CMC Markets has traded since 1989 and has been listed on the London Stock Exchange since 2016, so its accounts are audited and public in a way almost no other CFD broker’s are. Next Generation is one of the few proprietary platforms worth choosing over MetaTrader. Costs are mixed: forex and index pricing is competitive, share CFD commissions are not, and there is still no swap-free account. Most retail accounts here lose money.
Disclosure: we may earn a commission if you open an account through links on this page. It does not affect our findings, our scores, or the order brokers appear in. Read how we make money.
| Overall rating | 8.4/10 |
|---|---|
| Founded | 1989 |
| Headquarters | London, United Kingdom |
| Main licences | FCA UK (173730 and 170627), ASIC Australia (AFSL 238054 and 246381), BaFin Germany (154814), MAS Singapore |
| Minimum deposit | None; the broker suggests £100 as a working minimum |
| Spread from | 0.7 pips on EUR/USD standard; 0.0 pips on FX Active plus commission |
| Maximum leverage | 1:30 retail; up to 1:500 for qualified professional clients |
| Instruments | 12,000+ |
| Swap-free available | No |
| Retail loss rate | 68% |
We opened a live account, ran it for two weeks, placed 50 orders, requested a real withdrawal and contacted support without identifying ourselves as reviewers. Testing ran through February 2026. Licences, fees, entity structure, platform availability and ownership were re-verified on 27 July 2026, and everything that has moved since is flagged below. Read our methodology.
Pros and cons
What we liked
- Four tier-1 regulators — FCA, ASIC, BaFin and MAS — with two authorised entities in both the UK and Australia.
- A FTSE 250 listing, so the accounts are audited and public. FY2026 net operating income was £392.6m, up 15%, with pre-tax profit of £101.3m.
- Next Generation carries 115+ indicators, an automatic pattern scanner, built-in backtesting and per-trade performance analytics.
- Guaranteed stop-loss orders whose premium is refunded in full if the stop is never triggered.
- 12,000+ instruments from one account, including 330 forex pairs against the 50 to 80 most brokers offer.
- No minimum deposit, and no deposit or standard withdrawal fee.
- Our tested withdrawal cleared in four business days with no document requests.
What we did not
- No swap-free account under any entity. Overnight financing applies to every position held past the daily cut-off.
- £10 per month inactivity fee after twelve months without a trade, waived only under the German entity.
- High share CFD commissions: 0.10% with a €9 minimum on most European shares, $0.02 per share with a $10 minimum on US and Canadian stock.
- MetaTrader 5 is unavailable to UK, EU and Australian clients — Canada only, since June 2026.
- Support runs Monday to Friday, roughly 8am to 8pm London. No 24/5 desk, no weekend cover.
- An unresolved Australian class action over historical CFD conduct, and a 2023 ASIC-supervised remediation for exceeding leverage caps. Both detailed below.
Company information
Peter Cruddas founded CMC Markets in London in 1989 as Currency Management Corporation. He remains Founder and Chief Executive and holds roughly 60% of the equity, so the person who built the firm still runs it and still carries the downside.
The company floated on the London Stock Exchange in February 2016 as CMCX and sits in the FTSE 250. That matters more than it sounds: a listed broker publishes audited accounts and discloses material shareholdings, so you can read the capital position rather than take a marketing page’s word for it. Very few CFD brokers offer that, and it is the largest structural difference between CMC Markets and the offshore firms it competes with on price.
For the year to March 2026 the group reported net operating income of £392.6m, up 15%, pre-tax profit of £101.3m, up 20%, and record assets under administration of £46.3bn. Revenue increasingly comes from B2B and wholesale channels, with CMC technology sitting behind banks, brokers and neobanks; partners have included Revolut and Westpac. The group runs 15 offices across the UK, Australia, Germany, Canada, New Zealand, Singapore and Bermuda. One ownership change since our testing: Jersey-based Apex Financial Services (Trust Company) Limited crossed the disclosure threshold on 29 June 2026 with a 3.07% stake, which is an institutional holding rather than a change of control.
Who this broker suits (and who it does not)
This fits a technical trader who wants breadth of markets and serious charting from a firm whose finances are public. Trading several asset classes from one account and one margin pool saves real operational friction, and the 330 forex pairs and 40-plus government bond instruments go well past what most competitors carry. It also suits anyone whose main worry is counterparty risk, since a FTSE 250 company under FCA supervision with FSCS behind it is a different proposition from a cheaper broker in a jurisdiction with no compensation scheme.
It does not suit three groups: anyone needing a swap-free account, because there is none here and no workaround; traders committed to MetaTrader 5, which is Canada-only; and share CFD traders working in size, because the commission schedule is materially more expensive than specialist competitors and the gap compounds across a year. Buy-and-hold traders should also think carefully, since overnight financing on a leveraged long accrues daily and, over months, routinely exceeds the spread you compared when choosing the broker.
Licensing and regulation
This is the strongest part of the proposition. We checked each licence against the regulator’s own register in February 2026 and again on 27 July 2026.
| Regulator | Legal entity | Reference | Status at 27 July 2026 |
|---|---|---|---|
| FCA, United Kingdom | CMC Markets UK plc | 173730 | Authorised |
| FCA, United Kingdom | CMC Spreadbet plc | 170627 | Authorised |
| ASIC, Australia | CMC Markets Asia Pacific Pty Ltd | AFSL 238054 | Current |
| ASIC, Australia | CMC Markets Stockbroking Ltd | AFSL 246381 | Current |
| BaFin, Germany | CMC Markets Germany GmbH | 154814 | Authorised |
| MAS, Singapore | CMC Markets Singapore Pte Ltd | UEN 200605050E | Holds a capital markets services licence |
Your entity depends on where you live. UK clients face CMC Markets UK plc, or CMC Spreadbet plc for spread betting; EU clients are served through the German entity in Frankfurt; Australian clients contract with CMC Markets Asia Pacific Pty Ltd. Protections differ by entity, so confirm which one appears on your client agreement before funding — FSCS cover follows the UK entity and does not travel.
One correction to our original review, which gave a specific MAS licence number: we could not verify that number against MAS records, so we are not repeating it. The entity is registered as UEN 200605050E and holds a capital markets services licence covering OTC derivatives and leveraged foreign exchange. The specific CMS licence number is not verified at the time of publication. The rest can be confirmed on the FCA register and the ASIC professional registers.
Regulatory findings we are disclosing
Three things emerged in the July re-check that our original review did not carry. None is a fraud finding, a licence restriction or a client-money shortfall, and none stopped us publishing a rating — but readers searching this broker’s name will meet all three.
ASIC leverage remediation, November 2023. ASIC supervised AU$4.3m in compensation to more than 1,500 retail clients across seven CFD brokers — CMC Markets among them, alongside IG, Pepperstone, Saxo, Capital.com, Eightcap and City Index — for offering leverage above the caps in force since March 2021. The firms self-reported. ASIC recorded the causes as change-management weaknesses, including inadequate testing of IT systems after platform updates, and manual error. No licence condition or penalty was imposed on CMC Markets and the matter closed on repayment. We read this as a settled, self-reported, non-deliberate breach rather than a pattern, but it concerns a client-protection rule, and it is why the regulation score below is 9.0 rather than 9.5.
Federal Court class action, Australia. Edin Zulic & Anor v CMC Markets Asia Pacific Pty Ltd (NSD410/2022) was filed in 2022, run by Johnson Winter Slattery and funded by Harbour Fund V. It alleges CMC issued highly leveraged CFDs and binary products to retail investors for whom they were unsuitable, and misrepresented or inadequately disclosed the risks. The claim period runs 7 November 2011 to 30 April 2021, with trial listed for October 2027. The allegations are unproven and CMC is defending them. Two points of context: the claim period closed in April 2021 when ASIC’s product intervention order took effect and binary options were banned outright for Australian retail clients, so the regime that permitted the conduct alleged no longer exists; and this is private litigation, not regulator enforcement. It does not change what a client opening an account today is exposed to, but it is live, and it belongs on the record.
Impersonation warnings. Several regulator warnings carry a version of the CMC name and none is a warning against this broker. The FCA warning list includes cmcmarket-assets.com, added 11 February 2026, and CMC Global Markets from December 2022 — unauthorised firms trading on a similar name. BaFin has published identity-theft notices against cmc-trader.com (June 2023) and cmc-market.live (June 2024), the second falsely claiming in its imprint to be operated by CMC Markets Germany GmbH. A further FCA warning concerning CMC Capital clones an unrelated authorised firm. If you meet a CMC warning while researching, check whether the entity named is CMC Markets UK plc; the scam checks that matter here start with the regulator’s own firm checker rather than a link supplied by whoever contacted you.
Opening an account and verification
Opening an account in February 2026 was orderly rather than fast, and the delay was regulatory rather than administrative. The personal details form took about five minutes. Next came an appropriateness questionnaire on trading experience, income source and financial position, mandated by the FCA and ASIC to establish that you understand what a leveraged CFD does before you may trade one. Answer it honestly rather than optimising for approval; it is the only point in the process where a regulator is actively trying to protect you from yourself.
We then submitted a passport scan and a recent bank statement as proof of address. Document checks completed in one business day, faster than the one to three business days typical across brokers we test, and the account was ready to fund. There is no mandatory minimum deposit; CMC Markets suggests at least £100 or currency equivalent, which is realistic rather than promotional, since a smaller balance leaves almost no room between entry and a margin close-out.
Account types
| Account | Minimum deposit | Spread | Commission | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Standard CFD | None | From 0.7 pips | None on forex | Cost is entirely in the spread |
| FX Active | None | From 0.0 pips | $2.50 per $100,000 per side | Raw pricing on six majors; 25% spread discount on 300+ other pairs |
| Alpha | $25,000 | Reduced | Reduced | Rebates across spread, commission and holding costs |
| Professional | Experience and asset criteria | From 0.0 pips | By instrument | Leverage to 1:500; regulatory protections reduced |
| Spectre (UK) | None | Standard | None | Zero-leverage spread betting; no financing cost on longs |
| Demo | None | Mirrors live | Mirrors live | Virtual funds, no time limit |
FX Active is the one to look at for active forex trading. At $2.50 per $100,000 per side — $5.00 round turn — against a 0.0 pip raw spread, all-in cost on EUR/USD lands near 0.5 pips: competitive with dedicated ECN brokers and clearly better than the standard account’s 0.7. The 25% discount on 300-plus non-major pairs matters more if you trade outside the majors. Alpha requires $25,000 and layers further rebates across spread, commission and holding costs. The demo mirrored live pricing accurately and carries no expiry.
Two changes since our original review. Professional status now reaches 1:500 leverage, but qualifying means surrendering negative balance protection and access to the Financial Ombudsman Service — a poor trade for most people. And Spectre, a zero-leverage spread betting account launched to UK professional clients in late 2025, opened to UK retail clients on 18 May 2026.
Swap-free and overnight financing
CMC Markets does not offer a swap-free or Islamic account. We confirmed this during testing and re-confirmed it on 27 July 2026. No entity, account tier or request process removes overnight financing from a leveraged position. For anyone who requires swap-free terms — for religious reasons, or simply to hold long-dated positions without a daily interest drag — that is a hard exclusion, and no amount of platform quality compensates for it.
One partial development is worth stating precisely, because it is easy to overstate. Spectre funds long positions at 100% margin from your own capital, so those positions carry no financing cost and no margin calls; short positions can still involve leverage and margin calls. It is not an Islamic account, it is not certified Sharia-compliant by anyone, spread betting is available only to UK and Irish clients, and it does not extend to CFD accounts. It removes overnight financing from one product in one jurisdiction. It does not make CMC Markets a swap-free broker.
Fees and trading costs
We sampled spreads across the trading day in February 2026 against three direct competitors. Spreads widened noticeably around the US close and before the Asian open, and held close to advertised levels through the European and US sessions.
| Instrument | CMC Markets | IG | Saxo Bank | IC Markets |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| EUR/USD | 0.7 pips | 0.8 pips | 0.6 pips | 0.8 pips |
| GBP/USD | 1.0 pips | 1.0 pips | 0.9 pips | 1.0 pips |
| USD/JPY | 0.9 pips | 0.9 pips | 0.6 pips | 0.8 pips |
| AUD/USD | 0.8 pips | 0.8 pips | 0.6 pips | 0.8 pips |
| USD/CHF | 1.5 pips | 1.5 pips | 1.2 pips | 1.0 pips |
| Gold (XAU/USD) | 0.35 points | 0.30 points | 0.33 points | 0.05 points |
| Oil (WTI) | 3.0 points | 2.8 points | 5.0 points | 3.0 points |
IC Markets figures are for its commission-free standard account; its raw account prices considerably tighter with commission added. Comparative data was gathered in the first quarter of 2026 from broker pricing pages and independent measurement, so treat the table as a snapshot rather than a live quote. The standard account is competitive with IG and beaten on the majors by Saxo; FX Active changes that picture for anyone doing volume.
Commissions
The standard account charges no commission on forex, indices or commodities — cost sits entirely in the spread. FX Active charges $2.50 per $100,000 notional per side.
Share CFDs are where this gets expensive. We were charged 0.10% with a €9 minimum on most European shares, and $0.02 per share with a $10 minimum on US and Canadian stock. On small US positions that minimum dominates: a $2,000 trade in a $40 stock costs $10 in and $10 out, or 1% round trip before the spread. Specialist share CFD brokers price this far more keenly, and if share CFDs are your main activity this is the wrong broker on cost alone.
Overnight financing and non-trading fees
Financing applies daily at 5pm New York time. On forex it derives from the interest rate differential between the two currencies plus a CMC Markets margin of 0.0027% per day; our EUR/USD holding costs fell within the expected range against competitors. On indices and share CFDs, holding cost builds off the relevant risk-free benchmark plus 2.5% on longs and minus 2.5% on shorts.
There are no deposit fees and no standard withdrawal fees, though express international bank transfers now carry a £15 charge — an addition since our original review. The inactivity fee is the one to watch: twelve consecutive months without a trade triggers £10 per month from available balance. A zero balance is not charged, and clients under the German BaFin entity are exempt. If you do not intend to trade regularly, withdraw the balance rather than leave it idle, because a dormant account can quietly lose £120 a year.
Desktop platforms
Next Generation is why many people choose this broker, and after a week of concentrated use we think that is defensible. It runs in the browser with no download, loaded quickly and stayed stable throughout, and the interface is fully configurable — windows resize, rearrange and pin to whatever layout you work in.
- 115+ technical indicators, 40 drawing tools and 12 chart types, including Renko.
- An automatic pattern scanner flagging chart formations in real time.
- Built-in strategy backtesting.
- Personal performance analytics on your own trading statistics.
- Advanced risk controls, including guaranteed stop-loss orders.
On charting flexibility it is ahead of stock MetaTrader, and the pattern scanner and integrated backtesting are things MetaTrader users normally bolt on through third-party tools.
Platform availability has changed since our original review, in the broker’s favour. Our February assessment called CMC Markets proprietary-only with no MetaTrader 5, and that was too strong. MetaTrader 4 is available to UK and Australian clients, with spreads from 0.5 pips on six major pairs and execution on a London server. TradingView integration launched in 2025 across all 12,000-plus instruments. MetaTrader 5 launched at CMC Markets Canada in June 2026 with more than 1,100 instruments, and remains unavailable to UK, EU and Australian clients — so the criticism now applies to specific jurisdictions rather than the broker as a whole. This moved the platforms score up.
Mobile apps
We tested the CMC Trading App on iOS and Android in February 2026, when it carried 4.1 out of 5 on Google Play from more than 2,800 reviews. It reproduces most desktop functionality — full instrument access, advanced order types, charting with the indicator set, and instrument search and filtering. We placed 15 orders from the app and found execution speed indistinguishable from the web platform.
- Custom price alerts with push notification.
- Interactive charts with the full indicator library.
- Full account management — deposits, withdrawals and transfers.
- Detailed performance and portfolio breakdowns.
Design is functional rather than elegant; several competitors have better-looking apps. One caveat we did not experience but should report: a number of app store reviews describe intermittent outages during sharp volatility. We saw none across two weeks, but the volume of similar reports is enough that anyone managing positions exclusively from a phone should keep a fallback route to the desk.
Trading tools
| Asset class | Approximate count | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Forex pairs | 330+ | Majors, minors and exotics |
| Shares and ETFs | 10,000+ | US, European, Asian and Australian listings |
| Commodities | 90+ | Precious metals, energy and agricultural |
| Indices | 70+ | Major and secondary global indices |
| Cryptocurrencies | 18 | Availability restricted by jurisdiction |
| Government bonds | 40+ | Sovereign debt across multiple countries |
Everything is available from a single account with no sub-accounts to open. The 330 forex pairs stand out most, against the 50 to 80 most brokers carry — useful only if you actually trade exotics or emerging market crosses, but few competitors match it if you do. The 40-plus government bond instruments are similarly unusual in a retail CFD offering. Equity coverage concentrates on US, European, Australian and Japanese listings and thins out in smaller and emerging markets, so check the instruments you trade are listed before funding on the strength of the headline 12,000 figure.
Order execution
We placed 50 orders on a live account. Execution is fully automated with no dealer intervention, so orders fill at the next available price on arrival. Across our sample the proportion filling at exactly the requested price was high during active sessions, with minor slippage confined to volatile periods — normal, and not a mark against the broker.
- Market orders, filled immediately at the available price.
- Limit orders, triggered at a specified level.
- Stop orders for position protection.
- Trailing stops that follow price movement.
- Guaranteed stop-loss orders that fill at exactly the specified level.
The guaranteed stop-loss order is the strongest risk tool here. It fills at your specified price even through a gap or a violent move, which an ordinary stop does not. The premium varies by instrument and position size and, critically, is refunded in full if the stop is never triggered — uncommon, since most brokers charging for guaranteed stops keep the premium regardless. It converts gap risk from unbounded into a known, refundable cost. The order ticket also lets you set an acceptable price range, rejecting any fill outside it, which is useful around scheduled economic releases where slippage is worst.
Deposits
| Method | Processing time | Fee | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| Bank transfer | 2-3 business days | None from CMC Markets | No minimum |
| Debit or credit card | Immediate | None | Maximum £50,000 per deposit in the UK |
| PayPal | Immediate | None | Individual retail and professional accounts only |
Funding options are narrower than several competitors offer, but the core routes work cleanly and CMC Markets charges nothing on any of them. We funded by bank transfer and the money arrived in two business days; your own bank may apply an international transfer fee, which is outside CMC’s control. PayPal is open to individual retail and professional accounts but excluded for corporate and joint accounts. Base currencies include sterling, US dollars, euros and Australian dollars — fund in anything else and you pay a conversion cost each way, so pick the base currency matching how you are actually paid.
Withdrawals
| Method | Processing time | Fee | Limit |
|---|---|---|---|
| Bank transfer, domestic | 1-2 business days | None | No limit |
| Bank transfer, international | 3-5 business days | None standard; £15 express | No limit |
| Debit or credit card | 1-5 business days | None | £40,000 |
| PayPal | 1-2 business days | None | £10,000 |
When we tested in February 2026 we submitted an international bank transfer request before the stated 4pm London cut-off. It was processed the same day and funds reached the destination account in four business days, with no additional documents requested and no delay introduced. Nothing about the process resembled the friction that generates most broker withdrawal complaints.
One restriction to plan around: card withdrawals are capped at what you deposited on that card in the preceding twelve months, and anything above must leave by bank transfer. That is standard anti-money-laundering practice rather than an obstacle, but it surprises people who deposited by card. Since our testing, express international transfers carry a £15 fee; the standard route remains free.
Customer support
| Channel | Hours | Languages | Our assessment |
|---|---|---|---|
| Telephone | Monday to Friday, 8am-8pm London | English, German, French and others | Good |
| Live chat | Business hours | English | Very good |
| Response within 24 hours | English | Acceptable |
We put a deliberately technical question to live chat about how overnight financing is calculated and had a detailed, accurate answer in three minutes, including worked examples. The agent understood the mechanics rather than reading from a script, which is not the usual experience. A phone call during business hours was answered in roughly one minute with no queue.
The weakness is coverage, not quality. There is no 24/5 desk and no weekend support. Roughly 8am to 8pm London, Monday to Friday, means the entire Asian session runs without a support option, which matters if you hold positions across it. Supported languages include English, Chinese, French, German, Italian, Norwegian, Polish, Spanish and Swedish.
Research and education
- An in-house analyst team producing daily and weekly market commentary.
- Morningstar quantitative equity research, available to funded account holders.
- Reuters market news integrated directly into the platform.
- An AI news feature that extracts and summarises market-moving stories.
- CMC TV, a live market analysis broadcast produced to a professional standard.
- The OPTO Sessions podcast, named best podcast of 2024 by ForexBrokers.com.
Research is a real strength and more substantial than the marketing-led output most brokers publish. Morningstar equity research behind a funded account is an institutional-grade resource, and the sort of thing most retail brokers substitute with a proprietary sentiment gauge. The education library runs past 150 articles from basics to advanced strategy, plus guides to CFDs, forex and shares and regular webinars. We found the AI news feature a genuine time-saver for scanning developments. The usual caveat applies throughout: broker research is produced by a firm that earns when you trade, so treat it as an input rather than a recommendation.
Fund safety and protections
Client money segregation. Under the FCA’s CASS rules, retail client funds sit in segregated accounts entirely separate from company money at major UK banks including NatWest, Barclays and Lloyds, reconciled daily against client entitlements.
FSCS cover. Clients of CMC Markets UK plc are covered for eligible claims up to £85,000 if the firm fails. This is a UK statutory scheme rather than a promise from the broker, which is what makes it worth something, and it follows the UK entity only.
Negative balance protection. Retail clients cannot lose more than their account balance. This is mandatory under UK, EU and Australian rules, and is one of the protections surrendered on professional classification.
Shield Mode. Combines guaranteed stop-loss orders with negative balance protection to cap maximum loss on a position — a useful structural constraint for anyone prone to overriding their own risk plan, since the ceiling is set before the trade rather than during it.
Listed-company disclosure. FTSE 250 membership brings audited half-year and full-year accounts and continuous disclosure obligations, so capital position and profitability can be inspected directly. That is unavailable at most CFD brokers and is a real, if indirect, protection.
If your account sits under the Australian, German or Singapore entity, compensation arrangements differ and FSCS does not apply. Confirm your entity and what covers it before funding.
Risk warning: 68% of retail investor accounts lose money when spread betting or trading CFDs with this provider. These are leveraged products, losses can exceed deposits on professional accounts, and the great majority of retail clients lose money over time. Do not trade with money you cannot afford to lose.
Verdict
CMC Markets scores 8.4 out of 10. It is one of a small number of CFD brokers in our broker reviews where the corporate structure genuinely reduces counterparty risk rather than merely appearing to: four tier-1 regulators, a London listing, audited accounts, and client money at three major UK banks under CASS. Add the best proprietary platform we have tested in this bracket and 12,000 instruments from one account, and the case is strong.
The case against is specific rather than general. There is no swap-free account and no substitute on CFD accounts. Share CFD commissions are high enough to disqualify the broker for equity-focused traders. The £10 monthly inactivity fee penalises dormant accounts. Support covers neither the Asian session nor weekends. And two Australian matters — a 2023 leverage-cap remediation and a class action listed for trial in 2027 — sit on the record, both concerning historical conduct, neither restricting the licence.
| Category | Weight | Score |
|---|---|---|
| Regulation and licensing | 25% | 9.0 |
| Trading costs | 20% | 7.5 |
| Withdrawals and fund access | 20% | 8.5 |
| Platforms and execution | 15% | 8.5 |
| Customer support | 10% | 8.0 |
| Research and transparency | 10% | 9.0 |
| Overall | 100% | 8.4 |
Two categories moved against our original assessment and two moved for it, and they largely cancelled. Regulation came down from what the licence table alone would justify, because the ASIC leverage remediation and the pending class action are client-protection matters our first review did not capture. Platforms went up, because the claim that CMC Markets was proprietary-only was wrong. Trading costs carry the largest single drag, held at 7.5 by share CFD commissions, the inactivity fee and the absence of any swap-free option.
Suitable for multi-asset and technical traders who want breadth and charting depth from a broker whose finances are public. Not suitable for anyone requiring swap-free terms, MetaTrader 5 outside Canada, low-cost share CFDs, or support outside London business hours.
Is CMC Markets trustworthy?
Is CMC Markets a scam?
No, and the evidence is unusually easy to check. CMC Markets has operated since 1989, is authorised by the FCA, ASIC, BaFin and MAS, and has been listed on the London Stock Exchange since 2016. A scam operation cannot maintain a FTSE 250 listing, publish audited accounts, or hold client money under CASS reconciliation at NatWest, Barclays and Lloyds. Verify FCA reference 173730 on the regulator’s own register rather than trusting any site, including this one.
Are there regulator warnings against CMC Markets?
Not against the broker — several against firms impersonating it. The FCA warning list carries cmcmarket-assets.com, added 11 February 2026, and CMC Global Markets from December 2022, both unauthorised firms using a similar name. BaFin has published identity-theft notices against cmc-trader.com and cmc-market.live, the second falsely claiming in its imprint to be run by CMC Markets Germany GmbH. A further FCA warning about CMC Capital clones an unrelated authorised firm. If someone contacts you claiming to be CMC Markets, check the firm reference on the regulator’s register using a link you found yourself.
What about the ASIC leverage breach and the Australian class action?
Both are real and both are disclosed in full in the licensing section above. In short: in November 2023 ASIC supervised AU$4.3m in compensation across seven CFD brokers, CMC Markets included, for leverage offered above the caps in force since March 2021 — self-reported, attributed to IT change-management weaknesses and manual error, no penalty or licence condition, clients repaid. Separately, a Federal Court class action (NSD410/2022) alleges unsuitable leveraged CFD and binary products sold to Australian retail investors between November 2011 and April 2021; it is listed for trial in October 2027, the allegations are unproven, and CMC is defending. We factored both into the regulation score rather than ignoring them. Neither is a fraud finding, a client-money shortfall or a restriction on the licence.
Can I actually withdraw my money?
In our testing, yes. The request was processed the same day and the money arrived in four business days at no cost, with no extra documents demanded and no delaying tactics. An FCA-regulated firm is obliged to process withdrawals within its published timeframes. The one restriction is that card withdrawals cannot exceed what you deposited on that card in the previous twelve months.
What happens to my money if CMC Markets fails?
Client money is segregated from company money under CASS rules and reconciled daily, so it is not available to the firm’s creditors. Clients of CMC Markets UK plc are additionally covered by the FSCS for eligible claims up to £85,000. That cover is specific to the UK entity; Australian, German and Singapore clients fall under different arrangements.
Frequently asked questions
Does CMC Markets offer a swap-free account?
No. As at 27 July 2026 there is no swap-free or Islamic account under any CMC Markets entity and no process to request one. Overnight financing applies to every position held past the 5pm New York cut-off on every account type. The Spectre zero-leverage spread betting account, opened to UK retail clients in May 2026, carries no financing cost on long positions, but it is UK-only, not certified Sharia-compliant, and does not apply to CFD accounts.
What is the minimum deposit at CMC Markets?
There is no mandatory minimum. The broker suggests at least £100 or currency equivalent, which is sensible rather than promotional — a smaller balance leaves very little margin headroom before a position is closed out.
Does CMC Markets support MetaTrader?
Partly. MetaTrader 4 is available to UK and Australian clients, with spreads from 0.5 pips on six major pairs. MetaTrader 5 launched at CMC Markets Canada in June 2026 with more than 1,100 instruments and is not currently offered to UK, EU or Australian clients. TradingView integration arrived in 2025 across the full instrument range, and Next Generation remains the flagship.
How much does CMC Markets charge in fees?
Forex, index and commodity trading on the standard account is commission-free, with cost in the spread from 0.7 pips on EUR/USD. FX Active charges $2.50 per $100,000 per side against raw spreads. Share CFDs cost 0.10% with a €9 minimum on European shares and $0.02 per share with a $10 minimum on US and Canadian shares. There is no deposit or standard withdrawal fee, though express international transfers cost £15. Inactivity costs £10 per month after twelve months without a trade, waived under the German entity.
What proportion of CMC Markets clients lose money?
68% of retail investor accounts lose money spread betting or trading CFDs with this provider, per the broker’s own mandatory disclosure, re-checked on 27 July 2026. That is around the industry norm and better than many competitors, but it still means roughly two in three retail clients end up down. Brokers republish this figure periodically, so check the current number before opening an account.
Which CMC Markets entity will I trade with?
It depends on residence. UK clients contract with CMC Markets UK plc, or CMC Spreadbet plc for spread betting. EU clients are served through CMC Markets Germany GmbH in Frankfurt. Australian clients contract with CMC Markets Asia Pacific Pty Ltd. Compensation cover differs by entity — FSCS protection up to £85,000 attaches to the UK entity and does not follow you elsewhere — so check which entity your client agreement names before funding.
Disclaimer: this review is for information only and is not financial advice or a recommendation to trade. Trading leveraged products carries a high risk of loss and is not suitable for everyone. Past performance does not indicate future results. Never trade with money you cannot afford to lose.
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