EC Markets review

Regulated by

FCA (571881); ASIC (AFSL 388737); Seychelles FSA (SD009); Mauritius FSC (GB2100130); South Africa FSCA (51842)

Regulator tier

Tier 1

Register entry

FCA Financial Services Register, FRN 571881

Client money segregated

Yes

Held at

Regulated banking institutions; specific arrangements vary by entity

Negative balance protection

Yes for eligible retail clients; entity-dependent

Compensation scheme

FSCS protection for eligible UK clients up to £85,000; none under several international entities

Audited by

Independent external/statutory auditors

Not available to

United States and jurisdictions where provision of services would violate local laws

Check the licence on the regulator's own site, not on a link somebody sent you.

EC Markets holds tier-one authorisations from ASIC and FCA. That matters more than any headline spread: it determines your leverage cap, whether losses can exceed your deposit, and what happens to your money if the firm fails.

It also operates an offshore entity (FSC and FSA). Which one you are onboarded to depends on where you live, and the two carry very different protections - worth confirming before you deposit.

ASIC caps retail leverage at 1:30, requires negative balance protection, and obliges the broker to hold client money in a separate trust account.

The FCA caps retail leverage at 1:30, mandates negative balance protection, and covers eligible clients under the Financial Services Compensation Scheme.

The FSCA licenses derivative providers in South Africa without a fixed retail leverage cap, so headline leverage is often higher than an FCA or ASIC entity may offer.

Check the licence yourself: the FCA Register, ASIC Connect, the Seychelles FSA list of regulated entities, the Mauritius FSC register of licensees, the FSCA list of regulated entities.

Legal entity

EC Markets Limited

Company number

07601714

Headquarters

London, United Kingdom

Founded

2012

Publicly listed

No

Parent company

EC Markets Group

Employees

Approx. 100-500

Also trades as

EC Markets

Deposit methods

Visa, Mastercard, bank transfer, Skrill, Neteller, cryptocurrencies and regional payment methods

Withdrawal methods

Bank transfer, cards, e-wallets and supported original funding methods

Deposit time

Many electronic methods instant; bank transfers generally 1-5 business days

Withdrawal time

Generally processed within 1 business day; settlement varies by provider

Minimum withdrawal

Method-dependent

Local payment methods

Extensive regional payment methods in supported countries

Spread from

0.0 pips

EUR/USD spread

Approx. 0.1 pips, ECN

GBP/USD spread

Approx. 0.3 pips, ECN

Commission

Approx. $3 per side / $6 round turn, ECN

All-in cost, EUR/USD

Approx. 0.7 pips

Spread type

Variable

Overnight swap

Both: overnight swaps may be charged or credited

Inactivity fee

No standard inactivity fee prominently advertised

Deposit fee

Generally none internally

Withdrawal fee

Generally none internally; provider charges may apply

Currency conversion

Applicable where account and instrument currencies differ

An offer that beats the market by a wide margin is the most reliable warning sign there is.

A quoted spread from 0.0 pips is a raw-spread figure, which almost always means a separate commission per lot. Compare the two together - a "zero spread" account with a high commission can cost more than a wider spread with none.

Quoted spreads are best-case figures on the most liquid pair, in normal conditions. What you actually pay widens around news and at the session open.

EC Markets lists a minimum deposit of $10. Treat it as the cost of opening an account, not the cost of trading one - position sizing on a small balance is what tends to cause damage.

Markets

Forex, Shares, Indices, Commodities, Metals, Energies, Cryptocurrencies

Currency pairs

50+

Total instruments

1,000+

Crypto CFDs

Yes, jurisdiction-dependent

Maximum leverage

1:1000

Execution model

ECN/STP-style liquidity aggregation

Execution speed

Approx. 30ms

Order types

Market, limit, stop, stop-loss, take-profit, trailing stop and MetaTrader pending orders

Servers

Equinix financial data centres

Leverage up to 1:1000 is available on this entity. High leverage does not increase your expected return - it increases position size for the same deposit, and shortens the move needed to close you out.

EC Markets covers forex, shares, indices, commodities, metals, energies, cryptocurrencies. A wider range matters less than depth in the instruments you actually trade.

Funding options: visa, mastercard, bank transfer, skrill, neteller, cryptocurrencies and regional payment methods. Check withdrawal routes as well as deposit ones - they are often not the same, and the difference only becomes apparent when you try to take money out.

Platforms

MetaTrader 4, MetaTrader 5

Own platform

No

Mobile app

Third-party MetaTrader apps

Browser trading

Yes

Automated trading

Yes

Copy trading

Yes

Indicators

30+ MT4, 38+ MT5 and custom indicators

Third-party tools

MetaTrader 4, MetaTrader 5

API access

Institutional/API solutions available

MetaTrader 4 remains the most widely supported platform for expert advisors. If you rely on an existing EA, this is usually the deciding factor.

MetaTrader 5 handles more asset classes and order types than MT4, but expert advisors are not compatible between the two - an MT4 EA will not run on it.

Minimum deposit

$10

Account types

Standard, ECN, Pro, Islamic/Swap-Free, Demo

Account currencies

USD, EUR, GBP and additional entity-dependent currencies

Islamic account

Yes

Demo account

Yes

Professional account

Yes

Minimum trade size

0.01 lots

Time to open

Typically a few minutes, subject to verification

Support hours

24/5

Contact channels

Live chat, email, phone

Languages

Multilingual

Telephone

N/A

Email

support@ecmarkets.com

Live chat response

Typically within minutes

Education

Extensive: trading education, webinars, platform tutorials, articles and market guides

Research

Daily market analysis, technical/fundamental research, market news and trading insights