In this Tickmill review we give our ratings based on their nearest peers and tell you what we think of them after testing them thoroughly. Plus we highlight the key costs, facts and figures of their accounts.
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71% of retail investor accounts lose money when trading CFDs and spread bets with this provider
Tickmill Expert Review
Tickmill Review
Name: Tickmill
Description: Tickmill was founded in 2014 and offers CFD, forex and futures & options trading to 300,000+ traders via MT4 to, CQG and a range of other trading platforms on over 500 of the most popular traded markets.
Summary
Tickmill is more than just a run-of-the-mill broker to grind the market out tick by tick. It offers well-thought-out CQG setups and DMA access on various exchanges for smaller or high-frequency futures traders.
Pros
- Lots of trading platforms
- Direct markets access
- Low trading costs
Cons
- Subscriptions for DMA
-
Pricing
(4)
-
Market Access
(3.5)
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Online Platform
(4.5)
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Customer Service
(4.5)
-
Research & Analysis
(4)
Overall
4.1Ratings Explained
- Pricing: Tight pricing especially on CQG where you can trade DMA with micro futures.
- Market Access: Not huge, but fine for active traders on the main markets.
- Platform & Apps: All third-party – but a really good CQG set-up.
- Customer Service: Local dealers and account managers in London.
- Research & Analysis: A good team of in-house analysts providing daily market outlooks.
There are a couple of great lines in the movie Rounders – which are quite relevant to trading – Matt Damon opens with, “It’s like any other job, you don’t gamble, you grind it out.” And that’s pretty much the markets as they are a full-time job if you are a high-frequency or regular trader. There is no dipping your toe in to see how you get on, you either commit to learning how they work, or you become another risk warning statistic.
It’s not just me that thinks that, a while ago, I interviewed Jamie Ross of Henderson’s EuroTrust about how he invests for his £320m fund and he said that one of his favourite books was Thinking in Bets, by Annie Duke, a professional poker player. And that one of his favourite expressions was “if you look around the table and you don’t know who the patsy is, you’re the patsy” Damon opens with this line too, “If you can’t spot the sucker in your first half hour at the table, then you are the sucker.” The same is true of trading, if you look at the order book and don’t know what’s going on, you’re in trouble.
However, whatever you may see on social media, the markets are not geared against small-time traders, there is no massive conspiracy against you. The markets move with the ebb and flow of demand and sentiment, it’s not a zero sum game, you can win without someone else losing. Sure there may be a bit of spoofing and some algos working in the background, but generally, the only thing that causes retail traders to lose money is, themselves.
To paraphrase the true grinder Joey Kinish from Rounders, “you don’t trade for the thrill of victory… you trade for money… you gotta have the stones to chase the markets, not pipe dreams”.
And I think that’s where Tickmill fits into the brokerage world. It’s there to provide access to the most popular and tradable markets, through a huge range of platforms. It’s up to you how you choose to trade them, you can grind it out, tick by tick with an algo or scalping on micro lots.
Before this review, I interviewed the Tickmill UK CEO Duncan Anderson, (it’s well worth a watch if you want to know what Tickmill as a company stands for) and spent an hour or so going through the platforms with Marco Aichner who has been with Tickmill for around 5 years (and in the markets for 20). So I was able to test some of the things that make Tickmill stand out, which if you don’t know much about them you wouldn’t know.
71% of retail investor accounts lose money when trading CFDs and spread bets with this provider
Tickmill Facts & Figures
Tickmill Total Markets | 578 |
| ➡️Forex Pairs | 62 |
| ➡️Commodities | 6 |
| ➡️Indices | 10 |
| ➡️UK Stocks | ❌ |
| ➡️US Stocks | 500 |
| ➡️ETFs | ❌ |
Tickmill Key Info | |
| 👉Number Active Clients | 327,000+ |
| 💰Minimum Deposit | 100 USD/EUR/GBP |
| ❔Inactivity Fee | ❌ |
| 📅Founded | 2014 |
| ℹ️ Public Company | ❌ |
Tickmill Account Types | |
| ➡️CFD Trading | ✔️ |
| ➡️Forex Trading | ✔️ |
| ➡️Spread Betting | ❌ |
| ➡️DMA (Direct Market Access) | ✔️ |
| ➡️Futures Trading | ✔️ |
| ➡️Options Trading | ✔️ |
| ➡️Investing Account | ❌ |
Tickmill Average Fees | |
| ➡️FTSE 100 | 0.9 |
| ➡️DAX 30 | 0.91 |
| ➡️DJIA | 2.52 |
| ➡️NASDAQ | 1.93 |
| ➡️S&P 500 | 0.39 |
| ➡️EURUSD | 0.1 |
| ➡️GBPUSD | 0.3 |
| ➡️USDJPY | 0.1 |
| ➡️Gold | 0.09 |
| ➡️Crude Oil | 0.04 |
| ➡️UK Stocks | ❌ |
| ➡️US Stocks | 0 |
71% of retail investor accounts lose money when trading CFDs and spread bets with this provider
Tickmill Video Demo
71% of retail investor accounts lose money when trading CFDs and spread bets with this provider
Tickmill UK CEO Interview
Duncan Anderson, UK CEO tells us what Tickmill does and how they do it differently compared to other brokers.
71% of retail investor accounts lose money when trading CFDs and spread bets with this provider
Markets Access
First off what can you trade? Tickmill provides access to the most popular markets through CFDs, forex, and on-exchange futures and options. It’s their futures trading offering that I think makes them stand out because not many retail brokers offer this and futures contracts are getting smaller in size, so they can be traded by a more diverse range of traders.
Tickmill’s USP here is that can trade futures as big or small as you want on exchanges like CBOT, CME, COMEX, NYMEX, EUREX, ICE FUTURES EUROPE (Financials) or The Small Exchange. Access to The Small Exchange is particularly good because the contracts are tiny.
You can see the contract specs when you are logged into CQG by hovering or right-clicking, but as an example, trading 1 lot of the mini S&Ps is about a $20k contract, but trading the micro minis is a tenth of the size around $2,000. This is particularly good for those getting started in high-frequency trading.
You do get live and level two data from each exchange – but you must subscribe to each individually.
Is Tickmill an ECN & DMA broker?
When you trade futures with Tickmill they are operating in an ECN capcity and passing orders directly through to an exchange. However, if you are trading CFDs or forex, depending on what jurisdiction your account is regulated in they may not be operating an ECN model.
Tickmill lets you trade DMA futures and options on micro, mini and full size futures contracts so is a good choice for high frequency scalpers who need direct market access to the most popular markets.
- DMA markets available: 578
- Minimum deposit: £100
- Account types: CFDs, futures & options
- Pricing: US Shares 0, FTSE 0.9, GBPUSD 0.3
71% of retail investor accounts lose money when trading CFDs and spread bets with this provider
Trading Platforms
You can of course trade CFDs and Forex on MT4 with Tickmill, however, Tickmill probably has the widest range of trading platforms on offer of any broker we cover including:
- JIGSAW – Simplifies Your Trading
- CQG – Next-Generation Trading and Data Visualisation
- Multicharts – Advanced Market Analysis
- Sierra Chart Trading Platform – High-Performance Trading Platform
- TradingView – The Fastest Way To Follow Markets
- MotiveWave – Advanced Elliott Wave Software
- Bookmap – Identify market trends & hidden price patterns
- AgenaTrader – Multi-Asset, Multi-Broker, Multi Data feed trading platform
- Volumetrica – Developing of volume analysis trading platform
- Advanced Trading Analytical Software (ATAS) – Platform for volume and order flow analysis
You can decide what platform you want to trade on after you have funded your account, but for this review, we are going to focus on CQG – to quote Duncan and Marco “it’s an absolute beast”. Retail traders are fairly limited on who they can trade on CQG with and one of the good things about trading on CQG through Tickmill is that they do a lot of the heavy lifting before your account is set up.
There are lots of pre-set templates based on different types of trading for traders who may focus on timeframe, news, scalpers or options (whereas the base CQG set up is very basic).
Tickmill’s CQG is a good choice for smaller futures and options traders wanting DMA for scalping or high-frequency trading. Their MT4 offering offers access to the most popular markets with low trading costs.
Volume comparison
There is a nice tool that shows volume comparison of the previous day, weeks and months, which is useful for sniffing out algorithms or if someone is spoofing the markets.
Options trading
Tickmill has a strategy builder that automatically builds options strategies. So say for example if you want to trade a condor spread, (where you aim to profit from either high or low volatility and sizable (or lack of) market moves) or any dozens of strategies, and don’t have the time to build it out individually, you just select your strategy and the legs are created for you.
Tickmill offers options trading on CQG, which they have set up with specific options trading screens. They have a particularly helpful strategy builder that lets you set up options strategies loke condor spreads with the click of a button.
Is Tickmill a good options broker?
Yes, you can trade options on Tickmill, but you are limited to just Micro E-mini S&P 500 and Micro E-mini Nasdaq 100 contracts. If you want to trade on exchange options you are better off with a full service options broker like Interactive Brokers, or if you want CFD options IG, has good market coverage (and tax efficient financial spread betting).
Scalping screens
As Tickmill offers DMA and charges a commission scalping is allowed. They have a scalping template that is good for legging between two different contracts. You can see the order books of multiple markets on side-by-side mini-trade tickets.
Hybrid order ticket
Their hybrid order tickt enables traders to open or close positions by dragging and dropping up and down the ladder as either a limit, market, or stop entry order. Or when working stops you can either set them as market or limit stops depending on how price sensitive you are. All the usual professional order execution types are there, like iceberg and fill or kill. Those orders go direct on the order book, and can be moved with your mouse. It’s quite nice to be able to move orders visually rather than tapping at numbers.
Grouped asset classes
Tickmill has also created their own “Spreadsheet trader” module which gives you a good overview of multiple related markets and shows you exactly what they are doing. They are lumped together by asset class or category (softs, metals, currencies etc.) and can also be ranked by contract size, if you like the micro minis.
Trading from the charts
CQG lets you can drag the line on the chart to either enter stops or limits if you prefer to trade on levels like support and resistance. It’ll also show your working orders and if you hover over them, it will show the order details.
Linked modules
All the windows are linked together – so if you switch one, all change. You can drag and drop windows anywhere you want, delete and add modules as appropriate – if you muck it up, you can go back and open the pre-designed layouts that Tickmill has set up.
71% of retail investor accounts lose money when trading CFDs and spread bets with this provider
Pricing
Tickmill are competitive on pricing and certainly in the top ten. Interactive Brokers is cheaper (but doesn’t offer CQG, only their own platforms), Saxo Markets (another retail futures broker) is more expensive.
Futures trading commissions are 85 cents on mirco lots and $1.30 on an e-mini contract. You do have to pay for platforms though, so it’s better for regular traders who can make full use of them and want DMA access to the most traded smaller futures contracts. It’s worth noting though that, unlike other brokers, Tickmill includes order routing and clearing fees in their commission.
You can also keep FX conversion costs down by choosing to have your accounts in several different base currencies: USD, EUR, GBP, PLN, CHF
71% of retail investor accounts lose money when trading CFDs and spread bets with this provider
Customer Service
Client support is very good, dealers can move orders for customers, if they for one reason or another are not able to trade themselves. If there is a problem and a client wants to get flat the client services team can handle it. When setting up my account, I had direct communication from a sales rep as opposed to an automated string of e-document requests.
Tickmill say that they are aiming to complete heavily on customer service because they want three things
- To make their product offering as simple as possible
- To provide inspirational trading ideas by creating templates and frameworks to help clients
- To be there when they are needed by providing personal customer service.
71% of retail investor accounts lose money when trading CFDs and spread bets with this provider
Research & Analysis
This is a big deal because Tickmill charges commissions on trades, and actually say on their email signature: “We want traders to succeed”.
So the better the research and analysis they can provide the better chance their customers have of making money and the more money their clients make, the more money Tickmill earns from them in commission, so everyone is happy, as they say.
When putting together their offering, and bear in mind that they say they are built “by traders for traders” they asked what would they have wanted 10-15 years ago when they first started trading and have put together quite a comprehensive set of research and analysis tools including:
- Market news – searchable on CQG
- Autochartist – trading signals and technical analysis
- Signal Centre – trading ideas (now owned by Acuity Trading)
- Webinars – free courses run by their expert analysts
- Trading masterclasses – fine-tune your strategies
- Education hub – get to know the basic
Overall, a good choice for retail traders who want to trade the most liquid futures markets on a robust trading platform with low costs.
71% of retail investor accounts lose money when trading CFDs and spread bets with this provider
Tickmill Demo Accounts
Tickmill has two demo accounts you can paper trade on. Either MT4 or CGQ, both are brilliant platforms but the demo versions leave a lot to be desired. In our Tickmill demo account review, I tell you what I like and dislike about them.
Tickmill’s demo account lets you trade via MT4 or CQG with up to £1m in virtual funds on 578 markets for 30 days.
Are Tickmill’s demo accounts any good?
No, in a word. Which is a massive shame because both CQG and MT4 are both brilliant platforms, but for some reason Tickmill’s paper trading versions are hopeless. Firstly, I’ve already tested 7 other demo accounts today so I am not going through the rigmoral of trying to set up another MT4 even though you can set your own leverage and virtual balance. So when CQG figuratively spat in my face and refused to show off its brilliance I became even more tired and irritable. CQG is an amazing trading platform. Tickmill’s live version of it is one of the best around. If you are a high-frequency retail futures trader it gives you almost institutional capabilities. But the demo refused to do anything. In summary, if you want a Tickmill demo, don’t bother, just open a real account and see what it’s really about.
71% of retail investor accounts lose money when trading CFDs and spread bets with this provider
Does Tickmill have indices trading?
Yes, you can trade on exchange index futures with DMA through CQG with Tickmill, or trade OTC indices via contract for difference. You get better pricing with the futures, but trade sizes are not as flexible.
If you only want to trade the top ten indices as part of your overall trading, then Tickmill is a good option as they offer DMA futures trading on CQG as well as tight spreads on index CFDs on MT4 & MT5.
71% of retail investor accounts lose money when trading CFDs and spread bets with this provider
Is Tickmill legit for CFD trading?
Yes, it’s fine to trade CFDs with Tickmill in the UK as they are regulated by the FCA, so your funds are protected by the FSCS.
Tickmill’s offers CFD trading via MT4 & MT5 on the most liquid forex, indices, commodities and US shares. A good option, if you are looking for tight spreads through MetaQuotes.
- CFD markets available: 578
71% of retail investor accounts lose money when trading CFDs and spread bets with this provider
Does Tickmill offer MT4?
Yes, you can trade on MT4 or MT5 with Tickmill, but CQG is better. Tickmill actually has very good market coverage on MetaQuotes, but there are better MT4 brokers to compare.
Tickmill’s MT4 brokerage is a good choice for traders who want low spreads and access to the most popular markets on MT4. For more advanced traders Tickmill also offers the CQG trading platform which gives direct market access to micro and mini futures for scalpers.
- MT4 markets available: 578
71% of retail investor accounts lose money when trading CFDs and spread bets with this provider
Is Tickmill’s trading app any good?
Yes, Tickmill offer one of the best CQG trading app setups.
Tickmill does have a real trading app and they are a regulated futures and CFD broker with an office in London and authorised by the FCA (Financial Conduct Authority).
Tickmill’s provides access to the CQG trading app which is a good choice for smaller futures and options traders wanting DMA for scalping or high-frequency trading. Their MT4 trading app offers access to the most popular markets with low trading costs.
71% of retail investor accounts lose money when trading CFDs and spread bets with this provider
Is Tickmill any good for commodities?
One of the best things about trading commodities on Tickmill is the CQG trading platform which provides excellent DMA futures execution.
Tickmill’s is a good choice for those wanting to scalp the commodity markets as they offer DMA commodities trading on CQG on mini and micro futures. Tickmill also offers tight spreads on MT4 & MT5 on the most popular commodity markets for those who want to automate their trading.
- Commodities markets available: 6
- Pricing: Gold 0.9, Oil 0.4
71% of retail investor accounts lose money when trading CFDs and spread bets with this provider
Is Tickmill a good forex broker for DMA or OTC?
Tickmill offers both on-exchange currency futures which are suitable for high-frequency DMA traders and also Forex CFDs for traders that are not so price sensitive.
One thing that makes Tickmill’s forex trading stand out is the range of platforms and ways to trade. You can trade forex CFDs on MT4 & MT5 or you can trade forex with DMA (Direct Market Access) on mini, micro and standard futures contracts with CQG.
- FX markets available: 62
- Pricing: EURUSD 0.1, GBPUSD 0.3, USDJPY 0.1
71% of retail investor accounts lose money when trading CFDs and spread bets with this provider
Does Tickmill have futures?
Yes, you can trade futures on Tickmill. In fact, one of the best aspects of Tickmill’s futures account is your ability to trade DMA and in smaller trade sizes with micro lots.
Tickmill’s CQG is a good choice for smaller futures traders wanting DMA for scalping or high-frequency trading. What makes their CQG offering stand out though is that they have set up templates for different types of traders based on timeframe, volatility, volume and one specifically for scalpers.
- Futures markets available: 50+
- Futures exchanges: 5
- Commissions: $0.83-1.3 per lot
71% of retail investor accounts lose money when trading CFDs and spread bets with this provider
Agenatrader for DMA traders
In November 2023 Tickmill introduced a new trading platform, Agenatrader which facilitates DMA or direct market access to exchanges such as the CME or Chicago Mercantile Exchange, one of the world’s largest derivatives marketplaces.
The new platform provides advanced trading tools and functionality including more than 150 trading indicators, on-chart trading, contingent and connected order types, such as OCO or order cancels order, and tools to capture and analyse options order flow and volume data.
There are also intuitive interactive tools for traders in the Agenatrader platform including a drag-and-drop signal builder which allows traders to build their own indicators and trading signals without the need for coding skills.
Signals, strategy & risk
The platform also contains a strategy-building tool that allows traders to combine trading signals with trailing stops and trade target levels.
A signal analyser that scans through thousands of instruments, across multiple time frames to highlight trading opportunities to the user.
Agenatrader also has a built-in risk management tool that automates lengthy risk calculations, allowing traders to optimise their trade and money management strategies.
Other tools in the platform include a one-click strategy trading module and a trade notifier, that alerts users to order executions, trading signals and other status updates.
These alerts can be delivered directly to your Android smartphone.
Agenatrader also has a global trading room in which users can meet fellow traders and swap ideas and strategies.
Tickmill currently offers options trading on the Micro Emini S&P 500 and the Micro Emini Nasdaq 100 contract over weekly and quarterly series, with commissions from $0.85 per micro lot.
The broker also offers a wide range of futures contracts over commodities, currencies, equity indices and bonds.
What is Agenatrader?
Agenatrader is not a proprietary product from Tickmill, instead, it’s a white label of an existing platform developed by a software company based in Vienna, which is touted as one of Austria’s bright young fintechs, following an investment from the PE firm Andromeda Capital Partners Suisse AG.
The €3.50 million investment in Agenatrader, which was made via its parent company Galaxy Ventures GmbH, was led by Ingmarr Mattus, who himself was a co-founder of Tickmill.
For its part, Agenatrader has integrations with Interactive Brokers, StoneX Group Inc. (SNEX), XTB, FXCM, CQG, Bloomberg and other technology providers.
It’s good to see brokers making new technology and products available to their clients, we are all in favour of choice for retail traders if that choice benefits them.
However, trading platforms with lots of bells and whistles on them can prove to be a hindrance rather than a help, if their users don’t have their trading strategy nailed down, or know what signals and trading opportunities they should be looking out for in the first place.
71% of retail investor accounts lose money when trading CFDs and spread bets with this provider
FAQ:
Here are the answers to some of the most commonly asked questions people ask about Tickmill.
Yes, we rate Tickmill as a good broker as they are regulated by the FCA, offer direct market access to futures and options and have discounted commissions.
Yes, Tickmill is safe and legit, they have been in business since 2014, are regulated in multiple jurisdictions and have over 300,000 active customers. To find out more about them you can watch our Tickmill CEO interview.
Yes, beginners who understand the risks of futures and options can trade in small sizes with micro-mini futures contracts.
Yes, Tickmill UK Ltd is authorised and regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) in the United Kingdom. This means that it is a trust broker in the eyes of the FCA for regulatory purposes. As an FCA-regulated broker, Tickmill is required to segregate retail client funds from the company’s own funds. This means that your funds are covered by the FSCS, as a member of the Financial Services Compensation Scheme in the UK, all clients of Tickmill UK Ltd are covered in the event of default by Tickmill UK Ltd. Clients are covered up to the value of £85,000.00.
You can see Tickmill’s entry in the FCA register here.
Where else is Tickmill regulated?
As well as being regulated by the FCA in the UK, Tickmill brands are also regulated in these regions:
- UAE: Tickmill is a trading name of Tickmill UK Ltd, which is authorised and regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) of the United Kingdom and the Dubai Financial Services Authority as a Representative Office. See this on the UAE public register of firms here.
- Cyprus: Tickmill Europe Ltd is authorised and regulated by the Cyprus Securities and Exchange Commission (CySEC). See this on the Cyprus Securities and Exchange Commission register here.
- Seychelles: Tickmill Ltd is regulated by the Financial Services Authority of Seychelles (FSA). View Tickmill’s enter here.
- Asia: Tickmill Asia Ltd, which is authorised and regulated by the Labuan Financial Services Authority. You can see Tickmill on the FSA list of money brokers here.
- South Africa: Tickmill South Africa (Pty) Ltd, which is authorised and regulated by the Financial Sector Conduct Authority (FSCA). You can see Tickmill’s entry on the FSCA by clicking the OTC Derivatives Providers link on this page.
Tickmill is not currently regulated in America so cannot onboard US traders.
For more information please read our full Tickmill review, or you can watch our interview with the CEO of Tickmill UK Ltd Duncan Anderson. In it, we discuss the importance of Tickmill being regulated in muti-jurisdictions and what products it offers for different types of clients.
To see how Tickmill is trusted against other brokers you can view our trading platform comparison tables.
Yes, Tickmill provides DMA access to futures exchanges through multiple trading platforms like CQG. You can see why using an ECN broker is important here.
No, Tickmill does not accept US clients even though they offer futures trading which is regulated in America. Tickmill also offers CFDs which are illegal in the USA. As Tickmill is not regulated by the CFTC, so if you are a US citizen and want to trade futures see our comparison table of best US futures brokers.
In the UK Tickmill is not a market maker they are a STP broker. When you are trading futures your trades are executed directly on exchange. They also state that “All clients’ trades are sent directly to be filled in by liquidity providers, with no interference from Tickmill. There’s no dealing desk involved and Tickmill does not trade against the clients.” This should also apply to CFD trading.
However, Tickmill’s exeuciton policy varies from region to region where regulations are different. For example, on their international website, Tickmill say that they operate a hybrid execution model and state that they are both a market maker and offer straight-through processing of orders.
This means that depending on what regulated entity you are trading through Tickmill could be running a b-book.
Richard is the founder of the Good Money Guide (formerly Good Broker Guide), one of the original investment comparison sites established in 2015. With a career spanning two decades as a broker, he brings extensive expertise and knowledge to the financial landscape.
Having worked as a broker at Investors Intelligence and a multi-asset derivatives broker at MF Global (Man Financial), Richard has acquired substantial experience in the industry. His career began as a private client stockbroker at Walker Crips and Phillip Securities (now King and Shaxson), following internships on the NYMEX oil trading floor in New York and London IPE in 2001 and 2000.
Richard’s contributions and expertise have been recognized by respected publications such as BusinessInsider, Yahoo Finance, BusinessNews.org.uk, Master Investor, Wealth Briefing, iNews, and The FT, among many others.
Under Richard’s leadership, the Good Money Guide has evolved into a valuable destination for comprehensive information and expert guidance, specialising in trading, investment, and currency exchange. His commitment to delivering high-quality insights has solidified the Good Money Guide’s standing as a well-respected resource for both customers and industry colleagues.
