City Index review — costs, spreads & regulation

Overview

Legal / official name: StoneX Financial Ltd (trading as City Index)
Parent company: StoneX Group Inc. (NASDAQ: SNEX); City Index acquired by GAIN Capital in 2014 (~$118m), GAIN acquired by StoneX (then INTL FCStone) in 2020
Founded: 1983
Headquarters: Moor House, 1st Floor, 120 London Wall, London EC2Y 5ET, United Kingdom
Publicly listed: True
Accepts customers from: Applications considered from most countries via the UK (FCA) entity; EU residents are redirected to StoneX Europe Ltd (CySEC, operating as FOREX.com). Spread betting available to UK and Irish clients only. As of 2026 City Index is effectively a UK-centric brand after AU/SG operations were folded into FOREX.com in 2025.
Notable exclusions: USA and Canada (citizens/residents cannot open accounts due to their domestic financial regulations, per City Index FAQ); any country where distribution would contravene local law

Regulation & entities

Brokers operate multiple legal entities; the protections and leverage you get depend on which one holds your account.

Entity	Regulator	Licence	Region
StoneX Financial Ltd (trading as City Index; company no. 05616586, England & Wales)	FCA (UK Financial Conduct Authority)	FRN 446717	UK and most international countries (ex-EU, ex-US/Canada); spread betting UK & Ireland only
StoneX Europe Ltd (Cyprus, HE409708; CITYINDEX is an approved trade name but operates as FOREX.com)	CySEC (Cyprus Securities and Exchange Commission)	400/21 (issued 24 May 2021)	EU/EEA — City Index UK redirects EU applicants to this entity
StoneX Financial Pty Ltd (ACN 141 774 727) — operated City Index Australia until 30 Aug 2025, when it was rebranded to FOREX.com	ASIC (Australian Securities and Investments Commission)	AFSL 345646	Australia (HISTORICAL for the City Index brand — clients migrated to FOREX.com Aug 2025)
StoneX Financial Pte. Ltd. — operated City Index Singapore until April 2025, when it transitioned to FOREX.com	MAS (Monetary Authority of Singapore), Capital Markets Services licence	Not stated	Singapore (HISTORICAL for the City Index brand — clients migrated to FOREX.com Apr 2025)

Accounts & pricing

Account	Pricing model	Commission (round turn)	Typical EUR/USD spread	Min. deposit
Standard account (Web Trader / TradingView / mobile; CFD and spread betting)	Spread-only (variable and fixed spreads by market); commission only on shares CFDs (UK shares 0.08% min £10; US shares 1.8 cents/share min $10)	0	0.8	No minimum to open an account; card deposits have a 100-units-of-base-currency minimum per transaction (bank wire no minimum)
MT4 account	Spread-only, variable 'as low as 0.5 pts' EUR/USD; no commission except shares markets	0	Not stated	£100
Corporate account	Not stated	Not stated	Not stated	Not stated

Professional client account

Elective-professional status is only for traders who already meet strict eligibility tests. It removes retail protections — read what you would give up before considering it.

Offered: True
Eligibility: Must meet 2 of 3 FCA elective-professional criteria: (1) average of at least 10 significantly sized transactions per quarter over the last four quarters; (2) financial instrument portfolio over €500,000 including cash deposits (qualifying: cash savings, stock portfolios/ISAs, trading accounts, mutual funds, SIPPs; NOT company pensions or property); (3) 1+ years working in the financial sector in a professional role requiring knowledge of leveraged trading products
Max leverage (pro): Up to 400:1 (min margin 0.25% on major FX and major indices); commodities from 0.5% (200:1), shares from 3%, crypto from 5% (20:1)
Pricing/rebate vs retail: Same headline spreads but: monthly cash rebates on FX and indices from £25m notional/month (FX: £4/m at £25–79.99m, £6/m at £80–199.99m, £7.50/m at £200–299.99m, £300m+ negotiable; indices: £2/£6/£7.50 per million on the same tiers); 'Welcome Rebate' refunding initial trading costs; order-aware margins (stop-loss reduces margin required); credit facility on application; dedicated relationship manager; Interest Payment Scheme (initial 2% p.a. on average tradable funds ≥£20,000/month, also open to eligible retail clients)
Protections lost: Negative balance protection (obligation to repay negative balances); 50% margin close-out protection; FCA retail leverage caps; communications may use more sophisticated language
FSCS treatment: City Index's Pro pages do not state that FSCS cover is lost (only NBP and margin close-out are listed as lost); FSCS eligibility for individual elective professionals is generally retained under FSCS claimant rules, but the broker does not explicitly confirm this — verify before relying on it
Regional notes: UK (StoneX Financial Ltd, FCA). Application via MyAccount portal with supporting documentation. Inactive professional accounts are reassessed after 1+ year of inactivity (vs 3+ years for retail)

Costs

Deposit fees: Free — debit card, credit card and bank transfer all free (card issuer may charge for credit-card deposits); PayPal deposits discontinued 15 Dec 2024; card deposit minimum 100 units of base currency per transaction
Withdrawal fees: Free — no charges for withdrawals to debit/credit card or bank transfer (BACS); minimum withdrawal £100 (or full balance if lower); online maximum £20,000 per transaction; card withdrawals take 3–5 working days, domestic bank transfers 1–2 days
Inactivity fee: £12/month (or account balance if lower) after 12 months with no trade placed or open position maintained; other currencies: USD 15, EUR 15, AUD 15, CAD 20, CHF 15, SGD 15, JPY 1500, HKD 100, HUF 4500, NZD 25, PLN 50
Currency conversion: Back-to-base currency conversion at commercially reasonable rates up to +/-0.5% from quoted rates (CFD and FX accounts; spread betting accounts unaffected as all trades settle in base currency)
Swap-free available: False
Swap notes: Overnight financing on CFDs/spread bets at 2.5% +/- regional benchmark (UK: SONIA, US: SOFR, EU: €STR, AU: deposit rate), charged daily including weekends; FX positions financed via swap points; no financing on futures contracts; 50% spread discount on auto-rolled futures at expiry; no Islamic/swap-free account advertised on the UK site

Platforms & execution

MetaTrader 4: True
MetaTrader 5: False
cTrader: False
TradingView: Yes — dedicated TradingView platform offering (browser and desktop) plus TradingView charting embedded in Web Trader
Proprietary: Yes — Web Trader (browser) and City Index mobile app, with Performance Analytics (Chasing Returns), Reuters newsfeed and Trading Central
API access: No retail trading API advertised; a gated platform API documentation portal exists (platformapidocs.svc.cityindex.com, 'StoneX API') suggesting institutional/partner API access

Execution model: Market maker / principal (OTC dealer). Broker states it hedges exposure with its own funds and does not engage in proprietary trading. Published stats: 0.05s average execution, 99.83% of trades executed <1s, 99.99% success rate, with price improvement on limit orders under its best-execution policy
Max leverage (by region): UK retail: 30:1 major FX (3.33% margin), 20:1 minor FX/gold/major indices, 5% margin from on major indices per rate card, shares 20%, step margins increase with position size; UK elective professional: up to 400:1 (0.25% margin majors); EU applicants (StoneX Europe/CySEC as FOREX.com): 30:1 retail per ESMA; AU/SG: no longer served under the City Index brand
VPS: False
Copy trading: False

Instruments

Forex: Yes — 84 FX pairs (majors + minors), as CFDs and (UK/IE) spread bets
CFDs: Yes — 13,500+ markets: indices, shares, forex, commodities, metals, bonds, options, interest rates, thematic indices
Crypto CFDs: Professional clients only in the UK (crypto margin 5% listed on Professional rate card; rebate terms state 'FX includes all forex and cryptocurrency markets'); NOT offered to UK retail clients
Crypto for retail (no pro status): No — the FCA ban on selling crypto derivatives (CFDs/futures/options) to retail clients remains in force in 2026 (the Oct 2025 relaxation applied only to exchange-listed crypto ETNs, not derivatives)

Consumer protection

Negative balance protection: Yes for retail clients (FCA rules); explicitly LOST for elective professional clients
Client fund segregation: Yes — client funds held in segregated client accounts under FCA client money (CASS) rules; broker states it does not engage in proprietary trading and uses own funds for hedging
Compensation scheme: FSCS member. Broker website states compensation 'up to £120,000' — note: £120,000 is the FSCS DEPOSIT limit effective 1 Dec 2025; the FSCS INVESTMENTS limit (the class relevant to a CFD firm failure) remained £85,000 per the PRA/FSCS 2025 final rules. Treat the £120k marketing figure with caution.
Stated retail loss %: 70

Reputation

Trustpilot: 4.4 (Trustpilot)

Regulatory actions / fines

2011: FSA fined City Index Limited £490,000 for transaction reporting failures (~2m transactions misreported / ~55,000 unreported, Nov 2007–Sep 2009; 30% early-settlement discount applied)
2012–2023: multiple ASIC actions against the Australian operation (misleading statements, client-money handling deficiencies), including a November 2023 compensation requirement as part of ASIC's broader CFD-issuer penalties (per Wikipedia summary; affects the AU entity, since rebranded FOREX.com)
Note: various FINRA/exchange fines reported against StoneX Financial Inc. relate to the separate US securities affiliate, not City Index / StoneX Financial Ltd

Noted issues

2011: a trader exploited a platform loophole for £630,000 in profits; FSA noted City Index's failure to address the vulnerability
2002–2006 'plumber and Spaniard' episode involving a £6m spread bet on Cyprotex shares (businessman cleared May 2006)
2025 brand consolidation: City Index Singapore (Apr 2025) and Australia (30 Aug 2025) migrated to FOREX.com — persistent rumours the UK brand could follow are unconfirmed
PayPal deposits no longer supported since 15 Dec 2024 (withdrawals to PayPal still honoured)
Recent Trustpilot complaints: deposit declines, app bugs, inactivity fees charged during customer inability to trade (only 6 reviews in the last 12 months)

Sources

Every figure above is drawn from these sources, retrieved as of the dates shown.

Data notes: All money-critical figures were read directly from cityindex.com (UK site) on 2026-07-11 via live browser session. FX trading is spread-only on both Standard and MT4 accounts (commission applies only to shares CFDs), so round-turn FX commission is exactly 0. Nulls and caveats: (1) MT4 typical EURUSD spread is null — broker publishes only 'as low as 0.5 pts' for MT4; the 0.8 typical figure on the costs page reflects the standard pricing feed. (2) Corporate account pricing is not published — all nulls. (3) IB/revshare rates are not published by StoneX Marketing Partners (CPA tiers are); regional terms on request. (4) MAS licence number for the historical Singapore entity not verified. (5) FSCS: the broker's 'up to £120,000' claim matches the new DEPOSIT limit (1 Dec 2025), but the FSCS investments class relevant to a CFD-broker failure remained £85,000 — flagged as a discrepancy, not restated as fact. (6) Demo: real-time live pricing and same-markets parity are documented; execution parity is not. (7) Crypto CFDs: retail ban (FCA PS20/10) confirmed still in force in 2026; professional-client access evidenced by the 5% crypto margin on City Index's own Pro rate card. (8) publicly_listed=true refers to parent StoneX Group Inc. (NASDAQ: SNEX); City Index is not separately listed. (9) A City Index Middle East marketing site (cityindex.ae) exists but was unreachable for verification; search evidence indicates it operates via StoneX/GAIN UK entities with a UAE rep-office arrangement — not included in regulation[] as unverified. (10) AU/SG entities are included as HISTORICAL context because the City Index brand ceased there in 2025; an earlier comparison-site claim of 'AFSL 237755' was checked and found wrong (correct: AFSL 345646).

Cost figures reflect each broker's published specifications as of 11 July 2026 and can change; always check the broker's current terms. Most retail investor accounts lose money trading CFDs. PipTax compares costs and is not investment advice. How we research this.

City Index — costs, regulation & account details