FP Markets Review: Raw Spread Costs Plus MT5, cTrader and Iress
FP Markets charges $3 a side on its Raw account and offers MetaTrader, cTrader and Iress from a low deposit. We compare its cost and platform spread with the big raw brokers, and flag the regulatory split that matters.
8.0/10
A cost-competitive raw spread broker with the widest platform menu in its class: MetaTrader 4 and 5, cTrader and, for Australians, Iress. The $3 a side commission matches the usual raw account price, not the cheapest one. Choose it for platform choice and ASIC or CySEC oversight. Skip it if you want the lowest possible round-turn cost and are free to use a cheaper rival.
Best for
Traders who want raw spreads and a choice of MetaTrader, cTrader or Iress
ASIC, CySEC, FSCA, FSA Seychelles, FSC Mauritius, CMA Kenya
Client money
Segregated, held at National Australia Bank for the ASIC entity
Withdrawal fee
None charged by FP Markets
The raw spread broker market is crowded and every entrant makes the same pitch: zero-pip spreads, a small commission, fast fills. FP Markets makes the same pitch, so the useful question is what it does differently. The answer is platforms and markets, not price.
Leveraged trading carries a real risk of loss, and this review is not personal advice.
What the Raw account actually costs
The Raw account charges $3 per lot per side, which is $6 for a round trip, with spreads quoted from 0.0 pips (FxLeaders). The Standard account has no commission and spreads from about one pip. Both need a $100 deposit, and AU$100 is the headline figure for Australians.
That $6 is where the broker stops being the cheapest. Several rivals in this category, including Fusion Markets, charge less per lot, and you can see the gap in our Fusion Markets review. On a trader who opens 50 lots a month, a $1 difference per side is $100 a month, which is real money against a small account.
Spread figures from third parties vary. One review lists EUR/USD at 0.8 pips on the Raw account, which looks high, while the account headline is 0.0. Treat all of it as a starting point and check the live quote on a demo account during the London and New York overlap.
The platform menu is the real selling point
FP Markets offers MetaTrader 4, MetaTrader 5 and cTrader, plus the Iress platform for clients in Australia (DayTrading.com). Few raw brokers carry all three of the big retail names. If you are undecided between platforms, this is a rare place to try each one on the same account. Our separate cTrader review explains when that platform beats MetaTrader.
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DayTrading.com's FP Markets review, the source we used for platform and regulator lists
The cTrader app has its own store listing, which shows the broker is invested in it rather than treating it as an afterthought.
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The FP Markets cTrader app on Google Play, with its phone screenshots visible beside the description
Iress deserves a separate warning. It is a direct market access platform for shares, futures and CFDs, and one review puts its minimum deposit at $1,000, well above the $100 for the forex accounts. It is for Australian equity traders, not a forex scalper.
Who regulates your account
FP Markets operates under several entities: ASIC in Australia, CySEC in Cyprus, and offshore licences in South Africa, Seychelles, Mauritius and Kenya. The ASIC entity holds client money at National Australia Bank, according to TraderGulf, and Australian clients have access to AFCA dispute resolution.
This matters more than the spread. Your protections depend on which entity signs you up. ASIC retail clients get leverage capped at 1:30. An offshore entity can offer 1:500, but with weaker safeguards, and one review notes that negative balance protection does not apply to ASIC or offshore clients. Others list it as available. Because the sources disagree, read the client agreement for your own entity before you deposit.
Markets beyond forex
FxLeaders counts more than 70 forex pairs and over 10,000 instruments in total, most of them shares on Iress. On MetaTrader the list is closer to 130 instruments, which is smaller than some competitors offer. If you want forex, gold and a handful of indices, that is plenty. If you want a huge CFD shelf on MetaTrader, it is not.
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TraderGulf's FP Markets review, which lays out the account table and the Iress platform details
Withdrawals and small print
FP Markets charges no withdrawal fee, and DayTrading.com reports processing in one to two working days. Card, bank wire, PayPal, Skrill, Neteller and crypto are all listed as funding routes. Reviews disagree on inactivity charges: one says there are none, another mentions fees after 12 months. Ask support before you leave an account idle.
Who should pick it, and who should not
Pick FP Markets if you trade actively enough that zero-pip spreads beat a commission-free account, and you value being able to move between MetaTrader 5 and cTrader without opening a new broker relationship. A systematic trader who wants to run the same strategy on two platforms and compare fills is the clearest fit.
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FxLeaders' FP Markets review page, the source for the $3 a side commission and the leverage limits
Skip it if total cost is your only test. A trader who opens very large volumes should price every raw account side by side before funding one, and should compare the broker's own live spreads on the exact pairs traded. Also skip it if you cannot stomach the entity question above: a beginner who signs up to an offshore arm for high leverage takes on risk that has nothing to do with spreads.
The verdict
FP Markets is a sound, well-regulated raw broker that wins on breadth, not on price. If the extra platforms are worth a few dollars per hundred lots to you, it earns a place on the shortlist. If you use one platform and trade heavily, a cheaper rival will save you money.
We score it 8.0: a solid contender, held back only because its commission sits at the standard rate rather than the low one.
