Is CMC Markets free?

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Is CMC Markets free as of September 2024?

Disclaimer: 71% 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.

CMC Markets 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 CMC Markets though, then you will find the fees they charge below.

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71% of retail CFD accounts lose money

CMC Markets

4.5/5

Minimum deposit

FX fee

Low

Index CFD fee

Average

Withdrawal fee

Account opening

1-3 days

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71% of retail CFD accounts lose money

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Overview of CMC Markets fees and charges

It's safe to say that CMC Markets'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 CMC Markets's fees

CMC Markets Fees snapshot
Assets	Fee level	Fee terms
US stock fee	-	Available to AU clients: $0, but minimum order size of AUD 1,000 is required
EURUSD fee	Low	The fees are built into the spread, 0.5 pips is the average spread cost during peak trading hours.
US mutual fund fees	-	Not available
Inactivity fee	Low	£10 monthly fee after 12 months of inactivity

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71% of retail CFD accounts lose money

CMC Markets 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 CMC Markets fees with its closest competitors, IG and XTB.

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71% of retail CFD accounts lose money

CMC Markets trading fees

CMC Markets'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 CMC Markets.

Trading fees

CMC Markets's trading fees are low.

Forex fees

CMC Markets's forex fees are low.

Forex fees of a $20,000 30:1 position (open, 1-week-hold and close)
	CMC Markets CMC Markets	IG IG	XTB XTB
EURUSD benchmark fee Includes all fees (spread, commission, financing rate) of a $20,000 30:1 position open, 1-week-hold, and close	$10.4	$13.3	$11.0
EURGBP benchmark fee Includes all fees (spread, commission, financing rate) of a $20,000 30:1 position open, 1-week-hold, and close	$10.8	$13.6	$11.6

Data updated on September 23, 2024

CFD fees

CMC Markets has average CFD trading fees.

CFD fees and commissions on a $2,000 trade
	CMC Markets CMC Markets	IG IG	XTB XTB
Apple CFD Commission for a $2,000 stock CFD trade	$10.1 $0.02 with a $10 minimum commission	$10.1 $0.02 per share; min $10	$2.9 Fees are built into the spread, but no commission is charged
Vodafone CFD Commission for a $2,000 stock CFD trade	$11.8 0.10% of trade value, with a minimum commission of £9	$13.1 0.1% of trade value; min £10	$3.9 Fees are built into the spread, but no commission is charged
Germany Commission for a $2,000 stock CFD trade	-	$11.9 0.1% of trade value; min €10	$9.1 0.08%, min €8

Data updated on September 23, 2024

Currency conversion fee

CMC Markets 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% mark-up.

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71% of retail CFD accounts lose money

CMC Markets non-trading fees

When it comes to non-trading fees, CMC Markets is a rather cheap broker.

Non-trading fees include various brokerage fees and charges at CMC Markets that are not related to buying or selling assets. This can be a withdrawal fee, deposit fee, inactivity fee or account fee.

A high-level overview of how CMC Markets stacks up in terms of non-trading fees
	CMC Markets CMC Markets	IG IG	XTB XTB
Withdrawal fee Fee for withdrawing money from the broker account. It is zero if you can withdraw money for free via any method, e.g. credit/debit card or bank transfer.	$0 Free withdrawal	$0 Free for credit and debit cards; £15 for international bank transfers	$0 Free for withdrawals above $50-$200, depending on your country of residence
Deposit fee	$0 Free deposit	$0 Free for bank transfer and debit cards, but credit cards have a 0.5% - 1.0% charge	$0 No deposit fee for bank transfer, but credit/debit card or electronic wallets might carry a fee (1-2% usually) depending on your country of residence
Inactivity fee Fee applied if a customer does not trade for a certain length of time	Yes £10 monthly fee after 12 months of inactivity	No No inactivity fee	Yes €10 per month after 1 year of trading inactivity and if no deposit was made in the last 90 days
Account fee Monthly account fee	No No account fee	No No account fee	No No account fee

Data updated on September 23, 2024

Visit broker
71% of retail CFD accounts lose money

CMC Markets

4.5/5

Minimum deposit

FX fee

Low

Index CFD fee

Average

Withdrawal fee

Account opening

1-3 days

Visit CMC Markets

71% of retail CFD accounts lose money

Want to unlock your perfect broker match?

CMC Markets deposit fee

Usually, brokers don't charge anything for deposits, and CMC Markets is no different.

CMC Markets deposit methods
	CMC Markets CMC Markets	IG IG	XTB XTB
Bank transfer Bank transfer is available for deposit	Yes	Yes	Yes
Credit/debit card Credit/debit cards are available for deposit	Yes	Yes US clients can only use debit card for deposits	Yes
Electronic wallets Electronic wallets are available for deposit	No	Yes	Yes
Deposit fee	$0 Free deposit	$0 Free for bank transfer and debit cards, but credit cards have a 0.5% - 1.0% charge	$0 No deposit fee for bank transfer, but credit/debit card or electronic wallets might carry a fee (1-2% usually) depending on your country of residence

Data updated on September 23, 2024

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71% of retail CFD accounts lose money

CMC Markets withdrawal fee

CMC Markets generally doesn't charge a withdrawal fee.

CMC Markets withdrawal fees and options compared
	CMC Markets CMC Markets	IG IG	XTB XTB
Bank transfer Bank transfer is available for deposit	Yes	Yes	Yes
Credit/debit card Credit/debit cards are available for deposit	Yes	Yes US clients can only use debit card for deposits	Yes
Electronic wallets Electronic wallets are available for deposit	No	Yes	Yes
Withdrawal fee for bank transfer Fee for withdrawing money from the broker account. It is zero if you can withdraw money for free via any method, e.g. credit/debit card or bank transfer.	$0 Free withdrawal	$0 Free for credit and debit cards; £15 for international bank transfers	$0 Free for withdrawals above $50-$200, depending on your country of residence

Data updated on September 23, 2024

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71% of retail CFD accounts lose money

CMC Markets inactivity fee

CMC Markets does apply an inactivity fee and it is £10 monthly fee after 12 months of inactivity. Keep this in mind to avoid getting charged after a longer idle period. The fact that CMC Markets charges an inactivity fee makes it less ideal for you if you are a buy-and-hold investor.

The inactivity fee charged by CMC Markets is low.

	CMC Markets CMC Markets	IG IG	XTB XTB
Inactivity fee Fee applied if a customer does not trade for a certain length of time	Yes £10 monthly fee after 12 months of inactivity	No No inactivity fee	Yes €10 per month after 1 year of trading inactivity and if no deposit was made in the last 90 days
Inactivity fee Fee applied if a customer does not trade for a certain length of time	£10 monthly fee after 12 months of inactivity	No inactivity fee	€10 per month after 1 year of trading inactivity and if no deposit was made in the last 90 days

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71% of retail CFD accounts lose money

Disclaimer: CFDs are complex instruments and come with a high risk of losing money rapidly due to leverage. 71% of retail investor accounts lose money when trading CFDs with this provider. You should consider whether you understand how CFDs work and whether you can afford to take the high risk of losing your money.

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Everything you find on BrokerChooser is based on reliable data and unbiased information. We combine our 10+ years finance experience with readers feedback. Read more about our methodology.