CMC Markets Review – 2023
Established in 1989 in the UK, CMC has grown to become one of the world’s true global leaders in the financial trading industry, with some 60,000 clients scattered around the world, a global office network with hubs in Sydney & Singapore, and some 575 employees. CMC is listed on the London Stock Exchange (ticker: CMCX).
What Are The Benefits of Trading With CMC Markets?
Respected, well-known & experienced
CMC Markets have been around a long time – since launching in 1989, they have grown to become a global CFD and stockbroking giant, with clients using their trading platforms in almost 100 countries around the world. Trading with a well-known and experienced company is important to a lot of people – and CMC is certainly that, well-known, respected and experienced.
Average-to-competitive pricing
CMC offer average-to-competitive spreads and commissions, plus their live pricing is fairly reliable. You can trade EUR/USD and AUD/USD from 0.7 pips, major indices from 1 point and commissions on shares starting from 0.10% (minimum AUD $9.90).
Award-winning company
CMC continuously win industry awards – in fact, in the past 2 years they’ve won over 50! These awards cover a number of key areas; customer service, innovation, technology, outstanding value etc. They are also spread across both their Next Generation CFD trading platform and their stockbroking platform.
World-class trading platforms
Choose between two excellent and intuitive trading platforms; the Next Generation CFD trade platform or the Stockbroking platform, available in ‘Standard’ and ‘Pro’ versions. Both platforms have won numerous awards and these are well deserved – both platforms offer a top-class trading experience.
Wide range of products to trade
With CMC Markets, you can access over 10,000 financial products including CFDs on stocks, indices, commodities, ETFs FX and more, as well as a wide range of stockbroking products – all form one account.
Why CMC Markets Might Not Be For You
Expensive subscription fees
If you want to view CMC’s market price data for certain products, you will need to activate the appropriate market data subscription (and pay for it). This is applicable for both stockbroking data and when trading CFDs.
Variable (and often wide) spreads
CMC offer variable spreads which means in times of market volatility, their spreads will widen, making it more expensive for you to trade. Fixed spreads are much more preferable. You can see the key differences between fixed and variable spreads here.
Hefty phone brokerage fee
You can trade over the phone with CMC Markets but be prepared to pay for it – brokerage fees of around $60 are not uncommon.
No MT4 or cTrader
CMC Markets have focused exclusively on their NextGen trading platform and do not offer the popular MT4 platform or other platforms like cTrader or IRESS.
Which Markets Can I Trade With CMC Markets?
With CMC you have access to over 10,000 CFD products and a further 2000 domestic shares on their stockbroking platform, including;
- Indices: 99 Indexes to trade on including all the main ones (AUS 200, UK 100, US 30 etc.)
- FX: trade over 330 FX pairs with spreads starting at 0.7 pips
- Stock CFDs: trade on some 9,000+ global shares
- Commodities: trade 100+ commodity CFDs – Coffee, Gold, Silver, Copper, Brent Crude oil, plus more
- Treasuries: trade government debt instruments like bonds, bunds and gilts. CMC offers access to 55 treasury CFDs including cash and forward products
Other Important Features – CMC Markets
Trading tools
CMC offers a wide variety of trading tools to help you make informed trade decisions, such as client sentiment %’s, pattern recognition scanner, chart indicators, free independent research, news and analysis, eBooks, trading insights and more.
Licenced and regulated
CMC is regulated in a number of different jurisdictions around the world, including being regulated in Australia by ASIC. CMC are also a market participant for the ASX Group, SSX and Chi-X, AFSL No. 246381 (the stockbroking services provider).
Security of funds
All client money is held in segregated client bank accounts with Westpac, a Tier 1 AA-rated Australian bank. These funds are not used for hedging purposes.
Trade anywhere
CMC have designed and built mobile trading solutions for iPhone, iPad and Android. These apps allow you to place trades and check your positions on the move.
