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Alison Heyerdahl is the Head of Content at FxScouts, a Chartered Market Technician (CMT), and an experienced trader, as well as a financial writer with extensive expertise in Forex trading, broker analysis, and market research. She has reviewed 100+ brokers, publishes weekly YouTube trading videos, and co-hosts the “Let’s Talk Forex” podcast.
In the fast-paced world of forex trading, choosing the right broker is crucial. Pepperstone and IC Markets are two popular options, each with unique strengths and weaknesses. This comparison will dive into the key features of both platforms,helping you decide which one best suits your trading style and goals.
The radar chart above illustrates the comparison between Pepperstone and IC Markets across several key metrics, with the highest possible score being 100 in each category.
At FxScouts, our mission is to assist traders in finding the broker that best suits their needs. Comparing brokers side-by-side is an effective method to achieve this goal. We evaluated Pepperstone and IC Markets, using our standard criteria: trust and regulation, trading platforms, costs and trading conditions, and educational and market analysis resources.
Trust and regulation are crucial when selecting a Forex broker. A broker’s credibility is largely built on its regulatory status. We spend considerable time verifying the safety of each broker by examining their regulatory licenses. We also consider numerous factors when deciding which tier a regulator belongs to. Regulators that we rank as the world’s top regulators, gets a tier 1 rank, while regulators who only scores a tier 5-rank, provide virtually no regulatory oversight. The more top-tier authorities regulating a broker, the higher its trust rating. Read more about regulation and our tier system here.
In our comparison:
Based on these findings, Pepperstone earned a higher trust rating than IC Markets.
When comparing brokers, trading costs are a significant factor. We consider the minimum deposit required to open an account and ongoing costs, including spreads and commissions. We measure the cost to trade one lot of EUR/USD using the broker’s account with the lowest minimum deposit, including both the spread and any commission charged.
We found that IC Markets has overall lower trading costs than Pepperstone.
Trading Platforms Offered Traders prefer brokers that offer a variety of trading platforms. We rate brokers higher if they support multiple platforms like MetaTrader4, MetaTrader5, cTrader, and proprietary platforms.
Copy trading is beneficial for beginner traders or those unable to trade full-time. In this case both IC Markets and Pepperstone offer copy trading.
A broader range of CFD instruments provides more trading opportunities. Pepperstone offers a greater variety of instruments compared to IC Markets:
For those interested in trading cryptocurrencies, Pepperstone offers 30 cryptocurrencies, while IC Markets offers 18 cryptocurrencies. Therefore, Pepperstone is the better choice for cryptocurrency trading.
Traders prefer brokers with quick and cost-effective deposit and withdrawal processes. We favor brokers that process withdrawals within 24 hours using multiple methods without charging fees.We found that IC Markets charges a withdrawal fee and Pepperstone does not. Overall, Pepperstone has better deposit and withdrawal processes than IC Markets.
We often find that brokers offer very little in the way of educational materials, forcing traders to use other third-party sites or self-educate elsewhere. Beginner traders need well-structured, well-presented materials in multiple formats to get a good start at trading. More experienced traders also benefit from webinars led by experts in the field and advanced trading strategy sections with new trading ideas.
IC Markets has better educational support than Pepperstone. Both IC Markets and Pepperstone offer educational support for more experienced traders.Access to frequent and high-quality market research and analysis is crucial.
We found that Pepperstone offers better research analysis than IC Markets and that both IC Markets and Pepperstone offer frequent webinars.
One of our highest rated brokers for Kenyan traders, Pepperstone was founded in Australia in 2010 and is regulated by the Kenyan CMA. Pepperstone keeps costs low with some of the tightest spreads we've seen, averaging 0.77 pips (EUR/USD) on its Standard Account. For those who prefer classic ECN trading, the Razor Account has low commissions and spreads averaging at just 0.17 pips on the EUR/USD. Neither account has a required minimum deposit.
More experienced traders will appreciate Pepperstone’s trading platform options, including its own web-based platform, MT4, MT5, cTrader, and TradingView. All are available on desktop and mobile devices. Pepperstone’s education section has improved hugely over the last few years and traders of all experience levels will find it useful. Highlights include detailed trading guides and frequent market analysis from industry experts.
Founded in 2007 in Australia, IC Markets is a globally respected broker known for its transparent pricing, low trading costs, and institutional-grade trading conditions. It is regulated by several of the world’s most reputable financial authorities, including ASIC, CySEC, SCB, and—importantly for Kenyan traders—the Capital Markets Authority (CMA) of Kenya.
IC Markets stands out for its exceptionally low-cost trading environment. On its Raw Spread Account, average spreads are just 0.10 pips on the EUR/USD, combined with a round-turn commission of only 6 USD per lot. It is one of the few brokers to support all four major trading platforms—MetaTrader 4, MetaTrader 5, cTrader, and TradingView—making it suitable for traders with a wide range of strategies and technical preferences.
Kenyan clients benefit from local regulatory protection through IC Markets Kenya Ltd, as well as access to a broad suite of professional trading tools, including VPS hosting, Trading Central, advanced charting, and copy trading services such as Myfxbook AutoTrade and ZuluTrade. Beginner traders will appreciate IC Markets’ 24/7 customer support and straightforward account setup process. While its educational content is more detailed than that of many competitors, the broker’s market analysis resources are somewhat limited.
For more detailed reviews, please read our comprehensive assessments of Pepperstone and IC Markets.
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Broker | Regulated by CMA | Licenced by | Min. Deposit | Cost of Trading Total trading cost at the time of last update, for 1 lot of EUR/USD using the account with the lowest minimum deposit. Includes spread and commission. | Official Site | Compare | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
 | Yes |    | USD 3 | USD 7 | |||
 | Yes | | USD 0 | USD 10 | |||
 | Yes |  | USD 0 | USD 10 | |||
 | No |       | USD 0 | USD 6 | |||
 | No |   | USD 100 | USD 9 | |||
 | No | | USD 100 | USD 14 | |||
| No |  | USD 5 | USD 6 | |||
 | Yes | | USD 200 | USD 8 | |||
 | No | | USD 10 | USD 17 |
Select another broker to another broker to compare features, fees, and platforms side by side.
Alison and Chris cover a range of topics, including how to choose a Forex broker, safety and regulation, how to reduce your risk, trading psychology, trading platforms, and trading strategies, among others.
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