IC Markets slippage policy is pretty clear, although some traders allege that IC Markets unfairly applies it.

IC Markets' slippage has become one of the major pet peeves among the broker's clients in recent years. What is really happening here, and how does IC Markets respond to the issue?

There are two sides to every story. Some traders allege that IC Markets unfairly applies negative slippages only, even during normal market hours.

On the other hand, IC Markets claims that "slippage is an inherent part of financial markets". IC Markets itself remains a reputable and highly regulated broker. Here's the long story.

IC Markets Slippage Policy

 

Trader's Complaints

Several traders have lodged multiple public complaints against IC Markets' slippage on high-profile online forums, such as Forex Factory and Forex Peace Army. Here are some of the most popular complaints.

Pipcruiser spoke in Forex Factory on March 2025, "I am getting grey [sic] hairs over IC Markets. I mean really grey [sic]. I trade standard lots and use pending orders at levels (Udine)." 

"I thought IC Markets was supposed [sic] to be a straightforward broker and hence I have been with them [sic] some time trading an ECN account. What I witness day in and day out is that 90% of the time I get slipped real bad (2-3 pips) and (strange enough) always in the favor of IC Markets, meaning 90% of my trades I either lose [sic] more or gain less than I should have." 

"I am not talking about news events, high volatile trading, etc. Just normal "slow" markets with pending orders waiting to be filled. A rough calculation shows me that I lose [sic] around 30% of my pips because of IC ripping me off."

Pipcruiser further narrated some examples in which his pending orders were executed at different prices by IC Markets. He emphasized that such things happen every day, even in normal market conditions, and that it has nothing to do with the Expert Advisor he used (Udine).

Some other traders conveyed their grievances on a thread dated back to January 6, 2020, on Forex Peace Army. One of them said:

"For example, Gold market opened with a gap at around 1561, and I had a buy stop at 1562, but they executed it at 1585.61 USD. My other buy stops are also executed at the same level with huge slippage."

Looking at all the dirty details, one might wonder whether IC Markets is a scammer or a trusted entity. A new trader then might run fast, or at least think twice, before joining IC Markets. However, an experienced trader will dig deeper to find the facts first.

 

Facts about Slippages on IC Markets

All the complaints against IC Markets' slippage have three similarities:

  1. Traders applied pending orders prior to the slippage.
  2. The slippages are negative for the traders.
  3. Slippages occur on "normal trading days".  

The three of them, by themselves, could not confirm that IC Markets had cheated. Here's why.

  1. Pending orders: All traders should understand that pending orders are naturally more susceptible to slippages than market orders. However, it is not common knowledge among traders. Those who know it might avoid pending orders, while those who don't... might file a complaint against their brokers. Some trading platforms carried fair warnings about this matter, and IC Markets probably should show similar notifications for traders who want to place pending orders on all of their trading platforms (if they haven't done it yet).

  2. Negative slippages: There are negative and positive slippages. A negative slippage means prices are executed at worse prices than traders' initial orders, while a positive slippage gives traders a better price (and potentially, more profits). Traders who criticize IC Markets apparently only received negative slippages. But there are proofs that IC Markets handed out both negative and positive slippages to other traders.

  3. Slippages and volatility: IC Markets mentioned on their web page, "slippage can increase when markets become volatile, such as over news releases". The sentence might mislead people into thinking that slippages can only occur around scheduled news releases. However, the fact is, volatility may increase unexpectedly any time outside of scheduled news releases —and yes, even during normal trading days. For example, the aforementioned trader's complaints on Forex Peace Army were debunked by other forum members who reminded them that the gold price at the time was driven by events in Iraq (which obviously were not scheduled events).

IC Markets is authorized and regulated by multiple official regulatory bodies across the globe. The company's main office in Australia has also fulfilled Australian Securities and Investments Commission (ASIC) requirements—recognized as one of the top-tier regulators in the forex industry. IC Markets AU has been licensed under ASIC since its establishment.

As IC Markets is a highly regulated company, a proper complaint against the broker should be directed toward the regulators. The regulators will then investigate the cases and, if the accusations are proven, sanction IC Markets in accordance with their findings.

Since there has been no official investigation and no sanction for years, it is possible that they are lacking in evidence or that the traders themselves did not submit formal complaints against IC Markets. At this point, the complaints against IC Markets' slippage are losing credibility.

 

Regardless of the accusations, IC Markets remains one of the most popular brokerages to this day. One of the reasons is their raw account which is said to offer incredibly low spreads. It's even comparable to other Australian-based brokers like FP Markets. To explore both brokers' raw accounts, check out FP Markets Vs IC Markets Raw Account Comparison.