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Reviews By Richard Berry - Updated
Use our comparison tables and reviews to compare the best Australian CFD brokers and switch to a CFD trading platform that offers the most markets, best pricing and client security. Trading CFDs in Australia is no different from trading CFDs anywhere else in the world. But it’s important to understand what CFDs are in Australia. A CFD is a contract for difference that enables traders to speculate on the price of a FX pair, stock index or commodity. When you trade CFDs in Australia, you don’t actually own the stock or commodity; you instead enter into a contract based on the difference between the opening and closing price of the position.
| AU CFD Broker | Markets Available | Customer Reviews | GMG Rating | More Info |
|---|---|---|---|---|
 | 12,000 | See Platform | ||
 | 7,000 | See Platform | ||
 | 17,000 | See Platform | ||
 | 2,000 | See Platform | ||
 | 9,000 | See Platform | ||
 | 2,976 | See Platform | ||
 | 12,000 | See Platform | ||
 | 1,200 | See Platform |
Good Money Guide Shortlisted Our Featured CFD Brokers Based On:
- Over 30,000 votes and reviews in the annual Good Money Guide awards
- Our team’s experiences testing the Australian CFD trading platforms with real money
- In-depth comparison of the features that make these AU CFD brokers the best
- Exclusive interviews with the CFD brokers CEOs and senior management
- Find out more about our review process in the How We Test Providers page.
City Index: Great CFD trading signals for Australian traders
👍Featured👍
- CFD markets available: 5,000
- Minimum deposit: $1
- City Index has an excellent CFD trading platform with 12,000 markets 25 commodities, with spreads as low as 0.8 for gold trading and 0.3 for crude oil.
- Australia Address: City Index (StoneX): Suite 28/01 264 George St, Sydney NSW 2000, Australia
City Index Expert Review: A Huge Range Of Added Value For Traders
Provider: City Index
Verdict: City Index offers some of the best trading tools and analysis to help traders perform better. Their unique post-trade analytics and voice brokerage service make it an excellent choice for large and frequent traders. City Index is one of the oldest spread betting and CFD brokers based in the UK. They were founded in 1983 and offer trading in over 13,500 financial markets, to around 126,000 active clients. City Index is currently owned by StoneX, a US brokerage listed on the NASDAQ valued at $1.75bn.
71% of retail investor accounts lose money when trading CFDs with this provider
Is City Index a good broker?
City Index offers some of the best trading tools and analysis to help traders perform better. Their unique post-trade analytics and voice brokerage service make it an excellent choice for large and frequent traders.
They are one of the oldest and most established trading platforms offering CFDs and financial spread betting, with a huge range of markets to trade, post execution analytical tools and trading signals.
Pricing: Always competitive.
Market Access: Excellent coverage, especially for small-cap stock and exotic currency pairs.
Platform & Apps: Some excellent added value trading signals and portfolio analytics (even though the desktop version can be a bit fiddly).
Customer Service: Lots of experienced dealers to help with any issues.
Research & Analysis: City Index excel here, lots of education, signals and analysis.
Some of the best trader tools around
I opened my first City Index account way back in 2008, when they were one of only a handful of spread betting firms catering to high net worth traders in the City of London. Back then when I was a derivatives broker at MF Global, City Index used to hedge their CFD business through us so I could see they always had a fairly sophisticated client base. But over the years, as traders and investors have become more educated and akin to taking more risk, City Index now takes on more and more private clients.
If you’re thinking about trading with City Index, but haven’t quite made up your mind yet, I’ve tested all their trading platform’s features, visited their offices and interviewed their senior management for my review to hopefully provide enough information for you to decide if they are the right broker for you.I’ve always liked City Index, it’s been a stalwart of the London CFD broker scene since it was founded by Chris Hales and Jonathan Sparke in 1983 as a way for institutions to hedge their exposure through spread betting and CFDs. But soon became popular with more retail traders. Always advertising on billboards in the City, always having a colourful client base, always being bought and sold at the whim of billionaires and bigger boys. But in recent years, it had gone off a bit from its glory days. Back in the good ol’ days, you could open an account and put on a million-dollar trade over the phone with no ID, no deposit, and no idea. Well, you could if you happened to be on a yacht with Michael Spencer (the then City Index owner and City grandee), who was convinced he knew which way the Euro was headed and goaded one of his guests into putting the trade on, as the story goes away.
But those days are long gone and incumbent brokers have to fight hard to differentiate themselves against the fintechs nipping at their heels, as well as provide more trader tools to lure new customers back to traditional markets away from the wild west of Crypto.
City Index seems to have matured nicely though, it’s grown out of its lumbering adolescence under the ownership of Gain Capital and is now owned by US Behemoth StoneX (previously INTL FCStone). Since then, the platform has had a few upgrades and long-term investment products will hopefully be added shortly.
City Index Awards
In our latest awards City Index won “best trading app” in 2024 and “best trader tools” 2023. City Index has in previous years won “best trading platform”, “best trading app” & “best forex broker” in 2022.
Giles Watts, Senior VP of UK & EU at City Index said after winning best trader tools in 2023: “We are delighted to have been recognized for the added value we provide our clients. Delivering actionable post trade insights direct to the platform, is just one of the reasons our clients stay with us over the long term.”
Trading Platform
The City Index platform used to have a slightly off-the-rack feel about it, instead, the business relied on word of mouth and friendly referrals from HNW clients who would use experienced dealers to work large orders over the phone. Whilst voice brokerage still forms part of City Index’s offering, they are, as with everyone else, doing the majority of their business online and working hard to make their platform stand out.
Pricing & Spreads
City Index has always been competitive with it’s pricing. As City Index is an OTC broker they charge customers by widening the spread rather than adding commission after you trade. They are one of the cheapest around for trading UK stocks with the bid/offer being widened by only 0.08% (20% less than the industry standard of 0.1%) and for US stocks they only charge 1.8 cents per share (industry standard is 2 cents per share). Overnight financing rates are also inline with what you would expect 2.5% over/under SONIA rates.
Stocks, Forex, Indices and Commodities
You can buy over 13,500 stocks on City Index as a CFD or financial spread bet, however, you can’t trade equity options or invest in physical shares.
Obviously, they have access to more than the usual forex, index and commodity markets and add value with some nice thematic-themed indices (like ESG), and a good pool of sectors to speculate on. You can also trade options (CFD or spread bets thereof) on a good range of indices and commodities like Natural Gas or EU stocks. Plus, you can trade on synthetic markets. Everyone loves a bit of volatility speculation in choppy markets.
Spread Betting
Spread betting is City Index’s forte, and it’s the product that a lot of their high-net-worth customers use for trading stocks. As one of the original spread betting brokers City Index offers access to one of the widest selections of UK, US and European shares (as well as the major indices). The key advantage of spread betting of course is that profits are free of capital gains tax.
CFD Trading
Unlike spread betting CFD profits are subject to capital gains tax, so are less popular among UK traders. Historically, City Index would offer CFDs to more professional traders and spread betting to smaller clients. CFDs and spread betting are similarly priced with City Index, with the commission being included in the spread, which is slightly wider than the underlying market bid/offer. The main reason why both products are on offer is that spread betting is only available to UK residents, whereas City Index can offer CFD trading to its global client base.
Trading App
I actually prefer the City Index app to the desktop version of the trading platform. Sometimes I can find the desktop version to be a bit clunky, but the app is really slick, and clearly in our mobile-first world, where all the recent development has been focused. And why not, the desktop trading platform is brilliant for research, trading signals and post-trade analytics, but at the point of execution the app is a quick and simple stripped-down version with all the salient features front and centre.
MT4 (MetaQuotes)
You can trade on MT4 and MT5 with City Index, but functionality and market access is not as good as their main proprietary trading platform or some of their MT4 competitors. You can only trade around 84 markets on MT4 through City Index, but if you just want to trade the major markets, City Index is a good broker for MT4 based on their regulation, service and pricing.
Performance Analytics
Another acquisition from parent StoneX is Chasing Returns, now integrated into the platform as Performance Analytics. Which really drills down into where you are trading well and where you are losing money. Performance Analytics can break down your wins and losses and tell you what markets you trade best, what time of day you are most profitable, if you make money trading in quick succession or, if you do better if you take a break between trades. It’ll even tell you if your first trade of the day is often a winner or loser, or if you are a better bull or bear and also if you are as good at trading volatility as you pretend to enjoy doing, but letting you know if you trade better in calm or erratic markets.
Economic Calendar
One thing, though that does let them down is City Index’s economic calendar, it’s terrible. In fact, most brokers, even IG just have a bog standard list of upcoming earnings and economic announcements. But I think you need more from a trading platform these days, especially as when logged into the desktop platform the format is all off. One broker that has absolutely nailed their economic calendar is ThinkMarkets. With TM when you’re logged in you get a really good visualisation of previous data, volatility and most importantly what impact it had on relevant institutions like EURUSD. It’s a great way to see how markets have moved against previous numbers. Honestly, City Index should embed this too as it’s available from Trading Central who they have a deal with anyway.
Extended Hours Trading
You can trade CFDs premarket and after the market closes on a range of US equities in the pre and post-market sessions which bookend regular share trading in New York that takes place between 9.30 a.m. and 4.00 p.m. Eastern time.
The list of 73 stocks available to trade in the pre and post-markets includes leading US shares such as Apple, Microsoft and Nvidia. Widely traded names such as the Ark Innovation ETF, Coinbase, Robinhood and Gamestop.
As well as established blue chips like Bank of America, Boeing, Procter and Gamble, and Walmart, alongside a selection of index-tracking and thematic ETFs.
Pros
- Excellent trading tools
- Post-trade analytics
- Publically listed (part of StoneX)
Cons
- Trading only, no investment account
- Limited options markets
- No direct market access
- Pricing (5)
- Market Access (5)
- Online Platform (4.5)
- Customer Service (5)
- Research & Analysis (4.5)
Overall
4.8Pepperstone: Great Australian CFD trading platform for automated trading
👍Featured👍
- CFD markets available: 1,200
- Minimum deposit: $1
- Pepperstone has a very comprehensive package of automated trading tools on MT4.
- Australia Address: Pepperstone Group Limited, 727 Collins St Level 16, Tower One, Docklands VIC 3008, Australia
Pepperstone is a great broker for automated trading and active traders
Provider: Pepperstone
Verdict: Pepperstone is a great all round broker for active traders looking for low costs. Especially for those that want to automate their trading as they are one of the biggest and best MT4 brokers with a very good set of EA packages. Pepperstone were founded in 2010 in Australia and have since then grown to be a global brokerage with international offices and around 400,000 active clients. They offer spread betting and CFDs on 1,200 major market instruments, which means they focus on the most heavily traded assets, mainly forex and indices trading. Of those 900 are shares on the major stocks on international exchanges.
75.3% of retail investor accounts lose money when trading CFDs with this provider
Is Pepperstone a good broker?
Pepperstone is a great trading platform for traders who want low costs, wide market access and wide range of trading platforms, including one of the best MT4/MT5 packages available to retail traders worldwide.
Pricing: Razor tight pricing (on their Razor account).
Market Access: Mainly FX, but lots more stocks are being added.
Platform & Apps: Pepperstone’s MT4 and cTrader packages are top-notch.
Customer Service: Local offices around the world and personal account managers for large active traders
Research & Analysis: Lots of education and technical and algo indicator documentation.
Yes, I’ve used both trading platforms that Pepperstone offer, MT4/5 and cTrader, which include TradingView charting. cTrader is a more traditional trading platform with a basic layout, simple order execution and sentiment indicators. Whereas MT4 is one of the most popular and complex trading platforms available used by millions of traders and thousands of brokers.
However, what makes Pepperstone’s MT4 offering stand out is the brokerage behind it. Pepperstone offers it’s MT4 clients experienced account executives based in London and other local offices around the world. Plus, Pepperstone have put together a package of expert indicators and trader tools that are available to download for free that can be plugged into MT4.
To win business Pepperstone competes on price and compared to other trading platforms it is one of the cheaper options. For example, the Razor account can offer forex trading with zero pips, with the commission charged post-trade. Or traders can opt for the standard account, which adds a 1 pip markup, but is built into the spread.
One of the interesting things about Pepperstone is that whilst they do the traditional digital advertising, they are not on football shirts (apart from the Tennis and now sponsoring Aston Martin) and as Tamas said in his interview, a lot of their business comes from referrals, which is always a good sign. They are a global brokerage so you can at the moment trade crypto, but only if you are a professional client in the UK or are in a jurisdiction that hasn’t banned crypto derivatives.
Management: If you want to know more about the man currently running Pepperstone you can read my interview with Tamas Szabo, who has been Group CEO of Pepperstone since 2017, joining from IG where he started in 1996. So plenty of experience at the helm, Tamas, has been in the business for 25 years.
One of the interesting things about Pepperstone is that whilst they do the traditional digital advertising, they are not on football shirts or anything like that and as Tamas said in his interview, a lot of their business comes from referrals, which is always a good sign.
As I said Pepperstone offers CFD trading for international clients and spread betting for UK customers. Spread betting of course unique to the UK as trades are structured as bets so if you make money trading you don’t have to pay capital gains tax on your profits.
Trading Platforms: Pepperstone doesn’t actually have its own proprietary trading platform instead they offer TradingView, MT4/5 and cTrader. MetaTrader is gradually pushing brokers and clients to MT5 because it’s faster and a bit more user friendly, however, there is a lot of resistance from traders, especially those that use EA’s or Electronic Advisors, as most have been written for MT4 and can’t be converted for MT5 without being re-written.
Automated Trading: If you haven’t used one an EA, an Electronic Advisor enables you to trade automatically based on certain market criteria, usually based on technical analysis. So if the market does x, you buy, if the market does y you sell. The idea is that you set up a trading strategy and set it on autopilot to trade on your behalf. It’s not necessarily high-frequency trading that was featured in Flash Boys or Flash Crash, but it’s similar.
If you want to know more about high-frequency trading those are two books well worth reading, Michael lewis has an excellent way of explaining complex derivatives and I particularly enjoyed Flash Crash because the chap it’s about was a client at the brokerage where I used to work and some people I know were mentioned in it, which is always quite amusing.
A few things to note though about EAs, unless you have a VPS or VPN they won’t work if you turn your trading screen isn’t on and you can’t use them on the web version or mobile. However, Pepperstone will set you up with a free VPS connection if you want one and do a certain amount of business.
MT5 versus MT4: MT5 is one of the most popular trading platforms on the planet and is used by millions of traders and hundreds of brokers. The key benefits are that it’s pretty simple to use and universally recognised, so if you used MT4 or 5 with one broker, switching accounts is fairly easy. Initially, it does have a clunky institutional feel to it, but once you get the hang of it it’s fairly simple to use.
Pepperstone’s MT5 does have its advantages over other brokers though. Mainly the packages they offer, the spreads and the execution, but also the regulation. Pepperstone are regulated by the FCA, so if you are a UK client a certain amount of your funds are protected by the FSCS if Pepperstone was to go bust. You are not protected if you are using MT4 or 5 through an offshore broker, and to be honest, if you are based in the UK you should always be trading with an FCA regulated broker, or the FCA regulated entity of a broker. It is tempting to go offshore to get better margin rates since ESMA capped them but you can get them as a professional client and if you can’t qualify as a professional client you probably shouldn’t be trading with excessive leverage anyway.
One of the main things that make Pepperstones MetaTrader offering stand out is market range, you get loads of forex pairs, the major indices and they are also increasing the number of shares they offer. They have the major FTSE 100 stocks and a few hundred US, European and Australian stocks, but that is growing. But, it is still nowhere near as many markets as someone like IG or Saxo offers. Also, Pepperstone is still only a trading platform so you can’t hold any of your long-term investments with them.
Trading Tools: Pepperstone also has a unique package of MT5 downloads which they call Smart Trader Tools, which include plugins like Trade Terminal where you can set your preferences for assets. So for example if you always trade cable in 1 lot, and have a stop 10 pips away and a limit 20 pips that will be your default OCO when you trade.
You also get things like a Pivot Points plugin where you can trade off previous highs and lows. Some other main features of MT4 are one-click trading, and the ability to trade off the charts. You can also move your entry and exit points automatically. If you trade four markets you can have four set up on screen and have your defaults for each one.
cTrader: One of the major drawbacks about MT5 though is that it doesn’t show your margin when you trade, which to be honest isn’t great if you are a beginner because you have no idea what your exposure is or how much risk capital is going to be used up. It will tell you your overall margin position, but it won’t show you your individual margin rates. Which is daft. However, Pepperstone’s other platform cTrader does do this. To be honest, I actually prefer cTrader, I think it’s more user-friendly, it breaks down your margin. The disadvantage of course is that you can’t run net and hedged positions.
You can’t trade with EAs but I don’t really like them anyway, I think the chances of clients making money with an off-the-rack automated trading strategy is pretty slim. It may work for a bit to nick a trade here and there but if you leave it running over a massive market correction you can get wiped out. You also can’t trade as many shares on cTrader as you can on MT5, which is a shame.
I think it has a cleaner layout, with everything pre-installed and you can trade in a web browsers rather than having to download the software. If you are building your own EA then MT5 is for you but if you are just eyeballing the market and taking a view I prefer cTrader as you get news, calendars, plus Autotrachtists is on there as well and is linked to the pair you are looking at.
Education & Analysis: One other thing to note as well is that when it comes to learning to trade or understanding the markets it is incredibly difficult. Pepperstone has partnered with The Corillian Academy, to provide some educational content. Corillian was set up by some fairly sophisticated traders with decent backgrounds. Richard Adcock for example has been on the board of the society of technical analysts for 30 years.
Customer Service: Although probably the main benefit of Pepperstone over the majority of MT4 brokers is customer service. It’s a big risk trading the financial markets and there are often big sums of money involved. So being able to phone someone up who can execute trades for you and give you a full demo of the platform is almost more important, in my mind anyway, than pricing and market access. If you’re in the UK, you get to talk to your dealers in London, through direct dial.
Pros
- Tight pricing
- Wide range of MT4 markets
- Pre-built MT4 indicator packages
Cons
- Limited market access
- Only third-party platforms
- Pricing (5)
- Market Access (3.5)
- Online Platform (4)
- Customer Service (4)
- Research & Analysis (4)
Overall
4.1IG: Best AU CFD broker for large traders
- CFD markets available: 17,000
- Minimum deposit: $250
- One of the largest global brokers operating in Australia with a vast selection of markets to trade with great liquidity.
- Australia Address: IG, 15/55 Collins St, Melbourne VIC 3000, Australia.
IG Expert Review: The original and still one of the best brokers
Provider: IG
Verdict: IG is one of the largest and best brokers in the world and offers the full suite of investing and trading accounts for all types of investors. Highly recommended. Founded in 1974 as Investors Gold Index, then IG Index, now just “IG” is one of the world’s largest margin trading brokers. IG offer CFDs, FX and Spread Betting (in the UK) alongside share trading and prime brokerage to over 313,000 active clients and offers 17,000 tradable markets. IG also recently introduced physical share dealing and smart portfolios for longer-term investors.
71% of retail investor accounts lose money when trading CFDs and spread bets with this provider.
Is IG a good trading platform?
Yes, IG provides an excellent all-round trading and investing brokerage service. IG pioneered online trading and financial spread betting for private clients and remains not only one of the largest online trading platforms, but also one of the best. IG stands out through deep liquidity, high market range and excellent added value such as trading tools and analysis.
Before we kick off this review I must disclose a bit of an interest. I’m a big fan of IG, in my mind, they are the default broker. When we review brokers, we tend to ask the question “why would you trade here rather than at IG?” So, in my updated 2024 IG review, I compare IG Index to other brokers, tell you what I like about them, who they are best for and show you their trading platform with some live trades in a video demo.
I’ve had an account with IG for about 20 years and I remember their first online trading platform when it was just basically a messaging system through to the dealing desk. Amazingly enough, it turns out that I was also in the same class (at two different schools over about five years) as the founder’s daughter, but of course, didn’t know that back then.
When I was interning on the NYMEX and IPE trading floors in London and New York as a ticket checking clerk, I’d tap away on IG on my Ericsson R380 trying to emulate the bigger boys in the pit.
IG were my first trading account and along with Trading Places (my dog is even called Winthorpe #notobsessed) I hold them fully accountable for the path my so-called career has taken.
The Beginnings & Ethos
Stuart Wheeler, the founder, basically invented financial spread betting in the attic of a Chelsea townhouse in 1974. It was first called Investors Gold Index, then IG Index and then just IG. As the product range grows, the name shortens. As is the fashion these days with II, HL & IBKR.
If you read his biography (Winning Against the Odds, My Life in Gambling and Politics), you can tell that IG was founded for the love of the business. That business being gambling and investing. It’s a great read, very witty, lots of indescrete gossip, some “slightly dated” views, but overall a great insight into how and why the business started.
This brings me to my first point. One of the things that makes IG stand out, is really the fact that it is IG. I’m a big believer that there are two types of financial business. One that is set up to extract money from customers because they spot a gap in the market. And the second, that does it because they are good at it and want to be the best.
I hope that’s what we at the Good Money Guide do and I hope that that’s what IG still do. I certainly gathered from my interview with the now IG CEO, June Felix, that their position is still to very much be on the clients side. In that, they believe it’s better to try and help a client win and give them a good service, so they are still doing business with you in twenty years, rather than the churn and burn quick-fire approach.
Index & Forex Trading
IG was originally called IG Index (Investors Gold Index) and was one of the first brokers to let private individuals trade the financial markets. When they started off customers mainly traded the London stock market index (FTSE 100), but now IG clients can trade a market-leading 80+ indices.
You can also trade forex on their platform. But remarkably, unlike most other forex brokers, which see the largest percentage of their volumes in the forex markets, IG’s most popular asset class is indices, followed closely in second by currency trading.
Quality Service
This was most evident I think during the big bonus push of around seven years ago. This was basically a time when the trading industry became uber-competitive and brokers were offering big bonuses, sometimes up to £5,000 to new clients to sign up.
The catch of course was that you had to generate more than that in trading commission before you could withdraw it or use it. IG’s stance on that was, “No, that’s not for us” clients trade with us because of what our service offers” and didn’t get into the murky business of incentives.
Interestingly enough, the FCA banned new account bonuses because it all got a bit out of hand as the more unscrupulous platforms were running too heavy B-books.
No B-Book
One draw for big clients is that whilst IG does internalise orders, they have Symmetrical exposure limits.
So they don’t take a view on the markets. This means two things, first, IG are not betting against you with a B-Book.
And second if you are a big trader, because of their liquidity there may actually be bigger volume on IG’s bid and offer than there is in the underlying market. You get positive slippage, so if you place a limit order and the market suddenly moves in your favour you get filled at a better price than your limit.
Spread Betting & CFD Trading
With IG you can trade CFDs or spread bet 24 hours on major indices, forex and commodities markets, there are extended hours on global equities, where some fairly significant volume goes through, particularly on US equities when company announcements are made after the main market shuts. IG is one of the few brokers to allow trading during the weekend, so you can still take a view or limit your exposure if something big comes out politically.
IG is one of the best CFD trading platforms as they offer a huge range of markets to trade and DMA access for more sophisticated traders. Also, because IG offers CFDs globally (with the exception of the US) they have a huge amount of volume and liquidity meaning that sometimes you can place bigger orders via IG’s order book than you could do on the underlying exchanges like the LSE or NYSE. Because of the sheer volume of CFD trades, IG is able to internally match up orders for quicker and larger fills.
One key disadvantage of trading CFDs through IG is that you have to pay tax on profits. However, CFDs are not the only product that IG offer. You can also trade financial spread bets, where you do not have to pay capital gains tax on profits.
IPO Grey Market
One feature that is now unique to IG (lots of other brokers used to do it) is the “grey market”, where they will make you a price in unquoted stocks that are due to come to market. You essentially take a bet on what the market cap will be of a company when it lists. Or, you can just apply for shares in the IPO through PrimaryBid, who will deliver them to your IG account.
International Presence
IG also have this nice nack of looking at a region and finding specific products for them. It’s actually quite interesting how each country has a specific way it likes to trade the markets. The UK for example, is the only country that benefits from financial spread betting, the rest of the world trades on margin with CFDs. Of course, with the exception of the Americans, who trade on margin by taking out a loan to buy stock (from their broker) or trade options, which are much more popular on equities. Japan has knockouts and Europe has barrier options and Turbos Warrants.
Trading Platforms & Apps
IG’s trading platform has gone through many iterations in the 20 years or so I’ve used them. Their first online platform was just really a live price feed with a messenger box, that put you through to the dealers, who would manually execute trades for you. Now, of course, it’s all DIY online, but still with phone support if you need it.
Something IG is very keen to push, is their added value. The platform tries to integrate as much as possible. IGTV, is based on the platform analytics of what people are trading and they create programs around what markets and assets traders are looking for information on. The news and analysis comes from Thomas Reuters, with snapshot videos and a series of IG market commentary videos.
We rate IG’s trading app as extremely safe because of IG’s regulation and reputation. However, it’s important to note that while trading on the app itself is financially secure, the products on offer are high risk and IG does offer investments that are not safe for capital preservation. IG offers financial spread betting and CFDs which are high-risk, high reward products.
High Net Worth Accounts
If you are a high-volume trader, you can also trade DMA with ProRealTime, and you can get level 2 pricing and trade directly on the exchange order book. This can be done on the IG trading app or by downloading the L2 dealer software. There is a cost of course, but if you do a few trades that is rebated back. Brokers have to pay the exchanges for providing level 2 data to their clients, so the charge is there to dissuade everyone signing up without trading. If you are really clever and have developed your own trading algorithm, you can plug that into IG’s platform too. Or MT4/MT5 which they also offer, if you’re into that sort of thing.
IG Community
There is a fairly active forum in the IG community, it’s not as quite as “social media feed” as some copy trading platforms, but there are a few thousand users chatting away and the IG staff get involved. As with other brokers, there is Autochartist, but they add value there, by having a “copy to order” function where you can execute the signal, but also add the stop and limit. You can then tinker with the pricing by moving the lines on the chart. On charting, IG are implementing logarithmic charting, one of their most requested features from traders.
Sticky Clients
A problem all brokers are desperate to address though is people losing money. It’s always been the case and previously was always anecdotally noted that only around 20% of people made money. The IG founder, even mentions this in his book, prior to it being a regulatory requirement to display in all marketing and on websites what percentage of clients lose money when trading spread betting and CFDs. A few brokers have implemented post-trade analytics, to help their clients try and win more. IG’s Trade Analytics tool does just that. It’s sole purpose is to try and help traders win more by getting a better understanding of where they profit and lose in the markets. It’s been developed in-house by IG, based on their analytics and to provide clarity.
James Perry IG’s Client Experience Manager told me “We desperately want our clients to win as the more they win, the longer they are going to be a client, and the more they are going to trade” as they make their money from commissions, financing and spreads, “as soon as they lose, they feel disenfranchise, sad and reduce trading volumes”.
I know this to be true from my own trading, when you’re on a winning run you trade more, when you can’t call the market right so step away until another day.
Investing, ETFs & Share Dealing
IG also, offer longer-term investing products, where you can buy and hold stocks, ETFs and funds in a stocks and shares ISA, or IG Smart Portfolio. They have a trading academy so they can learn through video and interactive courses. IG can see from their analytics that clients that use these, do become better traders. Along with their recent acquisition of DAILY FX (for $40m) they also offer live webinars to provide analysis and trading strategy.
you can invest and trade ETFs with IG. You have the option of either investing in the long term by buying ETFs in their general investment account, SIPP or ISA. Or you can speculate on them going up or down by going long or short via CFDs or financial spread bets. IG is not the cheapest place for investing in ETFs, (that is probably Interactive Brokers) but they do have very good customer service and a really easy to use ETF platform.
Ratings Explained
- Pricing: Industry leading spreads and with DMA you can get inside the bid/offer.
- Market Access: Best around for spread betting and CFD trading.
- Platform & Apps: Loads of added value, signals and execution features.
- Customer Service: IG is very big, but still managed to score well here.
- Research & Analysis: Superb, news, analysis, social feeds, plus free premium subscriptions for active clients.
Overall, if you are going to trade, I would be surprised if you didn’t have an account with IG.
Pros
- Vast range of markets
- Excellent liquidity & DMA equities
- Listed on the London Stock Exchange
Cons
- Customer service can be slow
- No DMA futures trading
- Still charges inactivity fee
- Pricing (4.5)
- Market Access (5)
- Online Platform (5)
- Customer Service (4)
- Research & Analysis (5)
Overall
4.7Plus500: AU CFD Trading on Major Markets
👍Featured👍
- Markets available: 2,000
- Minimum deposit: $100
Plus500 lets you trade global markets platform on a simple to use platform
Provider: Plus500
Verdict: Plus500 is one of the largest online trading platforms and operates in more than 50 countries worldwide. Founded in 2008, it has more than 26 million customers today. Plus500 is headquartered in Israel, however, it’s listed in the UK on the London Stock Exchange (it’s a member of the FTSE 250 index). Here in Britain, its platform is operated by Plus500UK Ltd, which has offices in London. In the UK, you can only trade CFDs with Plus500. CFDs are financial instruments that allow you to profit from the price movements of a security without owning the underlying security itself.
80% of retail investor accounts lose money when trading CFDs with this provider. You should consider whether you can afford to take the high risk of losing your money.
Is Plus500 a good broker?
Yes, Plus500’s trading platform has evolved nicely over the years from a simple interface to an intuitive execution venue for CFDs on the major markets and stocks.
Pricing: It’s dynamic so moves with the market for minimum spreads
Market Access: Very good, Plus500 are always first to try new asset classes
Platform & Apps: Basic execution, but it does the job well
Customer Service: Plus500 doesn’t have a phone option, but its live chat is sufficient
Research & Analysis: Some sentiment, but limited education and analysis.
Overall, Plus500 is a good online trading platform for traders who do not want to do anything more complicated than buy and sell CFDs. The broker does provide sentiment indicators and are quite transparent with costs and fees. In summary:
- Plus500 is a trading platform that offers CFDs.
- You can trade a range of assets on Plus500 including stocks, indices, and currencies.
- There are no commissions when placing a CFD trade on the Plus500 platform but there are some other fees to be aware of.
- The platform offers a range of features including a demo account, alerts, market news, and an economic calendar.
- There are platforms that offer more markets than Plus500.
Pros
- With Plus500, you can trade CFDs on a range of assets including shares, currencies, indices, and ETFs.
- There are no commissions when placing a CFD trade on Plus500’s platform.
- Plus500 offers a range of features to help traders navigate the markets and capitalise on opportunities including charting tools, alerts, an economic calendar, and market news.
Cons
- Other platforms offer more markets than Plus500.
- You can only trade CFDs on the platform (you can’t invest in stocks directly).
- You can’t contact the company by telephone if you require support.
- Pricing (4.5)
- Market Access (5)
- Online Platform (5)
- Customer Service (4.5)
- Research & Analysis (4)
Overall
4.6CMC Markets: Best Australian CFD broker for forex trading
- CFD markets available: 12,000
- Minimum deposit: $1
CMC Markets has good CFD sentiment tools and over 388 forex pairs to trade. Australia Address: Level 20, Tower 3, International Towers, 300 Barangaroo Ave, Barangaroo NSW 2000, Australia
CMC Markets Offers Great Tech for Active Traders
Provider: CMC Markets
Verdict: CMC Markets is one of the best and fastest trading platforms available for active traders to speculate on the most popular markets. The company is one of the original spread betting and CFD brokers based in the UK. It’s been providing forex trading services since 1989 and is now listed on the London Stock Exchange. The broker has over 300,000 active clients trading online and is operated from 13 global offices, with headquarters in the City of London.
70% of retail investor accounts lose money when trading CFDs with this provider
Is CMC Markets a Good Broker?
Yes, CMC Markets has always offered, and still offers, one of the best trading platforms for high-frequency and active traders. It’s a good choice for those who want to trade on tight spreads, with a platform built on exceptional tech.
I’ve used CMC Markets for 20 years now and it’s typically been my go-to broker for trading forex and equity sectors.
I recently gave it another full test with real money and live trades. I’ve also interviewed its founder and its head of product. In this review, I share my views on what CMC Markets is good at, where it needs to improve and which types of trader it suits.
Almost 20 years ago, when I first had my account, I remember sitting in CMC’s reception, eager to pick up a CD-ROM of the Market Maker trading platform so I could trade personal account when I was a stockbroker at Phillip Securities.
I used to flit between using IG and CMC Markets back then. IG had a few more markets, but the platform was a bit basic. CMC Markets had tighter pricing and because the platform had a dark background, and more flashing lights you felt like a real pro. Despite the fact that CMC’s heritage is in the FX markets, I could never really get the hang of those so I’d trade indices, and FTSE 100 shares (also, CMC only really did the main market stuff back then).
I could have waited for CMC to post me a disc, but I had a real itch to try it out. It was an excellent trading platform then, and it still is today.
What Does the Platform Look Like?
History Of CMC
The current CEO, Peter Cruddas, set up CMC as Currency Management Corporation in 1989 after leaving Western Union, where he learned how the foreign exchange markets worked, in particular the market-making side of the business. Originally offering forex trading, then financial spread betting and moving into CFD broking in 2000, CMC began to expand internationally in 2002. CMC Markets was listed on the London Stock Exchange in 2016.
CMC Markets, which is now a member of the FTSE 250 index, has over 310,000 active clients globally, and in the 2023-24 financial year generated a net operating income of £332.8 million.
When I visited the CMC offices a few years ago, the brokerage world was switching from voice to online. CMC was one of the first forex brokers to invest heavily in technology and has always led the way in online trading platform innovation.
CMC Markets: Spread Betting & CFDs
CMC Markets only offers CFD trading, rolling spot forex and spread betting in the UK. These are generally short-term speculative products. You can invest in the long term and buy physical shares through CMC Invest in the UK (although in Australia CMC Markets does offer stockbroking).
If you don’t know what these are you shouldn’t be trading them. But if you do and you want to trade them, CMC Markets is in my view one of the best places to do so. In 2024, the platform came up with a nice tagline…
Calling all calculated risk takers…
This is the essence of trading, really. Yes, trading is risky, but it’s a calculated risk. And one way to reduce risk is to go with a well-established and well-capitalised provider. CMC Markets is a public company so you can see how well it’s doing as a business. Trading is hard enough without having to worry if your broker is going to go bust. In the UK, retail client money is held in segregated client bank accounts, in a regulated bank.
CMCX Share Price
The current CMC Markets (LON:CMCX) share price is 271p which is a change of 2 or 0.74% from the last closing price of 269 with 302,513 shares traded giving CMC Markets a market capitalisation of £758,299,734. The most recent daily high has been 274 and daily low 259. The CMC Markets share price 52 week high has been 349 and the 52 week low 183.4. Based on the most recent CMC Markets share price opening of 271, the current CMC Markets EPS (earnings per share) are 0.3 and the PE (price earnings ratio) is 8.94. Pricing data automatically updates every 15 minutes, last updated: 18:27 23-May-2025.
Although you’re out of luck if you want to trade CMC shares on CMC, I tried when I was demonstrating how to do a pairs trade against its main rival IG. I had to trade CMC on IG and IG on CMC.
Market Range
CMC Markets definitely has one of the best market ranges of all brokers. Although it doesn’t offer all shares – around 12,000 assets vs IG’s 17,000 or Interactive Brokers’ epic coverage – it has some really great markets that are exclusive to CMC. I’ve always used it for trading the most popular shares, and I would say it’s aimed at active traders more than its rivals. You only really miss out on smaller cap stocks that aren’t appropriate for margin trading anyway, as they are growth investments.
CMC Markets Sector Bets & Diversification
One of the things that I’ve always liked about CMC is its approach to diversification. Everyone knows that you shouldn’t put all your eggs in one basket when it comes to investing, and the same is true of trading. You’ve got a better chance of beating the market consistently if you spread your risk across different asset classes and don’t go crazy Rio trading.
I find forex trading incredibly difficult. I’ve never been able to make any money at it because I can’t judge forex price action – I find it too fast-paced. What I like to speculate on is the overvaluation or undervaluation of one currency against another.
CMC has a market called weighted currency indices, which basket together one currency against many others. So you can trade how you think USD is going to perform against the EUR, GBP, AUD, CAD, CHF, CNH, JPY and SGD in one go. So instead of an outright punt, you are taking on a dollar position rather than a USD-GBP trade.
What Does the Forex Section Look Like?
Share Baskets
CMC Markets has always enabled sector bets, but it has fine-tuned these over the years because of the proliferation of ETFs into share baskets, like US Gold, Oil & Gas, Luxury Lifestyle and Collaborative Technology. This is great, because I really like trading stocks. I find this quite easy compared to forex as stocks are based on fundamentals I understand.
One trading strategy that is relatively simple is trend following, especially now with the Reddit generation getting so worked up. If you see a sector getting some good press you can jump on the bandwagon without having to sniff out the individual stocks. Likewise, if sentiment is turning negative, it may be time to go short.
Deal4Free
Did you know that CMC Markets was once called Deal4Free? You obviously can’t say that anything is free now, because the regulators frown on that sort of thing. Instead, you have to say something like “zero commission”, because you’re being charged something somewhere – you just don’t see it on your statement.
Trading with CMC Markets is obviously not free, but it is cheap. It has always been one of the best value trading platforms, primarily because it unashamedly acts as a market maker.
If you are spread betting, charges are built into the spread and are competitive. It’s always been part of the appeal that if you are trading the most popular and liquid assets, CMC is one of the cheapest places to do it. Commission charges on single stock CFDs are set at 2 cents per share in the US (minimum $10) and 0.10% for UK and European equities (minimum of £9/€9). So you get the choice. If you are a normal trader you can have your costs built into the spread, or if you are one of the bigger boys you can trade CFDs with better pricing and commission charged afterwards.
Alpha & Price Plus
There are two ways to get recognition at CMC. Firstly, you can buy your way in with a minimum deposit of £25,000 and join its premium membership, Alpha. It’s a nice name because, as I’m sure you know, an alpha in trading is trying to outperform the market. You get interest on cash balances and discounted spreads. There’s also a free subscription – it was to the FT but is now to Bloomberg.
If you can’t afford to buy your way in, you can still get reduced spreads by putting the volume through. The more you trade the lower your spreads will be…
CMC: Profitable Client Sentiment
CMC offers users access to client sentiment and positioning tools that show the aggregate positioning of its customers in various instruments. The data includes long-short percentages by clients and value as well as a breakdown of the current day’s order flow. Once again, this is broken down by both client percentage and value. What’s more, you can filter the positioning sentiment by client type, segmenting the data into top clients and other clients.
The top clients view shows the positioning, in a particular instrument, of those clients who have made money on their trading account in the last 3 months, and who have an open position in the instrument under observation.
The ability to filter the sentiment and positioning by client type gives CMC clients a potential advantage over peers who don’t get this additional insight.
Positioning and sentiment data can be used to trade, though how you use it will be determined by your outlook on the markets. Experienced traders take the view that as the majority of CFD and spread betting clients lose money it follows that positioning data is a reverse indicator, especially when the clients seem to be opposing an established trend.
In these days of social trading and large crowds, however, that may not always be the case. On balance it’s probably best to think of sentiment and positioning gauges as decision or trade support tools, rather than decision-makers in their own right.
CMC Markets: Education & Analysis
CMC has plenty of education and analysis available for its clients. It’s divided into separate sections: current news and analysis, a section on learning to trade that covers FX, CFDs and spread betting, and equities trading.
As well as technical analysis, CMC offers trading from home and trading strategies.
CMC Markets also offers what it calls market intelligence through its specialist website OPTO, which includes a magazine full of insightful articles, plus podcasts, and interviews with high-profile guests from the markets.
The trading guides are aimed at beginners and less experienced traders whereas OPTO is for more experienced traders who are looking for fresh ideas and inspiration. News and analysis from CMC’s in-house analysis team sits comfortably between them, and as we noted earlier, there is also an online moderated charting community within the trading platform.
All of this is available at no additional charge and much of it is available to the public as well as CMC clients. Many of the major providers have a general education program and support their traders with news and in-house analysis. But OPTO stands out from the crowd and, to my mind, this elevates the CMC offering above the competition.
CMC Markets offers an investment option with CMC Invest.
Institutional Prime Services (CMC Connect)
Recently rebranded to CMC Connect, the institutional side of the business is where CMC expects to grow over the next 5 to 10 years. The company has high profile joint ventures such as the stockbroking services it provides to the clients of ANZ Bank. Alongside these partnerships, it offers institutional liquidity, outsourced trading technology and connectivity, as well as pre and post-trade processing and trade reporting.
These services are aimed at institutional customers such as hedge funds, family offices and prop traders. HNWI and the most active professional clients might be able to use some of CMC Connect’s services but the division is really aimed at corporate customers and funds.
CMC competes with all of the large-scale margin trading brokerages in the CFD, FX and spread betting arenas. It’s also making inroads into the institutional and B2B spaces through liquidity provision, white labels, and JVs. That push on the institutional side and the firm’s focus on in-house trading technology, and the use of currency and share baskets, are the key differentiators from its competitors.
CMC Markets Review Ratings Explained
- Pricing. It used to be called Deal4Free, and pricing is still good…
- Market Access. CMC focuses on the main markets, but still offers many exotic pairs to trade
- Platform & Apps. CMC Markets has some of the best trading tech around for active traders
- Customer Service. London-based support staff (still thankfully, despite all the Brexit pomp)
- Research & Analysis. Top class client sentiment tools
Pros
- Excellent trading platform
- Good liquidity
- Unique sentiment tools
Cons
- Trading only (investing is on CMC Invest)
- Limited smaller cap stocks
- Pricing (5)
- Market Access (4)
- Online Platform (5)
- Customer Service (4)
- Research & Analysis (5)
Overall
4.6Saxo: Best CFD broker for AU DMA access
- CFD markets available: 9,000
- Minimum deposit: $1
70% of retail investor accounts lose money when trading CFDs with this provider
- Saxo Markets provides OTC & DMA (direct market access) trading for gold and oil.
- Australia Address: Saxo Markets, Suite 1, Level 14/9 Castlereagh St, Sydney NSW 2000, Australia
Saxo have some of the best trading and investing platforms for advanced and beginner investors
Is Saxo Markets a good broker?
Yes, Saxo has a great choice of accounts for beginners with SaxoInvestor and for professionals, the more sophisticated SaxoTrader go provides direct market access. The pro platform, analysis, and direct market access may be too complicated for beginners. But, for experienced traders, its coverage, commissions and research are unrivalled.
Saxo is one of the largest investing and trading platforms worldwide and provides direct market access to equities, bonds, forex, futures and options as well as being a major liquidity and infrastructure provider to wealth managers, banks and smaller brokers.
Awards: Saxo won best investing app and best DMA/Professional account in 2024. Before that, in our 2023 awards, Saxo won ‘Best CFD Broker’, and ‘Best DMA & Professional Trading Account’. In 2022 Saxo also scooped ‘Best Bond Broker’.
Pricing: Commissions have just been reduced further making Saxo one of the cheapest brokers
Market Access: Saxo offers a huge range of markets for both derivatives trading and physical investing
Platform & Apps: Saxo has an industry-leading robust workhorse of a platform
Customer Service: Experienced dealers for active larger customers
Research & Analysis: Some of the best opinions on the markets around.
Plus, with Saxo posting its best financial results in history (with over $118bn customer funds on account) and now that it has been 70% bought out by J. Safra Sarasin Group, they will be in an even better position to continue to provide excellent market access. This, combined with founder Kim Fournais still owning 28% will keep the firm’s customer-first ethos intact.
Overall, Saxo Markets is an excellent trading platform for retail traders and investors who want institutional-grade pricing, robust execution and wide market coverage.
Pros
- Direct market access
- Low commissions
- Robust trading platform
Cons
- Seen as a trading platform for professionals
- Have to subscribe for live prices
- Pricing (4.5)
- Market Access (5)
- Online Platform (5)
- Customer Service (5)
- Research & Analysis (5)
Overall
4.9Australian CFD Broker FAQs:
Here are the answers to the most commonly asked questions by people searching for the best Australian CFD broker.
There are a lot of Australian CFD brokers that offer MT4 (Pepperstone is one of the best), however, the more established brokers like IG have their own trading platform. MT4 is a universally recognised CFD platform but can be a little complicated for beginners.
As CFDs are an OTC product, you need a big account to get direct market access. Having DMA CFDs enable you to get better pricing by placing orders inside the bid and offer. However, unlike CFDs where the broker sets the price rather than the exchange, there is commission added to DMA CFDs as opposed to it being built into the price.
The Australian Securities and Investments Commission (ASIC) regulates all CFD brokers in Australia. We only feature CFD brokers that are regulated by ASIC and you should never trade with a broker that is not locally regualted.
Yes, for reviews of the best CFD brokers in Australia like Pepperstone, City Index and IG, use our comparison tables then click on the “reviews” link. Traders can review their CFD brokers by pricing, customer service, market range, trade speed and added value. We have also interviewed many of the CEOs which you can read in our interview section.
When comparing Australian CFD brokers it’s important to ensure that they are properly regulated. Never trade with a broker that is not regulated by the appropriate regulatory body. In Australia, it is ASIC.
The main things to consider when choosing an Australian CFD broker are:
- Range of markets
- Regulator status
- Commission and pricing
- Educational tools
- Margin and leverage
