FP Markets Review

Every list has an underrated name — the broker that active traders quietly rate while the marketing budgets go elsewhere. On this list, that is FP Markets. It does not plaster its logo over every trading video, it does not promise you a supercar, and it has been doing the unglamorous work of tight pricing and clean execution since 2005. If IC Markets is the popular kid, FP Markets is the one who actually did the homework. Here is the full, honest breakdown.

FP Markets at a Glance

FP Markets is an Australian broker founded in 2005, which makes it one of the longer-standing names in retail forex — two decades is a meaningful track record in an industry where firms appear and vanish between promotions. It is a genuine raw-ECN house, built around tight spreads, deep liquidity and serious platform choice. The pitch is substance over spectacle: institutional-grade pricing for retail traders, minus the circus.

Is FP Markets Regulated and Safe?

FP Markets is regulated by multiple authorities, anchored by ASIC (Australia) and CySEC (Cyprus) — both Tier-1 — with additional entities in South Africa, Mauritius and the Seychelles for international clients. Client funds are held in segregated accounts, and retail clients under the Tier-1 entities receive negative balance protection.

The familiar rule applies: the entity you onboard under determines your protections and your leverage ceiling, so verify it before funding. A clean, two-decade operating history under reputable regulators is exactly the boring stability you want from the firm holding your capital.

Account Types

FP Markets keeps a clear, four-way structure:

• Standard (MT4/MT5) — spread-based, no commission, with spreads from around 1.0 pip.
• Raw (MT4/MT5) — raw spreads from 0.0 pips plus a commission of roughly $3.00 per side per lot. The active trader's account.
• IRESS Retail and IRESS Professional — for share CFD trading with Direct Market Access in certain regions.

Islamic swap-free accounts are available. The split is sensible: simple spread pricing for newcomers, raw pricing for the cost-focused, and the IRESS option for traders who want genuine DMA on shares.

Spreads, Commissions and Fees

The Raw account is where FP Markets earns its reputation — spreads from 0.0 pips on the majors during liquid sessions, with a competitive ~$3.00-per-side commission that undercuts a lot of better-known rivals. The Standard account's ~1.0-pip spread-only pricing is fine for casual traders who do not want to think about commission. On the housekeeping front, FP Markets is clean — no nasty hidden trading fees — though, like most brokers, swap charges apply on overnight positions unless you use an Islamic account.

What FP Markets Actually Costs You

Do the all-in maths. On the Raw account, a 0.1-pip EUR/USD spread plus a $3.00-per-side commission (roughly 0.6 pips equivalent round-turn on a standard lot) lands you near 0.7 pips all-in during liquid hours — genuinely competitive with the most famous raw-ECN names, and cheaper than many. The Standard account's ~1.0-pip spread with no commission is simpler but pricier for high volume. The pattern repeats across every good broker: scalpers and high-frequency traders want the Raw account, while a swing trader placing a few trades a week is fine on Standard. FP Markets' edge is that its raw pricing competes at the top of the table without the top-of-the-table marketing markup.

Trading Platforms

FP Markets offers an unusually wide platform line-up: MetaTrader 4, MetaTrader 5, cTrader, TradingView and IRESS. That is one of the broadest selections in retail — MT4/MT5 for EAs, cTrader for depth-of-market and clean order entry, TradingView for chart-first traders, and IRESS for Direct Market Access on shares. Few brokers cover this much ground, and the inclusion of both cTrader and IRESS is a genuine differentiator for active and share traders.

Markets and Instruments

FP Markets covers forex majors, minors and exotics, spot metals, energies, indices, share CFDs, bonds and cryptocurrencies. The IRESS platform in particular opens up serious share CFD trading with DMA, which most MT4-only brokers cannot match. For a multi-asset ICT trader framing bias across the dollar, gold and indices, everything sits under one login.

Leverage

Leverage depends entirely on your regulator. International offshore entities offer up to 500:1, while ASIC and CySEC retail clients are capped at 30:1 on majors. As always, that gap is the most important thing to check before onboarding. Higher leverage does not make you a better trader; it just shortens the distance between a mistake and a margin call.

Deposits and Withdrawals

The minimum deposit is a friendly $100 (AUD or equivalent) across the Standard and Raw accounts. Funding covers cards, bank transfer and major e-wallets, with no FP Markets deposit fees and quick, reliable withdrawals back to the source. The payout reputation is solid — uneventful processing, which in this industry is the highest compliment.

Execution and Trading Conditions

This is the heart of FP Markets' appeal: true ECN routing, deep liquidity from a strong panel of providers, low latency and fast fills. Slippage exists on high-impact news (it always does), but outside of that the execution is dependable. For a trader engineering entries off a clean liquidity sweep and a sharp displacement, getting filled near your intended price is the entire job — and FP Markets does it well.

Support and Education

Support is 24/5 and responsive, and the education offering is solid — webinars, tutorials and analysis pitched at traders who want to improve rather than total beginners who need a hand at every step. It is not the sprawling academy of an XM, but it comfortably covers the essentials.

Tools and VPS for Active Traders

FP Markets backs its raw pricing with the supporting kit serious traders actually rely on. A free VPS is available for qualifying balances or volumes — important if you run EAs that cannot survive a dropped home connection mid-session. It bundles the Autochartist pattern-recognition tool, its own Traders Hub research and analysis, and the standard suite of calculators and risk tools across its platforms. For the algo crowd, the combination of low-latency ECN execution, a free VPS and cTrader's depth-of-market is a genuinely strong package, and the IRESS option adds Direct Market Access for share traders who want to see real order books. None of it reinvents the wheel, but it rounds out a broker clearly built for active traders rather than tyre-kickers.

How FP Markets Compares

Against IC Markets — its closest comparison — FP Markets matches the raw-ECN pricing and arguably edges ahead on platform breadth thanks to IRESS, while conceding a little brand recognition. Against beginner-first XM, it trades education and a soft landing for sharper pricing and pure ECN execution. Against FxPro, the two are similar in spirit — established, multi-platform, execution-focused — with FP Markets leaning more purely into raw cost. The summary writes itself: if you want top-tier raw pricing without paying the marketing premium, FP Markets is one of the best-value picks on this entire list.

Who FP Markets Is For

FP Markets suits the cost-conscious, active trader who wants tight raw pricing and proper execution — scalpers, intraday ICT traders, EA users, and anyone who values the cTrader or IRESS platforms. The DMA share trading via IRESS is a real draw for traders who want more than CFD-only access. It is a slightly weaker fit for the rank beginner who wants heavy hand-holding, though the Standard account and decent education make it perfectly usable for newcomers too.

FP Markets Pros and Cons

Pros: genuinely competitive raw spreads; strong ASIC/CySEC regulation; exceptionally broad platform range (MT4, MT5, cTrader, TradingView, IRESS); DMA share trading; low $100 entry; two-decade track record. Cons: raw accounts carry a commission; lower brand awareness; leverage varies sharply by region.

Verdict

FP Markets is the quiet overachiever — raw-ECN pricing that competes with the most famous names, an unusually broad platform line-up, solid Tier-1 regulation and a two-decade track record, all without the marketing premium. For cost-conscious active and ICT traders, it is arguably the best-value broker on this list, and the IRESS DMA option gives share traders something most rivals cannot. Confirm your region's entity, leverage and current commission, and you have a genuinely strong, under-the-radar choice. See you at the London Open.