FPMarkets CFD Broker Review

One of Australia’s Top Forex Brokers

As far as experience and reputation goes, FPMarkets is indeed a tough operator to trump. Having been around for more than 14 years, it takes pride in knowing exactly what traders need and want.

Whether the broker puts that knowledge to good use though and indeed delivers what its traders need, is usually a different question altogether.

Interestingly though, in FPMarkets’ case, customer satisfaction seems to point to the fact that the broker does indeed operate the way it says it does.
User feedback is overwhelmingly positive at most community message boards/review comment sections, and even those who ran into problems have admitted that the broker actively engaged them and effectively worked towards the resolution of those problems.

The most common complaints include slow execution, re-quotes and long withdrawal processing times. As mentioned above though, these complaints are few and far between, and indeed: an exception rather than the rule.

FPMarkets Overview/Background

The corporate “soul” of the FPMarkets brand is First Prudential Markets Pty Ltd – a registered Australian company, the possessor of ABN 16 112 600 281. First Prudential’s financial services are regulated by ASIC – indeed one of the most exigent regulatory agencies in the world. The Australian Financial Services License number of the brokerage is 286354.

Given its ASIC regulation, it is safe to assume that the activity of the operator is indeed focused on Australia. The jurisdictions from which the broker does not accept trader applications include the US, Japan and even New Zealand.

The official website of the broker makes it quite clear that only traders who live in countries where the services offered by the operator are legal, should apply for an FPMarkets trading account.

In this shape and form, this also means that Europeans cannot legally trade there – although this is not expressly stated by the website, so there is indeed some ambiguity in this regard.

The brokerage is the proud possessor of several industry awards, which cover client satisfaction and customer service. Most of these awards have been handed out by various Australian financial organizations and publications.

Two trading platforms are made available by FPMarkets: IRESS and MT4. Both solutions are cutting edge ones, offering advanced trading tools, flexible leverage, and access to an impressive number of tradable assets/markets. MAMM/PAMM options are available.

Account Types

As far as Forex accounts go, the broker really has not gone overboard options-wise. Only two real money account types are supported: the MT4 Standard Account and the ECN Raw Account.

As its name makes it clear, the Standard Account is the entry-level option, aimed at the rank-and-file trading crowd.
As such, its features are more basic than those offered by the ECN Raw account. The minimum opening balance for this account option is just AUD $200. For that money, traders get spreads starting from 1 pip, as well as access to over 60 tradable assets.

This account type does not charge any commissions. The maximum available leverage on it is 1:500. It covers a VPS option (for those interested in using EAs) and it does indeed support such EAs. This account version can be used through a mobile trading app too.

The Standard Account type comes with STP execution and indeed, it is said that it features lightning-quick trade execution.

The ECN Raw Account is a sort of VIP solution for those who can afford to sink more time and money into their trading.

As such, the minimum balance requirement of this account type is AUD $1,000.
For that deposit, traders get much tighter spreads than the users of the Standard Account.
Indeed, the ECN Raw spreads start from as little as 0 pips. It has to be pointed out though that the broker compensates for this generosity through commissions. These commissions are rather attractive however: some AUD $3.5 is charged per 100,000. The execution featured by this account type is ECN execution.

Other than that, the perks offered by the ECN Raw account are the same as those featured by the Standard option: the leverage is flexible, with its maximum set to 1:500.
EAs are supported and obviously: the VPS service is part of the package as well. No fewer than three CFD account types are available. Of these, the most basic is the Professional Account, which requires a minimum deposit of $1,000. The CFD accounts make use of the IRESS trading platform. Those with more money to spare, looking for better brokerage rates, can opt for the Platinum and Premier Accounts, which feature minimum balance requirements of $25,000 and $50,000 respectively.
The Premier Account does not charge a platform fee and its brokerage rates are by far the most attractive.

Islamic and Demo account options are also available.

Deposit and Withdrawal Options

The deposit and withdrawal options featured by the broker cover a more than fair range of credit cards, e-wallets and other money-transfer solutions.

VISA and MasterCard are obviously accepted, as is Neteller, China Union and BPay. Most of these options charge a cost on trade deposits.
In addition to the above, bank wires and broker transfers are also accepted.

Market Coverage

The broker covers some 10,000 markets, beginning with FX currency pairs, commodities, indices, shares, CFDs and wrapping up with cyptocurrency-based (BTC) CFDs.

It is important to point out that the broker does not actually sell bitcoin.

Promotions

In line with the regulatory requirements it has to fulfill, FPMarkets does not feature any noteworthy promotions.

Customer Support

FPMarkets’ award-winning customer support can be contacted through live chat – available at the official website – as well as phone (+61 2 8252 6800) and email ([email protected]).