CMC Markets review — costs, spreads & regulation

Overview

Legal / official name: CMC Markets plc
Parent company: CMC Markets plc (LSE-listed holding company); founder/CEO Peter Cruddas holds ~60.3% of shares
Founded: 1989
Headquarters: London, United Kingdom
Publicly listed: Yes - London Stock Exchange, ticker CMCX; FTSE 250 constituent since June 2016
Accepts customers from: Global coverage through regional entities: UK, EU/EEA (via German entity), Australia, New Zealand, Singapore, Canada, UAE/MENA and other markets served by the UK/international entity. Bermuda office opened March 2025 with a dual regulatory licence (details not published).
Notable exclusions: United States (CFDs and spread betting not offered to US residents). Third-party lists of other restricted countries conflict and include obvious errors, so no further exclusions are asserted; CMC does not publish a full restricted-country list.

Regulation & entities

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

Entity	Regulator	Licence	Region
CMC Markets UK plc	FCA (UK)	173730	United Kingdom (CFDs)
CMC Spreadbet plc	FCA (UK)	170627	United Kingdom (spread betting)
CMC Markets Germany GmbH	BaFin (Germany)	154814	EU/EEA (post-Brexit EU hub, Frankfurt)
CMC Markets Asia Pacific Pty Ltd	ASIC (Australia)	AFSL 238054	Australia (OTC derivatives/CFDs)
CMC Markets Stockbroking Ltd	ASIC (Australia)	AFSL 246381	Australia (stockbroking)
CMC Markets NZ Limited	FMA (New Zealand)	41187	New Zealand
CMC Markets Singapore Pte Ltd	MAS (Singapore)	UEN 200605050E	Singapore
CMC Markets Canada Inc	CIRO (Canada)	Not stated	Canada
CMC Markets Middle East Ltd	DFSA (Dubai)	F002740	UAE / MENA

Accounts & pricing

Account	Pricing model	Commission (round turn)	Typical EUR/USD spread	Min. deposit
CFD account (standard)	Spread-only for FX/indices/commodities (market-maker pricing); share CFDs charge separate commission (e.g. 0.10%/EUR 9 min Europe, 2 cents per unit/US$10 min US)	0	0.7	0
FX Active	Raw-spread + commission: 0.0025% per transaction = US$2.50 per US$100k notional per side (US$5.00 round turn per standard lot); 0.0-pip minimum spreads on EUR/USD, GBP/USD, AUD/USD, NZD/USD, USD/CAD, USD/JPY; 25% spread discount on other pairs vs standard account	5.0	0.65	Not stated
Spread betting account (UK & Ireland only)	Spread-only, tax-free spread betting for UK/IE residents via CMC Spreadbet plc (FCA 170627)	0	0.7	0

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: UK/EU (CMC Pro, elective professional under MiFID/FCA rules) - must meet 2 of 3: (1) 10 significantly-sized relevant trades per quarter over the last 4 quarters; (2) financial instrument portfolio exceeding EUR 500,000; (3) at least 1 year working in a relevant professional position in the financial sector. Australia (CMC Pro, wholesale client under Corporations Act) - wealth test: net assets of at least A$2.5M; OR sophisticated test: gross income of at least A$250k p.a. in each of the last 2 financial years PLUS at least 50 trades per quarter (any 4 quarters in last 5 years) with at least A$500k notional per qualifying quarter.
Max leverage (pro): Up to 500:1 on major FX pairs and major indices (0.20% margin, CMC platform); gold 200:1; commodities ~133:1; shares 40:1; crypto 20:1-100:1 depending on asset. MT4 caps differ (e.g. indices 200:1, crypto 6.67:1). Figures from CMC's Australian Pro page; UK Pro page confirms 'higher leverage' vs retail 30:1/2:1 caps without publishing a single figure.
Pricing/rebate vs retail: Same core spreads as retail, plus volume-based FX rebates for Pro clients: tiers of 5%, 10%, 15% or 20% once monthly FX turnover reaches ~US$25M (per CMC AU Pro page). Separately, the Alpha/Price+ loyalty scheme (UK, AU, NZ, CA) gives volume-tiered spread discounts up to ~28.6% and interest on unused equity (Alpha invitation at ~GBP 25k account value).
Protections lost: Negative balance protection (losses can exceed deposits); ESMA/FCA/ASIC retail leverage caps; standardised risk warnings and (in AU) PDS/FSG update rights; access to Financial Ombudsman Service 'will not extend to all professional clients' (UK) and AFCA external dispute resolution may be lost (AU).
FSCS treatment: CMC's UK Pro page states the FSCS GBP 85,000 protection applies to retail client money - professional clients should assume FSCS eligibility is not assured; CMC does not publish a definitive statement that elective professionals retain FSCS cover.
Regional notes: UK/EU use the MiFID elective-professional test; Australia uses the separate wholesale/sophisticated client tests with different thresholds (A$2.5M net assets / A$250k income). Crypto derivatives available to UK clients only with professional status; weekend crypto trading cited for professional accounts.

Costs

Deposit fees: None charged by CMC for standard deposit methods (bank transfer/debit card); currency conversion applies if depositing in a non-base currency
Withdrawal fees: No withdrawal fee for standard domestic withdrawals; international bank wires may incur fees that vary by payment method and location (exact amounts not published centrally by CMC)
Inactivity fee: GBP 10 per month (or currency equivalent) after 12 continuous months with no trading activity and no open positions; stops once balance reaches zero; up to 3 months (max GBP 30) refunded if the account is reactivated by trading
Currency conversion: CMC applies its 'prevailing currency conversion rate' to non-base-currency trades/fees; third-party analysis (BrokerChooser) puts the markup at ~0.5% - CMC does not publish the exact percentage
Swap-free available: False
Swap notes: Overnight holding costs: FX and commodities based on tom-next rate plus a 0.0027% daily CMC charge; share/ETF/index CFDs based on notional value / 365 at an interbank reference rate +/- CMC markup; triple holding costs applied Wednesday or Thursday depending on instrument. No Islamic/swap-free account offered by any CMC entity.

Platforms & execution

MetaTrader 4: True
MetaTrader 5: Yes - MT5 WebTrader available (availability varies by entity); CMC Markets Canada launched MT5 in June 2026 with 1,100+ instruments
cTrader: False
TradingView: Yes - TradingView integration launched April 2025; listed as a UK platform option alongside web/mobile/MT4
Proprietary: Next Generation web platform + CMC Markets mobile app (award-winning proprietary stack)
API access: No public retail API. Institutional access via CMC Connect: FIX API, white-label, 300+ FX pairs and 80+ index/commodity/treasury CFDs. Automated retail trading possible via MT4/MT5 Expert Advisors.

Execution model: Market maker (CMC acts as principal counterparty and internalises/hedges risk). Widely documented in group filings and major reviews, though CMC does not label itself 'market maker' on retail pages; no STP/ECN claim is made.
Max leverage (by region): UK/EU retail: 30:1 major FX (margin from 3.34%), 2:1 crypto (UK retail crypto banned outright). Australia retail: 30:1 major FX, 2:1 crypto under ASIC PIO. Professional/wholesale (UK/EU/AU): up to 500:1 major FX/indices. NZ/SG/CA per local entity rules (not verified this session).
Copy trading: No native copy-trading product advertised by CMC (2026 reviews concur); signal-copying only via MT4/MT5 ecosystem

Instruments

Forex: Yes - 300+ currency pairs (institutional arm advertises 300+ FX pairs; retail marketing has cited ~330)
CFDs: Yes - thousands of CFDs across indices, commodities, shares, ETFs and treasuries; spread betting versions in UK/Ireland; cash equities/options via newer CMC invest-style offerings
Crypto CFDs: Yes outside the UK retail channel - including 24/7 crypto CFD trading launched in Australia; UK entity offers crypto derivatives to professional clients only
Crypto for retail (no pro status): UK: No - FCA ban on sale of crypto derivatives to retail clients remains in force as of 2026. Australia: Yes - retail crypto CFDs permitted with max 2:1 leverage under ASIC's product intervention order. EU (Germany GmbH): not verified this session.

Consumer protection

Negative balance protection: Yes for retail clients (FCA/ESMA rules in UK/EU; ASIC Product Intervention Order in Australia). Explicitly NOT available to professional/wholesale (CMC Pro) clients.
Client fund segregation: Yes - client money held in segregated client bank accounts per CMC's client-money regulations page (all major entities)
Compensation scheme: UK: FSCS up to GBP 85,000 - CMC's own Pro page states this protection applies to retail client money. Australia/NZ/Singapore: no equivalent statutory compensation scheme for CFD clients.
Stated retail loss %: 68

Reputation

Trustpilot: 4.2 (Trustpilot)

Regulatory actions / fines

Nov 2023 (ASIC media release 23-298MR): CMC Markets was one of 7 CFD issuers (with IG, Pepperstone, Saxo, Capital.com, Eightcap, City Index) that self-reported breaches of ASIC's CFD leverage-ratio limits (Product Intervention Order 2020/986); the group collectively paid/agreed ~AU$4.3M compensation to 1,500+ retail clients. Causes cited: IT change-management weaknesses and manual leverage-setting errors.
Ongoing Australian Federal Court class action (Johnson Winter Slattery) against CMC Markets Asia Pacific Pty Ltd over CFDs (incl. margin FX) and binary options (incl. Digital 100s/countdowns) issued to retail investors between 7 Nov 2011 and 30 Apr 2021.

Noted issues

2012 'cash for access' political-donations scandal involving founder Peter Cruddas (personal/political, not client-facing broker conduct; 2015 appeal court upheld core press claims).
Australian Trustpilot page (cmcmarkets.com.au) rated 1.4/5, though from only ~45 reviews, versus 4.2/5 (~3,258 reviews) on the main www.cmcmarkets.com profile.

Sources

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

Data notes: Verified 2026-07-11, mostly against CMC's own pages. Key caveats: (1) Retail loss disclosure differs by entity - 68% on the UK site (en-gb/cfd-trading) vs 48% on the international 'en' FX Active page; the schema field records the UK figure. (2) Standard CFD account FX is spread-only, so commission is recorded as 0; EUR/USD is advertised 'from 0.5 pips' by CMC with ~0.7 typical per third-party measurements - 0.7 is used as 'typical'. FX Active: US$5.00 round-turn per standard lot is exact (0.0025%/side); 0.65 typical EUR/USD spread is ForexBrokers.com June-2025 measured data, not a CMC-published average. (3) FX Active minimum deposit not published - null. (4) International wire withdrawal fee amounts are not published by CMC ('varies by method/location') - left descriptive. (5) Currency conversion markup: CMC only says 'prevailing rate'; the 0.5% figure is BrokerChooser's - flagged as secondary. (6) demo_pricing_matches_live is null: CMC documents no-expiry demo with virtual funds but publishes no statement that demo pricing/execution matches live. (7) Execution model 'market maker' reflects group filings and consistent third-party documentation, not a self-description on a single retail page. (8) VPS: null - no CMC VPS offer found, but absence not definitively confirmed. (9) CIRO licence number and the Bermuda entity's licence details not found - null. (10) Restricted-country lists beyond the US on comparison sites are unreliable (some list countries where CMC has regulated entities); only the US exclusion is asserted. (11) Trustpilot 4.2/5 (~3,258 reviews) was read from search-result snippets of the live Trustpilot page (direct fetch blocked, 403). (12) MT5 availability varies by region (confirmed international WebTrader page + Canada June-2026 launch); UK page fetch listed only web/mobile/MT4/TradingView. (13) No ASIC/FCA monetary fine against CMC found; the 2023 ASIC action was industry-wide remediation/compensation, and the AU class action is ongoing - neither is a licence sanction.

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.

CMC Markets — costs, regulation & account details