Is City Index free?
Disclaimer: 72% 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.
City Index does not provide access to real stock trading on US markets. If you are looking for a zero-commission broker to trade on US stock exchanges, you can check our article detailing the best apps offered in this category of brokers. If you wish to stick with City Index though, then you will find the fees they charge below.
City Index fees
Overview of City Index fees and charges
It's safe to say that City Index's fees are low in general. They either don't charge a brokerage fee for things that other brokers do, or they only charge a small amount.
Here's a high-level overview of City Index's fees
| Assets | Fee level | Fee terms |
|---|---|---|
| US stock fee | - | Not available |
| EURUSD fee | Low | The fees are built into the spread, 1.1 pips is the average spread cost during peak trading hours. |
| US mutual fund fees | - | Not available |
| Inactivity fee | Low | £12 per month after one year of inactivity |
City Index fees
City Index fees explained
Online brokerages in general charge much lower brokerage fees than traditional brokerages do - this is largely because online brokerages' businesses can be much better scaled: from a purely technical standpoint, it doesn't make that much of a difference for them if they have 100 or 5,000 clients.
This is not to say, however, that they don't charge any fees at all. They make money by charging you various rates for various actions or events. Usually you need to keep an eye on the following three types of fees:
- Trading fees - these are brokerage fees that you pay when you actually carry out a trade, like buying an Apple share or an ETF. What you pay is either a commission, a spread or a financing rate. Some brokers apply all of these.
- A commission is either fixed or based on the traded volume.
- A spread is the difference between the buy price and the sell price.
- A financing rate or overnight rate is charged when you hold your leveraged positions for more than one day.
- Non-trading fees. These are usually related to some operations you carry out in your account, such as depositing money, withdrawing money, or not trading for an extended period.
We compare City Index fees with its closest competitors, CMC Markets and XTB.
City Index fees
City Index trading fees
City Index's trading fees are low, which makes it suitable for you even if you trade often (i.e. several times a week).
Let's break down trading fees according to the different asset classes available at City Index.
Trading fees
City Index's trading fees are low.
Forex fees
City Index's forex fees are low.
| City Index | CMC Markets | XTB | |
|---|---|---|---|
| EURUSD benchmark fee | $14.2 | $15.3 | $15.2 |
| EURGBP benchmark fee | $12.0 | $14.1 | $11.4 |
CFD fees
City Index has average CFD trading fees.
| City Index | CMC Markets | XTB | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Apple CFD | $10.1 | $10.1 | $3.6 |
| Vodafone CFD | $12.8 | $11.6 | $4.0 |
| Germany | $11.9 | - | $9.1 |
Currency conversion fee
City Index will charge a Currency Conversion Fee for all trades on instruments denominated in a currency different to the currency of your account. The fee is charged as the following: 0.5% charge.
City Index fees
City Index non-trading fees
Some of City Index's non-trading fees are average.
Non-trading fees include various brokerage fees and charges at City Index that are not related to buying or selling assets. This can be a withdrawal fee, deposit fee, inactivity fee or account fee.
| City Index | CMC Markets | XTB | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Withdrawal fee | $0 | $0 | $0 |
| Deposit fee | $0 | $0 | $0 |
| Inactivity fee | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Account fee | No | No | No |
City Index fees
City Index deposit fee
Usually, brokers don't charge anything for deposits, and City Index is no different.
| City Index | CMC Markets | XTB | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Bank transfer | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Credit/debit card | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Electronic wallets | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Deposit fee | $0 | $0 | $0 |
City Index fees
City Index withdrawal fee
City Index generally doesn't charge a withdrawal fee.
| City Index | CMC Markets | XTB | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Bank transfer | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Credit/debit card | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Electronic wallets | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Withdrawal fee for bank transfer | $0 | $0 | $0 |
City Index fees
City Index inactivity fee
City Index does apply an inactivity fee and it is £12 per month after one year of inactivity. Keep this in mind to avoid getting charged after a longer idle period. The fact that City Index charges an inactivity fee makes it less ideal for you if you are a buy-and-hold investor.
The inactivity fee charged by City Index is low.
| City Index | CMC Markets | XTB | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Inactivity fee | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Inactivity fee | £12 per month after one year of inactivity | £10 monthly fee after 12 months of inactivity | €10 per month after 1 year of trading inactivity and if no deposit was made in the last 90 days |
Comments