Here are the 8 pros and cons:

CMC Markets Fact sheet

In the world of finance the most important word is trust. Traders need to make sure that their broker is well-regulated before transferring funds to them. 

CMC Markets consists of representative companies regulated by various brokers. Depending on where you are located, your broker might have a different regulator. For example, CMC Markets UK plc and CMC Spreadbet plc are supervised by the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA).

• CMC Markets Germany GmbH is regulated by the Bundesanstalt für Finanzdienstleistungsaufsicht (BaFin).
• CMC Markets Canada Inc. is a member of the Investment Industry Regulatory Organization of Canada (IIROC)
• CMC Markets Singapore Pte. Ltd. is regulated by (MAS).
• CMC Markets Asia Pacific Pty Ltd is registered with the Australian Securities and Investments Commission (ASIC).

The number of high-trust regulatory bodies that have authorized CMC Markets indicates that the broker is trustworthy.

Policies that CMC Markets follows

In accordance with strict regulations that CMC Markets follows, the broker provides its clients with negative balance protection, keeps funds in segregated accounts, and is a member of the traders' compensation scheme.

Keep in mind that the negative balance protection is only provided to retail clients to help shield traders against the negative outcomes of margin trading. Margin trading is a highly leveraged activity, which enables traders to trade using borrowed funds and as a result risk money that they do not own. On some occasions, when markets are highly volatile and a trade goes against prediction, it is possible for a trader's balance to go into the negatives, causing the trader to become indebted to the broker. To counter this, retail traders are offered less leverage, up to 30:1 when trading Forex pairs, compared to professional traders who can use levels going up to 500:1. In addition, the broker uses automatic Stop Out levels to prevent the balance from going negative. Even in the unlikely event that your account goes into a negative, you can contact customer support and they’ll turn the balance from negative to zero. 

Something else that is in use is segregated accounts, which increase the level of safety as traders' funds become inaccessible for the company’s general use and even if the broker goes bankrupt, traders can get their money back.

CMC Markets offers one of the largest varieties of available Forex pairs for trading. What’s more, the broker provides access to trading both physical and CFD stocks. CFD stands for Contract For Difference and offers various advantages over trading physical assets. On the other hand, physical assets are best for long-term investing as there are no fees for keeping an open position overnight.

CFDs are preferred for short-term investments or speculations as CFDs can be traded in both bullish and bearish markets by going long or short. In addition, CFDs are more liquid and spreads are tighter due to the fact that more people are trading CFDs than actual assets at any given time. 

Keep in mind that while CMC Markets offers various trading assets, some of the assets are only available via dedicated account types and the number of assets and policies offered might be a little different depending on your location.

Forex

CMC Markets offers 330 currency pairs for trading. The list consists of Major, Minor, and Exotic pairs. Exotic pairs are less liquid and are characterized by larger spreads. Major pairs such as EUR/USD, USD/JPY, and AUD/USD offer the tightest spreads starting from 0.7 pips. There are no additional fees charged by the broker, only spread markups. 

In addition, traders are able to trade currency indices for instance the USD index, EUR index, GBP index, and others.

CMC Markets gets liquidity from top global banks for trading Forex such as Deutsche Bank, JP Morgan, Barclays, Goldman, UBS, Citibank, and HSBC.

Shares as CFDs

There are 10,000 shares as CFDs available for trading with CMC Markets. As already mentioned, CFDs are great for speculating on the markets. In addition to other benefits, trading shares as CFDs is available using leverage. For shares leverage offered is up to 20:1.

You can trade Tesla, Google, Amazon, Meta, and other famous company shares as CFDs using a dedicated share trading platform. The fees are reasonable and are starting from 0.10 points on Tesla. What’s more, traders can speculate on Penny stock prices and various instrument types such as growth, technology, banking, ETFs, consumer & retail, as well as share baskets.

Physical shares

Physical shares are preferred by long-term investors as you are not charged any fees for keeping assets long-term. On the other hand, you need more capital to start investing as there’s no leverage available. Overall there are over 35,000 shares available for trading. Keep in mind that you can only profit from trading in one direction. On the upside, trading fees are very reasonable, starting from $0 on US, UK, Canadian, and Japanese markets.

Cryptocurrencies

Cryptocurrencies are constantly becoming more and more popular amongst speculative traders. CMC Markets offers access to 19 major cryptos and alt-coins. Keep in mind that when trading cryptos with CMC Markets, you don’t buy or sell actual coins, you are merely trading these assets as CFDs. As a result, you don’t have to worry about where to cash out profits or how to store them, since you don’t actually own the assets. 

CMC Markets charges no commission, however, the broker charges traders with spread markups. The markups for cryptos start from 0.5 pips on MATIC and the spread on the most popular pair, BTC vs USD, starts from as low as 75 pips. 

The maximum leverage available for crypto trading is 2:1, which is lower than what other brokerages are offering. CMC views cryptos as high-risk products and in an attempt to provide negative balance protection to retail investors, limits the risks. 

Indices

Indices are a very good measure of the health of certain industries and economies. For instance, the S&P 500 measures the performance of the top 500 American companies that are publicly traded in the stock market. You can use the S&P 500 or US 500 as indicators or you can trade them as CFDs.

There are 80 indices available for trading with CMC Markets including the UK 100, US 30, Germany 40, Hong Kong 50, Australia 200, and others. Spreads start from 0.5 pips on the US 500 and the leverage goes up to 20:1.

Commodities

Commodities are raw materials that are used for creating consumer goods and there are two types of commodities that can be found on the markets. The ones that can be grown are called soft commodities while the commodities that are mined are referred to as hard commodities. 

With CMC Markets, you can trade both hard and soft commodities including precious metals, energies, agriculture, and commodity indices. Spreads are starting from as low as 0.3 points on gold and natural gas. 

Commodity prices are changing based on changes in global demand and supply. Keep in mind that the assets offered are CFDs and you can trade them in both directions.

CMC Markets offers 2 types of live accounts for trading CFDs; the CFD account and the Corporate account. Both account types are very similar in terms of their offerings, however, the CFD account is for retail traders and the Corporate account is for professionals.

Pros & cons of CMC Markets account types

Demo account of CMC Markets

Demo trading enables traders to place orders without risking the actual funds. Demo versions of live account types are available for all CFD account types. Demo trading is essential for beginners and professional traders alike. Novice traders are able to get familiar with the trading software and get to know the broker’s policies while more seasoned traders use demo accounts to develop, test, and backtest their trading strategies. It’s worth mentioning that while demo trading is very useful, it cannot fully prepare traders for trading live. Live trading requires managing one’s emotions which comes with discipline and hard work.

CFD account of CMC Markets

By using the CFD account traders get access to trading 10,042 products, including over 300 Forex pairs, over 100 indices, over 100 commodities, over 10 cryptos, over 50 bonds, and over 9,000 shares as CFDs. 

What’s more, fractional trade sizes are available for both account types. The CFD account type is mainly for retail investors. Leverage numbers vary depending on the asset class. Forex pairs get the highest leverage, up to 30:1. For indices leverage is 20:1. For cryptos 2:1, and for shares 5:1. Keep in mind that leverage is a great tool to increase your profits, however, high leverage can increase your losses too. 

Corporate account of CMC Markets

The corporate account is for professional traders. As already mentioned, there’s no negative balance protection available, as a result, leverage for trading Forex pairs is limited to 500:1. 

On the other hand the account type is very similar to the CFD account version. Both offer the same fee structure, spreads starting from 0.3 points and there’s no commission charged. However, there’s a commission of 7 USD per traded lot round turn when speculating on share CFD prices. 

Getting started on CMC Markets - Main steps

In case you are impressed by the high number of assets offered by CMC Markets and would like to test the broker out yourself, we’ll guide you through the entire process of account opening. 

There are a couple of simple steps you need to take in order to open a live trading account with CMC Markets.

Step 1: Choose & create your account

The first step is to go ahead and open the main page of CMC Markets. You’ll be able to spot the Create Account button in blue at the top right corner. You’ll be able to choose your country of residence. Keep in mind that the broker doesn’t provide services to residents from some countries. If you choose to mislead the broker by selecting a random country, you will fail to verify your account later on.

Once you choose the country of residence, you’ll be able to select a trading platform. After completing this step, you’ll then be able to select an account type.

Step 2: Fill in your personal information

While the broker offers 10 account base currencies to choose from, you might be limited in some countries. For example, in case you are opening an account from the UK, you can choose between GBP and EUR as your account base currency. In addition, you’ll be required to provide your personal information regarding your trading experience, savings, and more. 

Step 3: Verify your account & deposit funds

The next step is verification. In order to verify your account, you need to provide the broker with a digital copy of an identity document and proof of residence. You can use a driving license, passport, or another government-issued ID document as proof of identity. For address verification, you can upload a utility bill, bank statement, or driver's license (if it shows your residential address there). Both documents can be uploaded as scanned copies or you can use your smartphone’s camera. Just make sure the photos are of high quality and the data is clearly visible. Make sure the photos have no light reflections or shadows while taking them. 

There are various deposit methods that can be used to transfer funds once your account gets verified. You can use a credit or debit card, bank transfer, or even PayPal. While CMC Markets doesn’t charge you for the service, some intermediary financial institutions might charge certain fees. Generally, card and PayPal options are free and instant. 

Step 3: Start analysis & trading

The final step is to open your trading platform, then start analyzing and placing orders. Just keep in mind that trading requires a lot of attention, good trading strategies, and discipline in order to trade that strategy constantly, and profitably.

The trading fees are reasonable and attractive with CMC Markets. There are no fees on deposits and withdrawals. Various types of CFDs are charged with different spread markups, and there are no commissions. However, when trading shares, the fee structure is different. There are no spread markups on shares, but traders are charged 7 USD per lot (round turn).

Inactivity fee

Traders are charged 10 EUR or equivalent per month after 12 months of inactivity. The amount will keep being deducted as long as the balance is above 10 EUR and the account remains inactive. However, in case you decide to reactivate your account, the broker refunds the inactivity fee back to your account. The refunded amount can be up to 30 Euros.

CMC Markets payment systems

Comparing CMC Markets fees with other brokers

As already mentioned, CMC Markets’ fees are attractive and competitive in relation to other Forex brokers. In order to get a clearer view, let’s make a comparison.

CMC Markets fees compared to Interactive Brokers fees

*Inactivity fee was eliminated by IB in 2021, it used to be $20/m

CMC Markets fees compared to eToro fees

CMC Markets fees compared to IG fees

CMC Markets offers various types of trading platforms. MetaTrader 4 doesn’t need any introduction for experienced traders. It is simple to use and very powerful in execution. However, in case you are planning to trade shares, you will need to switch to share trading platforms as MetaTrader 4 is solely built for trading Forex pairs. In addition, you can trade using the web-based platform that offers access to various CFDs and modern looking interface.

CMC Markets provides mobile versions of all its trading platforms. While mobiles are useless in terms of conducting good market analysis due to their tiny screens, they can be quite handy when managing trades in emergency situations such as power outages, lost internet connections, computer breakdowns, etc. What’s more, mobile apps can keep you up-to-date and close to the markets whenever you need them. The apps provided by this broker offer all the necessary tools for analyzing and managing your trading orders. 

CMC Markets offers a wide variety of educational content to its traders. Traders get morning and weekly outlooks, economic calendars, webinars and seminars, and market analyses by various market experts. What’s more, traders can enhance their knowledge through videos by watching platform video guides, trading tips, lessons, and more. 

CMC Markets offers a great team of customer support specialists. Their responses are swift, friendly, professional, and on the ball when it comes to trading-related questions. However, customer support is only available 24/5 via mobile, while the live chat option is limited and not available 24/5. For many customers live chat is preferable to communication over the phone or via email. Which is an obvious downside. 

To sum everything up, CMC Markets is a well-regulated broker, operating globally (some countries excluded). The obvious strength of the broker is its ability to offer a wide range of asset types. Including physical shares and shares as CFDs. The broker’s fees are reasonable and the educational material is extensive. However, work needs to be done to improve the customer service availability over the chat.

It’s safe to say that CMC Markets is a great choice for multi-asset trading.