Markets.com Broker Review: Everything You Need To Know

Markets.com Overviews

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Markets.com is a global brand and is operated by 5 companies across the globe, all regulated by the associated financial authority in that region. They provide clients  the opportunity to trade Forex, stocks, commodities, Cryptocurrency, Indices, ETFs, and even Bonds in the form of CFDs . Additionally, they offer U.K. and Ireland clients the chance to open spread betting accounts. Let's take a closer look at this broker.  

Facts About Markets.com

Pros and Cons

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Is Markets.com Safe? Broker Regulations

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Before we get into which regulatory institutions govern the various entities of Markets.com around the globe, it should be noted that many other brokers, professionals, and institutions give this broker a trust score of 98 out of a possible 99, which essentially means it is considered to be a “low-risk” broker.

We can then take a look at their score and related customer reviews on Trustpilot. Currently, out of 684 reviews this broker has, their score at 4.6 out of a possible 5 stars. That is pretty impressive, seeing that Trustpilot is a review platform open to anyone, and many businesses are made or broken by this website alone.

Now let’s look at the regulatory institutions that keep Markets.com in line. There are five entities that this investment firm (Markets.com) trades under. Depending on the region, each of these is subject to be regulated by a different authority.

The first is the global entity which is Finalto (BVI) Ltd which is regulated by the Financial Services Commission (FSC) and is licensed under the number;

• SIBA/L/14/1067

Markets.com that is under Finalto (South Africa) Pty Limited, is then regulated by the Financial Sector Conduct Authority (FSCA), and is under the license number;

• 46860

Finalto Trading Ltd in the U.K. is regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA), and this entity has the license number;

• 607305

Then Markets.com, operated by Safecap Investments Limited in Cyprus, is regulated by Cyprus Securities and Exchange Commission (CySEC). The license number for this firm is;

• 092/08

Lastly, they also have an entity that operates in Australia, which is regulated by the Australian Securities and Investments Commission (ASIC). Their Australian Financial Services License number is;

• 424008

As you can see, no matter which entity a client is registered with, there is a governing regulatory authority that makes sure they are “above board” in all instances. As such, this makes Markets.com a safe and reliable broker.

It should also be noted this broker is an ECN, STP, and NDD broker, meaning that they will connect their clients (traders) with Banks, inter-bank markets, liquidity providers, and such so that they can trade directly at the level of the inter-bank forex market.

Moreover, clients’ funds are not directly impacted or are held with the firm itself. Instead, all client funds are held in separate bank accounts from the company’s. Meaning that they do not have and can’t access it.

What Can I Trade with Markets.com?

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Markets.com has an impressive array of assets you can trade if you sign up with them. Contrary to many other brokers, they not only offer tradable CFDs that are popular, like Commodities, Forex, Indices, and Shares (Stocks), but their Share asset list is one of the most comprehensive you may find when in search for a CFD broker (which we will discuss next).

They also offer an extensive range of Cryptocurrencies, ETFs, Blends, and Bonds. Let’s take a look at how comprehensive and diverse their assets list is regarding what is available to any day trader (retail trader) that may be looking to start trading.

Shares

Many CFD brokers offer tradable shares but typically only have a handful of the most popular stocks that you can find. These will usually be along the lines of TESLA, APPL, AMZN, etc. However, Markets.com offer a Shares assets list that comprises over 1,900 available stocks (1,991 to be exact).

From HERSHEY’s to MTN and 20^th Century FOX are just three out of the almost 2,000 available shares you will be able to trade.

Forex

In terms of Forex, Markets.com is a “typical” broker, and you will be able to find most of the currency pairs available to trade, including major, minor, and exotic pairs. There are 56 Forex pairs that you can trade, including the EUR/USD, USD/JPY, GBP/USD, and USD/CHF.

The spreads for all pairs will vary, but for the Standard and Retail accounts, you can typically expect spreads around of this nature for these currency pairs.

• USD/JPY: 0.9 pips
• AUD/USD: 0.9 pips
• EUR/USD: 0.6 pips
• GBP/USD: 1.2 pips

Commodities

Markets.com offers the normal commodities you will most likely find among other brokers. They offer 23 tradable commodities in total, and you can expect to find assets such as Gold, Cotton Futures, Platinum, Wheat Futures, Rice Futures, Oil, Corn Futures, Palladium, and more.

Indices

Due to the regions where Markets.com operates, they have access to many different exchanges allowing traders to trade up to 32 Indices. You will be able to find all the popular Indices such as the USA 30, France 40, S&P 500, UK100, Germany 40, and many more.

Blends

Some other assets which are available to trade that many other brokers do not offer is that of “Blends.”. A “Blend” typically refers to a combination of different investments that are within the same asset class. For example, a broker may offer a blend of e-commerce companies made up of Amazon, Alibaba, Etsy, eBay, and Best Buy.

In fact, this is one of the blends that Markets.com offers its clients. Markets.com have put together blends that range from Metals to Meme Stocks to Space Investing and offer 12 in total. They include;

• S. Tech
• Cannabis
• Metaverse
• E-Commerce
• Metals
• Einhorn
• Meme Stocks
• Buffett
• Social Media
• OPC
• ESG Leaders
• Space
• Esports

If you do not know much about blends, you can think of them as pretty similar to Indices but ones the broker puts together. It will also help if you remember that a company’s performance that is part of a blend (as with Indices) will affect the outcome of the overall trend.

Crypto

Crypto is a massive market that many beginner traders and new investors want to be a part of, and this broker offers 27 cryptos in total to trade.

ETFs

ETFs are something you can also trade with Markets.com in the form of CFDs. If you don’t know what an ETF is, they are typically a type of pooled investment fund that will function and operate much like a mutual fund. Usually, ETFs will track a particular class of assets (including Indices, sectors, commodities, or others), much like a blend. However, blends do not contain fixed-income securities.

Markets.com allows you to choose from 77 ETFs, and although there are too many to mention, you can view them all here, along with the entire list of all their other tradable assets.

Bonds

Then the last asset that many other CFD brokers usually do not offer, but one that Markets.com does, is that of Bonds. They offer four Bonds in total that you are able to trade, and they are namely;

• S. Treasury Bond (30-year)
• Ger (10-year) Bond
• S. Treasury Note (10-year)
• Gilt (10-year) Bond

How to Trade with Markets.com?

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Once you have opened an account with Markets.com, the trading process is quite user-friendly. They offer you the ability to trade via four platforms. The first is through their proprietary web-based platform, which is simple and straightforward to understand.

Take note that we will discuss what type of charts and analysis tools they offer for this platform in the next section. For the most part, this can be considered to be a “standard” platform, and all the typical trading options are available here, including one-click trading and being able to set Limit orders, Market orders, and Stop orders. The ability to set a Stop Loss and Take profit is also available.

Then you have their proprietary mobile trading app which is based on the same principle as their web platform. Most of the same features and functions in terms of being able to trade, apply to the mobile trading app as it does to the platform. Your accounts for both will also be linked, meaning you will not need a separate account for each.

The mobile trading app is available to download from both the iOS and the Google Play stores.

They then have their own version of Metatrader 4 and Metatrader 5. There are two things you will need to consider here, and they are;

• There is no mobile version for MetaTrader 5 or MT5
• You will need to speak to support in order to be able to download their version of MT4 or MT5

MT4 and MT5 are available for PC and Mac; however, as we indicated, you will either need to speak to live chat or Email support and then you will be sent a link from which you can download the respectable platform-appropriate version.

How Can I Open Markets.com Account? A Simple Tutorial

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Registering with any entity of Markets.com is simple enough, and this entire process will only take you a handful of minutes in total.

It should be noted that Markets.com will automatically direct you to the correct entity in terms of the region based on the location you provide when you signup, and then your region will be verified when you upload your personal documents. This means If you are from the U.K., you will sign up with Markets.com, which the FCA regulates.

Conversely, if you are from South Africa, then you will be directed to sign up with Markets.com, which the FSCA regulates. No matter what region you are in, the process of registration is identical, and even the site layout is the same, which means you probably won’t even know.

All you will need to do (no matter what region you are in) is head to the Markets.com website, and then you will only need to click on the signup button in the top right-hand corner of the page. Here you will have the option to sign up via Email or through three popular social media accounts;

• Facebook
• Apple
• Google

Once you have chosen one of these or filled in your Email and password, you will be directed to a page where you will need to fill in the following;

• Name
• Surname
• Phone number
• Location

Your account will then be created, and you can use the login button next to the signup button on the home page to enter the portal. Following that, you will need to fund your account and provide the additional documentation that is required, and this will differ depending on your region.

Markets.com Charts and Analysis

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We discussed that Markets.com has four platforms that allow its clients to trade. Their web platform, although user-friendly, does not offer much in the way of indicators or technical drawing tools. However, this platform provides a news feed of the financial markets, which is a rolling, real-time ticker providing up-to-date information at the tip of your fingers.

The web platform also allows you to view “Xray Live,” a show hosted by Neil Wilson, a Chief Market Analyst. Lastly, it also offers Thomson Reuters Analyst Research. This downloadable report provided by Thomas Reuters is packed with essential information and insight into the financial markets.

The mobile trading app offers the same functionality as the platform and does not offer analysis in the way of technical indicators but does offer simple and intuitive insights in the way of notifications and updates on financial news.

They then offer their version of MT4 and MT5, which has been the gold standard among retail traders and investors since 2005.

If you don’t know, MT4 allows for advanced trading robots, trading operations, trade executions of three types, access to the MQL community, and technical indicators that allow for technical analysis of the financial markets. Some technical indicators that MT4 offers and that will be present in the Markets.com version are;

• Moving averages indicator
• RSI indicator
• Bollinger bands indicator
• Fibonacci tools indicator
• Average true range indicator
• On balance volume indicator
• MACD indicator

Lastly, you can keep up to date with current news and analysis by visiting their (so aptly named) “News and Analysis” section which is available on their website. This is essentially their blog that brings you all the current and most relevant news on the financial markets. This is similar to their platform’s financial commentary section; however, that news feed comes from ForexLive.com, while this is an “in-house” news feed.

Markets.com Account Types

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Different account types are available depending on the region and the entity with which you (the trader) will sign up. For traders that are allocated to the South African entity of Markets.com, only one account will be available, and that is the Standard account.

Then for the rest of the regions, there are two account types: a Retail and Professional account. The Retail account is by far the most common, and this account will typically be the one that most beginner traders choose to start off with. For the Retail account, there will be over 2,200 tradable assets to choose from (including the ones we have mentioned above).

Take note that investors (traders) who sign up with the South African entity will have access to the Standard account, which is identical to the Retail account offered in other regions.

Then the Professional account that is offered to investors outside of South Africa is for individuals who spend (trade with) more than USD 500,000. These Professional accounts provide the trader with further leverage.

It should be noted that they also offer an Islamic-friendly trading account that is in line with the Islamic Shara Principle of interest-free trading. Moreover, U.K. residents should consider that they are also able to open their CFD accounts as spread-betting accounts.

This means that residents in this region can be provided a significantly favorable tax treatment if they succeed in their trading endeavors. Additionally, all clients who sign up with Markets.com have the option to trade a demo account in conjunction with whatever account is chosen as their live account.

Markets.com will offer a leverage of 1:300 on specific forex pairs (minor pairs), with 1:200 for major pairs and a 1:50 leverage for the USD/CNH.

The leverage for Cryptocurrencies will differ, and you will need to check their Trading Conditions page for more information, but you can expect a leverage of between 1:2 and 1:10, depending on the Cryptocurrency you choose.

Commodities will range in leverage from 1:50 and 1:200, while all Shares will have a leverage of only 1:10.

It should be noted that although Markets.com offers leverage for global clients of 1:300, clients in Europe are subject to ESMA regulations, limiting leverage to a maximum of 1:30 for Forex. Moreover, ASIC lowered leverage in March of 2021, so clients that are based in Australia are limited to 1:30 for Forex, 1:5 for shares, and 1:10 for Cryptocurrencies.

In terms of broker fees, they do charge an inactivity fee which could be frowned upon but seeing that their asset list is so large, the reality that you won’t be holding a position on one asset at any particular time is not likely.

Then, fees, in terms of commissions and spreads, are listed as quite high compared to spreads offered for Forex, particularly from other forex brokers. Although we can’t give you a full detailed breakdown of their spreads and commissions for each currency pair and asset, you can find an outline of the comparison between popular instruments here.

Do I Have Negative Balance Protection with This Broker?

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The protection and considerations of client funds are a major concern with Markets.com, and they do have to fulfill mandated protections. This means that for all entities (Companies that trade under Markets.com) that traders and investors are signed up with, negative balance protection is automated, and if a client’s position takes them into a negative balance, then their accounts will be adjusted and will always be brought back to zero after a stop out.

They are also adamant that if this is to happen, then no extra cost will be incurred to the client, meaning that they will never lose more than their deposited funds. However, this is subject to Market.com’s terms and conditions.

What about Investor compensation schemes?

There are five entities that Markets.com trade under depending on which region of the globe they are situated in (as we have now extensively covered). Out of the five entities, only two offer investor compensation schemes. These are namely the entities that are regulated by;

• Financial Conduct Authority (FCA)
• Cyprus Securities and Exchange Commission (CySEC)

If you don’t know what an investor compensation scheme (ICS) is, it is a plan that protects clients (investors) or a particular investment firm if that firm should go out of business. In simple terms, it means that any investors in the company will be given monetary compensation should that company go out of business.

For the entity that trades in Europe and is regulated by CySEC, the investor compensation scheme is as follows;

• EUR 20,000

Then for the entity of Markets.com that FCA in the U.K. regulates, the compensation scheme is;

• GBP 85,000

These are the only entities of Markets.com that offer an investor compensation scheme, and the entities that trade in Australia, the British Virgin Islands (BVI), and South Africa do not.

Markets.com Deposits and Withdrawals

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Markets.com offers quite a few ways their clients can deposit and withdraw from their accounts. However, some traders and investors will be limited in terms of payment and withdrawal options depending on the entity and region.

For the entity that trades in Europe, SOFORT and iDEAL are two online electronic payment options that are available to residents in Germany, Austria, and the Netherlands, respectively. As such, these “Ewallet gateways” are not available in other regions.

PayPal will only be a method of deposit and withdrawal for traders and investors that are registered with Markets.com, which is registered in Europe. Then the only available means of deposit and withdrawal that are available for the U.K. registered clients is a wire transfer or credit card.

Besides that, any clients registered with any of the entities under Markets.com will be able to deposit or withdraw their funds through these main methods;

• Wire transfer
• Credit card
• Skrill
• Neteller

Then if we take a look at the minimum deposit and withdrawal fees, no matter what entity you plan to use, the majority of them are pretty much selfsame.

The minimum deposit across all accounts, which include the ones which we already discussed (Retail and Professional), is either;

• USD 100
• GBP 100
• ZAR 1,000

The withdrawal amount is also the same across all accounts, except you can withdraw EUR 20 from the Europe and U.K. entities, while the Australian and BVI entities will let you withdraw EUR 100.

It should be noted that for withdrawals, a minimum of USD 10 or USD 5 can be considered when using either a credit card, Skrill, Neteller, or PayPal, depending. Lastly, you should also be aware that Markets.com does not charge any withdrawal fees for any of its trading accounts.

Support Service for Customer

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Markets.com offers a wide variety of customer support that its clients, prospective new traders, and investors can utilize to answer any questions they may have. These include;

• Email support (support@markets.com)
• Telephonic support (+44 2080 979 794)
• Dedicated live chat
• FAQs section

Their support in terms of Email, telephone, and live chat is pretty good, and you can get your questions answered immediately, with Email responses typically being responded to within 24 hours.

Their FAQs section is quite detailed, and current clients or potential day traders and investors can peruse the FAQs to find out almost all questions they may have regarding the company and trading in general, from how to set up an account to how much their fees are.

This is similar to other brokers (for example, ZFX), which have a massive inventory of FAQs that users can draw upon for pertinent and relevant information.

 

Prohibited Countries: Where Can I Not Trade with this Broker?

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As with any broker, they will need to base an entity in the locations (regions) in which they wish to do business. For Markets.com, we now know that there are five entities. However, there are still many regions that are not able to trade through them.

This is due to them not having set up an entity and not having or not having a regulatory authority in that region that watches over them. Additionally, there are sometimes restrictions put on countries (sanctions) due to many reasons (and ones far beyond the scope of this review).

However, even though we will not go into detail on why some regions are not able to trade, we have listed them all for your perusal below.

It should be noted that most brokers outside of the U.S., typically do not allow U.S.-based residents to trade due to the rules and regulations that the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Special Offers for Customers

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Although other brokers offer competitions (in many forms) and signup bonuses, Markets.com do not. Their approach to trading, one could say, is a much more simplistic approach, offering more assets to trade (more than most brokers) with low commissions and tighter spreads.

The only thing that resembles a special offer is that of a Professional trading account where you can opt to increase your leverage (which will differ based on the asset involved).

Markets.com Review Conclusion: Reputable Broker with Easy-to-use Platform

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As it stands, they have almost two decades under their belt as an online broker allowing retail traders and investors from all over the globe to trade. 

PIPPENGUIN

With all the information we ascertained regarding Markets.com, we can honestly say that they are one of the safest brokers offering one of the widest assets lists you will find from a global CFD broker.

As it stands, they have almost two decades under their belt as an online broker allowing retail traders and investors from all over the globe to trade.

Opening an account is straightforward and fast, and customer support is great with instant live chat during business hours and fast Email response times.

The only downside we can contribute toward them is forex fees and no two-factor authentication for account login.

Summary and Key Takeaways

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Understanding that Markets.com is part of the Finalto Group, a division f Playtech, a publicly-traded company, means that they are constantly in the eyes of the public. Moreover, they are regulated by 5 financial authorities worldwide. This is compounded by the fact that they have won numerous awards which are listed below.

Unlike some other brokers, they have a proprietary web trading platform and a mobile trading app which are clean and user-friendly. Additionally, they also offer the gold standard when it comes to trading software in the form of MetaTrader 4 and MT5.

FAQs

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What is the minimum deposit for Markets.com?

The minimum deposit for Markets.com is USD 100. This takes into account all regions and entities that Markets.com trades under.

How do I open a Markets.com account?

Simply head to Markets.com and click the signup button in the screen’s top right-hand corner. Take note that there are specific regions that Markets.com is not allowed to trade in, so this should be taken into account.

Is Markets.com legitimate?

Five financial authorities regulate Markets.com across their 5 global entities. As such, they are considered safe, legitimate and reliable brokers.

What type of broker is Markets.com?

They are a global Forex and CFD broker that has been in operation since 2008. They are also an ECN, STP, and NDD broker.

Where is Markets.com located?

Markets.com is a global entity with offices worldwide. According to CrunchBase, their Headquarters are located in Miami, Florida, East Coast, Southern United States.