from FP Markets usually take just 1 business day, and while there is no fee for withdrawals from Australian clients there is a $10 charge for withdrawals made via bank wire.

Account Types

FP Markets Account Types

There is a broad selection of accounts to choose from.

The account type you choose is more of a function of what you plan to trade then the platform you are planning to use. For example, if you only trade spot forex, they have a standard forex account or ECN Raw accounts.

The Standard Account, is a commission-free trading account, with a minimum initial deposit of $100 AUD or currency equivalent. With this account, you’ll have access to spreads from 1.0 pips, ECN-pricing execution, VPS, and the FP Markets mobile app. You’ll also be able to use EAs when you trade.

The ECN Raw Account can also be opened with just $100 AUD, and this provides access to over 50 different products including forex, indices and specific commodities. It boasts spreads from 0.0 pips but does come with commission fees of $3 AUD per 100,000 lot. The ECN Raw account also offers you ECN-pricing execution, VPS, EA compatibility and access to the mobile app.

If you are interested in CFD investing, you can choose from several different accounts, each with specific capabilities. The professional account has a minimum deposit of $1K, $10 on commissions and $55 IRESS trading fee.  The platinum account has an initial deposit of $25K, $9 commissions and a $55 IRESS fee. The top of the line is the Premier account which has a $50K initial deposit requirement and no platform fee.

Share Trading Accounts

Includes Individual accounts, Joint Accounts, Trust Accounts, Corporate Accounts and Super Fund Accounts

Islamic Accounts

Muslim traders can also open Islamic accounts with FP Markets. These accounts are designed for clients who cannot pay or receive swaps, or rollover interest on overnight positions because of religious reasons. To open one of these accounts, you must first create a MetaTrader 4/5 platform account and then request for it to be converted.

Spreads and Commissions

The company offers a schedule of fees on their web site. The spreads and commissions will vary depending on your account type and the product you are trading.  The commissions on share trading are 0.8% for non-leveraged CFDs and 0.11% for standard share purchases. For CFD’s commissions start at 0.08% for the Premier account ranging up to 0.1% for a professional account. There are no commissions on FOREX. The bid/offer spread can be as tight as zero. You should expect approximately a 1-pip bid/offer spread for the major currency pairs on a standard account.

Verdict

FAQ

Conclusion

FP Markets is an Australian Forex and CFD broker, that has a robust reputation and excellent choice of trading platforms.  The company focuses on providing liquidity, and use vendor developed trading platforms. For Forex and backtesting the MT4/MT5 platforms are the standard in the capital markets, while the IRESS is a web-based platform that has excellent charting and analytic capabilities.  The company makes its money by charging relatively heavy fees for deposits and withdrawals using several methods including credit cards. In addition, they are an ECN that uses tight spreads to drive liquidity.  The company is reputable, provides excellent liquidity, and provide excellent trading tools with very few complaints about their operation.