Which one do you think has the better spread, IC Markets or Exness? Let's reveal the truth below.

All traders in the forex market must deal with spreads, which refer to the difference between the bid price (the price at which the trader can sell the currency) and the ask price (the price at which the trader can buy the currency). Basically, you need to pay a spread when trading as a form of compensation for the broker. Instead of charging you a separate commission fee for every trade, the broker uses spreads, so the cost is automatically built into the buy and sell price of the currency pair that you want to trade.

That being said, you need to find a low-spread broker in order to minimize your trading costs. Thankfully, there are loads of brokers available to choose from these days such as IC Markets or Exness. The competition is getting more intense as new brokers are starting to enter the market. All of them certainly strive to offer the best deals for customers, so it's important to compare multiple brokers to find the best one that suits your preferences.

IC Markets Vs Exness spread

In this post, we're going to be focusing on the spreads at IC Markets and Exness. Both brokers are quite popular in the forex market, but let's see which one offers the better spread for traders.

 

How to Find the Best Low-Spread Broker

First of all, make sure that the broker is legit. Every trader must know that spreads can be manipulated by the broker without the consent of their customers. If you are not careful, you might come across brokers that do this practice to make more profits. Therefore, it is crucial to find a reliable broker with a good reputation and no track record of any spread manipulation. The best way to start is by choosing a regulated broker because typically, they need to fulfill strict requirements imposed by the regulators and tend to be less manipulative.

The next thing is to compare the spreads of several brokers and find the best offer. Some brokers even have zero-spread accounts that offer no difference between the bid and ask price or spreads that are extremely low. This makes it easier for traders to manage their money without having to worry about trading costs.

Essentially, there are two types of spread in forex trading, namely fixed and floating. A fixed spread means that the amount is fixed and will not change regardless of the market condition. The advantage is that fixed spread makes money management more consistent as you can calculate the trading cost beforehand, but it's worth noting that the amount is usually higher than floating spreads in general. On the other hand, a floating spread refers to a type of spread whose amount changes according to market volatility. High volatility means higher spreads, so it can be quite uncomfortable during certain times. This option is considered more attractive for experienced traders as it can offer lower trading costs.

All in all, just make sure to understand the mechanism well before registering.

 

IC Markets Spread

IC Markets is a popular Australian-based broker that was founded in 2007. The broker is considered safe as it is fully regulated by some of the top-tier authorities, including CySEC and ASIC. IC Markets offers more than 3,000 tradable instruments, including forex pairs, stocks, and cryptocurrencies. Traders can choose to use MetaTrader or cTrader trading platform, and choose to trade via webtrader, desktop, or mobile.

IC Markets offers three types of trading accounts, namely the commission-free Standard account, commission-based Raw Spread account, and cTrader Raw Spread account. The minimum deposit is $200 and the maximum leverage 1:500. There are no deposit and withdrawal fees, so you can fund and take your money at any time you want. There are also no inactivity or account fees.

Moreover, the spread varies depending on the account that you choose and it can go as low as 0.0 pips on the MetaTrader and cTrader Raw Spread platforms. According to the broker's website, the average spread on the EUR/USD for the Raw Spread account starts from 0.02 pips. Meanwhile, the average spread on the Standard account is 0.62 pips, which is quite competitive among other brokers in the market. As for the commission, IC Markets does not charge commissions on the Standard account, but there is a commission of $3.5 per lot payable per side on the Raw Spread account.

Website
Established
2007
Leverage
1:1000
Min Deposit
$200
Regulation
ASIC, CySEC, SCB, The Financial Commission, FSA (Seychelles)
Interest rate on funds
Free education
PAMM
MAM
Segregated accounts
Managed accounts
Islamic accounts available
Compensation scheme
Swap
Low spread eur/usd
VPS
Copy trading
FasaPay
Neteller
PayPal
Skrill
Wire transfer

IC Markets is an online forex broker operating under the company of International Capital Markets Pty Ltd. Traders under the Australian jurisdiction are provided with the trading service of IC Markets AU that is headquartered in Australia and licensed by the Australian Securities and Investments Commission (ASIC).

On the other hand, non-Australian traders who open an account in this broker are registered under IC Markets SEY that is based in Seychelles, and regulated under the Seychelles Financial Services Authority (SFSA). The dual operation is a result of the relatively new rules from ASIC that prohibit their regulated broker to offer trading services outside Australia.

Classified as an ECN broker, IC Markets provide clients with MetaTrader 4, MetaTrader 5, cTrader as platform trading options. This broker also follows market trends to include Cryptocurrencies as one of its products, enriching its already wide selection of trading assets that include Currencies, Indices, Metals, Energies, Softs, Stocks, as well as Bonds.

The minimum deposit in IC Markets is in the middle range compared to other ASIC-regulated brokers, as it reaches $200 for every client. Market analysis materials are also prepared regularly for trading insights on IC Markets's official website, proving their competence to serve their traders with important contents created by market experts that work specifically for them.

For payment methods, IC Markets allows funding and withdrawal via wire transfer, credit card, PayPal, Skrill, Neteller, FasaPay, UnionPay, as well as Bitcoin via BitPay. The more interesting aspect from this broker is its multi-base currencies that include USD, AUD, EUR, GBP, SGD, NZD, JPY, CHF, HKD, and CAD.

As the trading technology in IC Markets is highly equipped with co-located servers and extremely low latency (especially on cTrader), the broker is widely known for its capability in hosting traders with the special needs for high-frequency trading as well as scalping.

To sum up, IC Markets is a fitting destination for active traders looking for a well-regulated broker. IC Markets is also flexible in terms of base currency and payment methods, signaling their commitment to welcome traders beyond their home country. As of late 2019, IC Markets provided their website in 18 international languages including English, Korean, Indonesian, French, Spanish, Italian, Malay, German, and Chinese.

 

Exness Spread

Exness is a popular global broker that has been around since 2008. Aside from currency pairs, the broker also provides access to other products such as precious metals, cryptocurrencies, stocks, bonds, and indices. The broker is known as one of the fastest-growing ZAR account brokers in South Africa and even won a prestigious SA Shares award of the same category in 2020.

Not only does Exness provide brokerage services that are safe and reliable, but it also provides comfortable trading conditions. To begin with, there are no fees for making deposits and withdrawals. There are also no management fees and it's free to open a new trading account. It is worth noting that traders may get swaps if they leave open positions overnight, but there's an option to have an extended swap-free status. Also, if you live in a Muslim country, your account will automatically be swap-free.

In Exness, spreads are always floating. The amount varies depending on the instrument and the account you use. If you use the Standard account, the spread starts at 1 pip and there's no commission. Meanwhile, if you use the Zero account, you can get spread as low as 0.0 pips on the top 30 instruments with a commission starting from $0.2 per lot. For more details, please refer to the broker's platform to see the live spreads for each instrument.

Website
Established
2008
Leverage
1:2000
Min Deposit
$10
Regulation
FSA (Seychelles), CBCS (Curacao), FSC (BVI), FSCA, CMA (Kenya), FCA, CySEC, ESMA
PAMM
Trading contests
LAMM
Segregated accounts
VPS
Free education
Islamic account
Copy trading
Compensation scheme
Negative balance protection
Low spread eur/usd
Affiliate program
Trading via API
WebMoney
Wire transfer
Skrill
Neteller

The choice of broker is adjusted to the needs of each trader. If you are a trader who only needs a basic platform and trading features with the best attributes, then Exness can be your best choice.

Exness covers its lack of feature variations with other advantages like low spreads starting from only 0.1 pip. This is very suitable for traders who use scalping strategies (Scalper). Spreads on major pairs in certain account types can also be as low as 0.0 pip, depending on market conditions.

Not only that, but traders can also enjoy other advantages such as automatic fund withdrawals. Exness processes the majority of client withdrawals instantly, without manual checks; however, withdrawals may be subject tos depending on the payment provider or method of choice.

The safety of traders' funds is also guaranteed as Exness is one of the European-based STP/ECN brokers. Exness's ability to become an official partner of the Real Madrid soccer team for 3 years, starting July 2017, also provides evidence that the company has high solidity.

Deposits and withdrawals may be made 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. However, it is important to note that the company shall not be liable fors in processing deposits and withdrawals if suchs are caused by the payment system.

Traders do not need to worry about transaction fees when depositing and withdrawing. Exness doesn't charge any transaction fees to traders even though some charges may be incurred depending on the payment provider of choice. A variety of payment methods are provided for traders, including Wire Transfer, Bank Card, Neteller, Skrill, and many others.

The financial reports and metrics on the Exness website are audited quarterly by Deloitte, one of the four largest public accounting firms globally.

Moreover, Exness is one of the mote transparent brokers in the online trading industry. Traders can find out all information about this company on the website, such as trading volume, number of active clients, client deposits, company funds, and many more.

The platforms provided by Exness vary in MetaTrader 4, MetaTrader 5, Web, and Mobile platforms. This makes it easy for traders when trading on Exness, as they can also access Exness platforms anywhere and anytime.

Over the years, Exness has developed into a broker that attracts traders. Trader's trust is further enhanced by its compliance with financial regulations like the FCA and CySEC.

One measure of client confidence can be put on the trading volume. By December 2018, their clients' monthly trading volume reached USD348.4 billion and active traders around the world surpassed 50,342.

Through the program offered by Exness, traders also have the opportunity to earn extra income by becoming their partners. From the Introducing Broker (IB) program, partners can earn up to 33% spread commission from every new client that registers with them.

Additional income can also be obtained from Exness Partners. Traders can get a spread commission of up to 25% per transaction made by traders who register through an affiliate link.

When trading with Exness, clients can also make use of its free VPS hosting services. A VPS (Virtual Private Server) offers increased reliability and stability for traders as they can maintain their trades and expert advisors without interruption in the event of unexpected technical issues, such as internet or electricity downtime.

From the review above, it can be concluded that Exness is a favorite broker for traders because of low spreads and flexible account types. This condition is very suitable for traders with limited funds but is in need of more opportunities to get maximum profit. This broker is also well known for its maximum support on both new and existing partners.

 

Is There a Broker with Zero Spreads?

Many brokers advertise themselves as zero spread, but this label can be misleading at times. In reality, there are only several brokers that truly offer close-to-zero pip spreads on zero accounts. Even then, you still need to pay a commission for every trade you make, so there is no such thing as zero-cost trading. Either you choose to pay spreads, commissions, or a little of both.

For instance, both IC Markets and Exness offer spreads close to zero for their commission-based accounts. You may notice that while the average spreads are lower, there are commissions that you need to pay per trade.

That being said, any broker claiming to offer zero pips spread and no commission must be considered cautiously because they might be a scam. Note that all brokers need to make money, so they will demand some payment in one way or another. If they seem like providing a free service, then there might be some hidden fees that you are not aware of. This is why it's always recommended to only use regulated brokers to trade.

 

The Bottom Line

In conclusion, IC Markets offers relatively lower spreads compared to Exness, but both brokers generally offer excellent trading conditions and competitive fees. The two brokers are also considered safe as they are fully regulated by several top financial authorities in different countries. The most important thing now is to understand what you need as a trader. This means you should choose a broker that suits your trading style, is available in your country, offers your preferred payment method, etc.

Keep in mind that the financial market can be volatile and highly unpredictable, so make sure that you are prepared to take the risks. It's a good thing to choose a low-spread broker to reduce your trading costs, but don't forget to consider other factors as well. For instance, if you are new to forex trading, you can look for brokers that offer low spreads and plenty of educational resources to help you improve your trading skills.

To compare IC Markets Vs Exness in other categories, please refer to the table below:

Compare IC Markets Exness
General Rating 4.02/5
3.81/5
Score
Trustpilot 4.8/5

32767 users
4.5/5

5732 users
💼 Regulation
❗ Info
⌛ Established 2007 2008
💲 Min Deposit $200 $10
⚖ Max Leverage 1:1000 1:2000
🔢 Spread Variable Variable
💸 Commissions $3.50 $3.50
💡 Min Position 0.01 lot 0.01 lot
💳 Payment Crypto, BPAY, Credit/debit cards, FasaPay, Neteller, PayPal, Skrill, UnionPay and Wire transfer WebMoney, Wire transfer, Skrill, Credit/debit cards, Neteller, Perfect Money, Crypto, Tether (USDT) and USD Coin (USDC)
🏢 Office(s) AustraliaCyprusBahamasSeychelles SeychellesSaint MartinBritish Virgin IslandsSouth AfricaUnited KingdomCyprusEuropean areaFrance
🧩 Demo Account
📁 Segregated Account
🕋 Islamic Account
👨‍💻 PAMM Account
📈 Managed Account
💱 Hedging
🇺🇸 US traders
🕛 Swaps
🏆 Trading contests
⚡ Automated trading
💰 Bonus offers
📖 Free education
1️⃣ One-click trading
⏱ Trailing stop
⏳ Pending orders
ForexForex
cfdCFD
IndexesIndexes
Spread BettingSpread Betting
Gold & SilverGold & Silver
CryptoCrypto
stocksStocks
oilOil
MetalsMetals
EnergiesEnergies
FuturesFutures
etfETF
OptionsOptions
AgricultureAgriculture
CommoditiesCommodities
StockStock
IndicesIndices
EtfEtf
BondsBonds
Binary OptionsBinary Options
ETFsETFs
Corporate StocksCorporate Stocks
SharesShares
SilverSilver
IndexIndex
Stocks 1:5Stocks 1:5
Physical StockPhysical Stock
🗣 Website Languages Arabic, Chinese, English, German, Indonesian, Japanese, Korean, Malay, Portuguese, Russian, Spanish Arabic, Bengali/Bangla, German, English, Spanish, French, Hindi, Indonesian, Italian, Japanese, Korean, Portuguese, Russian, Thai, Urdu, Vietnamese, Chinese
🚪 Trade Now Open IC Markets Open Exness