MarketsX Review 2020

Markets.com charges no account, deposit or withdrawal fees. On the flip side, trading fees, financing rates and forex fees are high and inactivity fee can kick in as well.

How we ranked fees

We ranked Markets.com's fee levels as low, average or high based on how they compare to those of all reviewed brokers.

To get things rolling, let's go over some lingo related to broker fees. What you need to keep an eye on are trading fees, and non-trading fees.

• Trading fees occur when you trade. These can be commissions, spreads, financing rates and conversion fees.
• Non-trading fees include charges not directly related to trading, like withdrawal fees or inactivity fees.

In the sections below, you will find the most relevant fees of Markets.com for each asset class. For example, in the case of forex and stock index trading the most important fees are spreads, commissions and financing rates.

We also compared Markets.com's fees with those of two similar brokers we selected, Plus500 and eToro. This selection is based on objective factors such as products offered, client profile, fee structure, etc. See a more detailed rundown of Markets.com alternatives.

To have a clear overview of Markets.com, let's start with the trading fees.

Markets.com trading fees

Markets.com's trading fees are high, especially for forex. 

We know it's hard to compare trading fees for CFD brokers. So how did we approach the problem of making their fees clear and comparable? We compare brokers by calculating all the fees of a typical trade for selected products.

We have chosen popular instruments within each asset class:

• Stock index CFDs: SPX and EUSTX50
• Stock CFDs: Apple and Vodafone
• Forex: EURUSD, GBPUSD, AUDUSD, EURCHF and EURGBP

A typical trade means buying a leveraged position, holding it for one week and then selling. For the volume, we chose a $2,000 position for the stock index and stock CFDs and $20,000 for the forex transactions. The leverage we used is:

• 20:1 for stock index CFDs
• 5:1 for stock CFDs
• 30:1 for forex

These catch-all benchmark fees include spreads, commissions and financing costs for all brokers. Let's see the verdict for Markets.com fees.

CFD fees

Markets.com has generally low CFD trading fees similarly to its closest competitors, except for its UK related CFDs.

Forex fees

Markets.com's forex fees are high, much higher than what you'll get at competitors like Plus500 or eToro.

Non-trading fees

Markets.com does a good job at non-trading fees in general as you don't get charged for account fee, a deposit fee or a withdrawal fee.

On the other hand, they do charge a high inactivity fee, $10/month after 3 months of inactivity.

Account opening at Marktes.com is seamless, fast and fully digital. You can open your trading account within a day.

Can you open an account?

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73.9% of retail CFD accounts lose money

Markets.com accepts customers from almost all countries. There are a few exceptions, such as citizens of the USA, Canada, New-Zealand, Hong Kong, Japan, South-Korea, Israel, Russia, Brazil, Turkey, and Belgium.

What is the minimum deposit at Markets.com?

The required minimum deposit at Markets.com is €/£/$250.

Account types

Markets.com doesn't have separate account types. With a single registration, you'll have the option to try out a real and a demo account. After you've opened an account, both marketsx and marketsi will be available. The first one consists of all that's trading, the second one focuses on portfolio investments. In our review, we focus on the first one.

How to open your account

The account opening is very easy and fully digital. It took one day until our account was approved.

The steps of Markets.com's account opening process:

1. Give your personal and financial information.

2. Give your trading experience and fill out a test about your knowledge.

3. Verify your ID and residency. You can upload a national ID, passport, or driver's license for verifying your ID. Utility bill and bank statements are accepted for residency verification.

Markets.com provides multiple deposit and withdrawal options free of charge on a user-friendly interface.

Account base currencies

At Markets.com, you can choose from 9 base currencies. The available base currencies are:

Why does this matter? For two reasons. If you fund your account in the same currency as your bank account or you trade assets in the same currency as your account base currency, you don't have to pay a conversion fee.

A convenient way to save on currency conversion fees is opening a multi-currency bank account at a digital bank. Digital banks offer bank accounts in several currencies with great currency exchange rates as well as free or cheap international bank transfers. Opening an account only takes a few minutes on your phone.

Compare digital banks

Deposit fees and options

Markets.com charges no deposit fees. 

Similarly to other CFD brokers, there are several ways to fund your account:

• Bank transfer
• Credit/Debit card
• PayPal
• Skrill
• Neteller

A bank transfer can take several business days, while payment with a credit/debit card is instant.

You can only deposit money from accounts which are in your name.

Markets.com withdrawal fees and options

Markets.com charges no withdrawal fees. You can use the same methods for withdrawal as for deposit.

How long does it take to withdraw money from Markets.com? We tested the credit card withdrawal and it took 1 business day.

You can only withdraw money to accounts in your name.

How do you withdraw money from Markets.com?

• Click on the Menu located in the top right corner of your screen.
• Select the withdrawal method (bank transfer or credit/debit card or electronic wallets).

Compare to other brokers

Markets.com's web trading platform is easy to use, has a clear fee report and good search function. On the other hand, we missed a two-step login, customizability and order confirmation features.

At Markets.com, besides its own Marketsx platform, you can use MetaTrader 4 or 5. In this review, we've taken a closer look to Marketsx web platform. The platform is available in 9 languages, see our table below:

Markets.com's web trading platform is user-friendly and has a nice design. On the flip side, you cannot customize it. However, you can choose between layouts, and you can resize the windows, which is always a plus.

Login and security

Markets.com only provides a one-step login. We missed a more secure, two-step authentication.

Search functions

The search function is good. You will easily find what you're looking for and you will get relevant answers for your search.

Placing orders

While some of the more sophisticated ones are missing, you can use the following basic order types:

• Market
• Limit
• Stop
• Stop loss
• Take Profit

To get a better understanding of these terms, read this overview of order types.

Alerts and notifications

We also liked the alert and notification function. You can set up email, SMS notifications and price alerts. On the other hand, there is no way to set a notification for order confirmation.

Portfolio and fee reports

Markets.com provides clear portfolio and fee reports which are easy to find under "My accounts" menu, you can also download them here.

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73.9% of retail CFD accounts lose money

Markets.com offers a user-friendly and well-designed mobile trading platform. The search function is great and you can set price alerts. On the negative side, we missed the two-step and the Touch/Face ID login.

Markets.com operates mobile platforms both on iOS and Android. We re-tested the mobile platform on iOS this time.

The mobile platform is very similar to the web platform. It looks nice, and you can easily get around. There is a great onboarding when you first log in, and after a few minutes, you will be good to go. Furthermore, the search function is great.

However, there is no two-step or biometric login and there are only a few order types.

There are also a few differences. For example, it is available in more languages, than the web platform. Here's a few notable languages, that are available on mobile, but are not on web: Bulgarian, Romanian, Swedish, Polish.

Look and feel

The Markets.com mobile trading platform shares lots of similarities between its web platform. It is user-friendly, well-built application.

Login and security

Markets.com provides only a one-step login.

You can't log in using biometric authentication. Providing this feature would be more convenient.

Search functions

The search functions are good: when you start to type, it immediately shows all the available options for you.

Placing orders

Compared to the web platform, you can use the same order types. However, on mobile there are a few, more advanced ones, like:

• Entry Limit
• Entry Stop

Alerts and notifications

You can set alerts and notifications on the Markets.com mobile platform. Either go to 'My account' and tap on 'Price alerts', or tap on the bell icon next to the instruments. You can be notified via email, push notifications, or web push notifications.

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73.9% of retail CFD accounts lose money

Markets.com does not have a dedicated desktop trading platform.

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73.9% of retail CFD accounts lose money

Markets.com has a limited product portfolio as you can only trade with CFDs, forex, a couple of cryptos and CFD funds.

Markets.com is a CFD and forex broker. To learn more about CFDs, read our CFD trading tips.

Disclaimer: CFDs are complex instruments and come with a high risk of losing money rapidly due to leverage. 73.9% 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.

Markets.com provides a sufficient amount of CFDs which is mainly in line with Plus500 and eToro. You can also trade with the most popular cryptocurrencies (i.e. Bitcoin Futures, Ripple, Ethereum and some others), but the selection is more narrow than at competitors.

Based on the customer support answers, you can't change the default leverage level of the products. This is a drawback, we think it's best when you can change the leverage for products.

Changing the leverage is a very useful feature when you want to lower the risk of your trade. For example, instead of trading with 5:1 leverage, only trade with 2:1 leverage in case of stock CFDs. Be careful with forex and CFD trading, as the preset leverage levels are high.

Markets.com offers CFD Blends, which are practically more CFDs organized along with themes, like "cryptoblend", "brexit winners" or "brexit losers". The composition of the CFD portfolios are clear and well disclosed, you can also see their past performance. We liked this function.

Marketsi

Marketsi is the second platform of Markets.com. It helps you with at least medium-term investments. It has several tools, like an Investment Strategy Builder tool helping you create a ready-made strategy template for future investments.

Markets.com's research is great. It offers good charting tools, recommendations, sentiments, economic calendar, and good quality news flow. You also have access to limited fundamentals.

Trading ideas

Markets.com provides trading ideas. These recommendations are clear, stating both the direction and the target prices. They do not provide argumentation behind the recommendations. 

You can find recommendations from analysts. They are from top-tier bank analysts (J.P. Morgan, Goldman Sachs, Merrill Lynch and some others) and they give recommendations on shares. Also, we liked that analysts are ranked based on their past performance.

You can also see what bloggers on Seeking Alpha or The Motley Fool write about some of the stocks.

There is also an Insider Trades sentiment where you can see how the insiders, such as the company's management or its other stakeholders traded with the stock.

Hedge Fund sentiment is also available, where you can see how the leading fund managers have adjusted their positions over the previous quarter.

Fundamental data

There is a menu for fundamental data, but there is no real fundamental data, like financial ratios or historic financial reports. You can take a quick look at some basic financial data when you choose the right tab of an asset.

Charting

Markets.com has good charting tools. Besides the basics, you can add more than 81 technical indicators. For a few stocks, you can access Trading Central's technical recommendations. Trading Central is a third party technical analysis firm. On the flip side, you cannot save the charts.

Economic calendar

When it comes to fundamentals, there is a detailed macro data in an economic calendar though, where you can also access predictions, trends, and analysis. In addition, you can also see the currency pairs the events in the economic calendar influence. We really liked this tool.

News feed

The news feed is OK. It is relevant and easily readable but lacks visual elements, like charts or pictures. It is provided by a third-party, Dow Jones. As default, you can found the latest news on the bottom left corner of your Marketsx web platform.

Compare research pros and cons

Markets.com!s customer service is good: you can reach it on several channels and get quick and relevant answers. On the flip side, they are not available on the weekends.

You can contact MarketsX via:

• live chat
• phone
• email

Markets.com's customer service was always quick and reliable when we tested it. E.g. when we asked about fees, they talked about the financing rate too. You can rate your agent at the end of the conversation which is a good way to give feedback. The tone was also nice.

If you prefer the phone, you can call a local phone number, so there is no need for an international call. 

On the flip side, the customer service cannot be reached on the weekends. They are only available 24/5.

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73.9% of retail CFD accounts lose money

Markets.com's education materials are good as they have a demo account, regular webinars and tutorial videos on their YouTube platform.

At Markets.com you can learn in the following ways:

• Demo account
• Platform tutorial videos
• General educational videos
• Webinars

There used to be several videos available in the Knowledge Centre, such as platform tutorial videos, short videos about trading tips, and also some longer, 60-minute videos on special topics, like trend signals. Now you can find such videos either on the platform or on their YouTube channel.

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73.9% of retail CFD accounts lose money

Markets.com (which names its trading service Marketsx) is regulated by top-tier financial authorities and it provides negative balance protection. On the flip side, it does not hold a banking license.

Markets.com is the trading/investing entity of a much bigger group, Tradetech. Tradetech is part of Playetch, which is on the London Stock Exchange. Markets.com holds Marketsx and Marketsi as their separate trading and investing services.

Is Markets.com regulated?

Yes, among others it is regulated by UK's Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) and the Australian Securities and Investments Commission (ASIC).

Is Markets.com safe?

To be certain, we highly advise that you check two facts:

• how you are protected if something goes wrong
• what the background of the broker is

How you are protected

Markets.com operates a bunch of subsidiaries and depending on your residence, one of these subsidiaries will serve you. The investor protection amount you get depends on the subsidiary's country you are signing up with.

For example, if you come from the UK, you will sign up with Tradetech Alpha Limited and get an £85,000 investor protection. Tradetech Alpha Limited is regulated by the FCA, the UK regulator.

Markets.com provides negative balance protection for clients under CySEC and FCA. This means your balance can't go negative if you trade with leverage. This eases some of the risks.

Markets.com provides negative balance protection for forex spot and CFD trading, but only for retail clients from the European Union. Professional and non-EU clients are not covered with any negative balance protection.

Background

Markets.com's background is a bit complicated. Safecap Investments Limited operates Markets.com in Cyprus. The other entities are operated by TradeTech Markets Limited. Safecap Investments Limited is owned by TradeTech Markets Limited which is a subsidiary of Playtech, a company traded on the London Stock Exchange. This is a good sign as companies listed on major exchanges need to be transparent. 

Markets.com was established in 2010. The longer track record a broker has, the more proof we have that it has successfully survived previous financial crises.

The fact that Markets.com is regulated by at least one top-tier financial authority and offers negative balance protection are all great signs for its safety.

Find your safe broker

In this review, we tested Markets.com thoroughly and here is the verdict: it is an ok broker, especially if you want to concentrate on CFD trading. The account opening is seamless and fast, it has good research tools and great customer service and it is also regulated by multiple top-tier financial regulators, like the FCA and the ASIC. On the other hand, the trading fees are high and it offers only CFDs and forex. We also missed some important features on the trading platforms like two-step authentication or price alerts on the web.

All in all, it is a good choice. As the account opening is super easy and there is no inactivity fee, feel free to try it.

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73.9% of retail CFD accounts lose money