Is IC Markets legit? And who are they?

When you assess a stock broker it's best to think through the following aspects:

• What authority or authorities regulate the broker? In other words who can you turn to if something goes south?
• Does it offer negative balance protection?
• How much protection do you have?
• For how long IC Markets has been in operation?
• Is it publicly traded itself?
• How transparent is it?
• How much do they protect your account from unauthorized access?
• What auditor audits the brokerage?

As you see there are a number of aspects above. But not all of them were created equal.

We think the most important feature is to be regulated by at least one trustworthy authority. With a CFD and forex broker, it's also a cardinal info whether the broker provides negative balance protection or not.

Comparing regulators

First and foremost, to gather a wider knowledge about one broker's legitimacy, you should check the regulators of it. For this purpose, we sum up below the most important things to know about regulators and how to interpret them for your individual case.

IC Markets is regulated in the following countries and provides the following investor protection:

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The investor protection amount and the regulator might differ based on which entity you belong to.

For the avoidance of doubt, it is

1. By and large your home country (i.e. your residence, not your passport) that will determine under which regulator you'll fall, should there be more than one regulator.
2. In some cases you might choose between regulators, and that being said, we recommend you choosing the higher-tier regulator, e.g. FCA over CySEC.

Don't forget that regulators are not created equal. Investor protection can also vary from authority to authority. There are top-tier regulators whose excellence lies within their features such as the presence of segregated accounts, the range of protection tools or the investor protection amount itself. Check out a few of the top-tier regulators in the table below. Most brokers reviewed by BC fall below one of the following four regulators:

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As you could see above, IC Markets is supervised by the CySEC or Cyprus Securities and Exchange Commission. CySEC monitors the Cyprus Stock Exchange, registered brokers and companies, and the transactions taking place on the Stock Exchange.

CySEC also monitors licensed collective investment funds, registered investment service companies, companies that operate mutual funds and investment consultants. CySEC covers €20,000 or 90% of investor's claim (whichever is lower) per person per firm, in case of broker bankruptcy. They also introduced a negative balance protection. At IC Markets a non-Cypriot citizen is treated the same way as a Cypriot resident in case something goes wrong.

There are some brokers that provide additional insurance because they have private insurance (e.g.: eToro through Lloyd's, among the US brokers Charles Schwab and Ally have similar setups), which means that you have an extra legitimacy net above the regulatory. It's worth checking it out when you're choosing your broker.

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The subsequent bullet points are rather supplementary, “nice to have” features. Ticking them definitely adds to the legitimacy of an online broker, but not having them is not necessarily a big red flag.

Banking background

IC Markets doesn't have a banking background, which is not crucial, but would make a better case for their legitimacy. The reason is that even if it's not required by law that a struggling broker must be saved by its parent bank, in most cases you can count on this happening.

Broker listed on stock exchange

IC Markets is not listed on any stock exchange, hence it's harder to get detailed or any kind of direct information about its financial performance.

Why is being listed on the stock market useful? For two reasons:

• Listed companies by and large have stringent reporting requirements
• If something really goes wrong with the broker, you'll be able to tell it from the (rapidly falling) share price of the broker in most cases. In this unlikely scenario, you'll have time to move your funds and securities to another broker.

Annual financial statements on website

IC Markets doesn't publish annual financial statements. These are sort of financial reports, which generally contain information about a brokerage's income, profit and loss, retained earnings and cash flows. Not having these exposed to the public doesn't necessarily mean that a broker is not legit, it's just a factor that we should take into account when choosing where to invest or trade.

Mobile two-step authentication

IC Markets doesn't provide two-step authentication when logging in, which is not so pleasing, since it might be easier for hackers to compromise clients' accounts.

Broker ownership transparency

Ownership structure of IC Markets is not public, it can't be checked on their website, which leaves some questions open about one's feeling of being up-to-date about the broker.

Broker management transparency

IC Markets has not made their management structure public, which can leave you with a sense of lack considering the broker's transparency and legitimacy.

Broker is audited by the Big Four

IC Markets is not audited by one of the so-called Big Four auditors (KPMG, PWC, Deloitte, EY), which is not necessarily an issue, however it would guarantee another layer of legitimacy.

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74.32% of retail CFD accounts lose money

Now that we have gone through the most frequent and - as we think - most important legitimacy aspects of IC Markets, we hope that you feel armed enough with information for your future decision. In case you're still unsure, use our broker finder and meet the best online broker that suits your needs.

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