Pepperstone Review 2024

Is Pepperstone regulated?

Yes, it is regulated by the following national authorities:

• the UK's Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) for UK clients
• the Federal Financial Supervisory Authority (BaFin) for German and Austrian clients
• the Cyprus Securities and Exchange Commission (CySEC) for other EEA clients
• the Dubai Financial Services Authority (DFSA) for Middle-Eastern clients
• the Australian Securities and Investments Commission (ASIC) for Australian clients
• the Capital Markets Authority of Kenya (CMA) for African residents
• the Securities Commission of The Bahamas (SCB) for all other clients

Is Pepperstone safe?

To be certain that a brokerage is safe, we highly advise that you check two facts:

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

How you are protected

If something goes wrong with Pepperstone:

• Clients based in the UK will be protected by the UK's investor protection fund up to £85,000.
• Clients from Germany and Austria can get back 90% of their claims on securities, but not more than €20,000, and 100% up to €100,000 on cash claims (as per BaFin rules).
• Clients from other European countries (EU and EEA countries) are protected by the Cyprus Investor Compensation Fund (ICF), up to €20,000.

Unfortunately, clients outside the EU and the UK won't get any kind of protection.

Pepperstone provides negative balance protection for forex spot and CFD trading, but only for retail clients from the UK, Australia and the European Union (the latter includes all European Economic Area countries like Norway) and Middle-Eastern countries onboarded through their DFSA licence. Professional clients on the other hand are not covered by negative balance protection.
On August 6, 2020, the company revealed that it had been the subject of a data leak. Hackers used malware to compromise a computer used by an external service provider of Pepperstone.
Pepperstone reassured clients that no potential harm could come to their trading account or funds held with the company, although their name, contact details and date of birth may have been accessible by the hackers. While this incident is concerning, we note that security measures were in place and the company detected the intrusion and has also duly informed their customers.

Our brokerage experts put together a comprehensive guide on the safety profile of Pepperstone.

Background

Pepperstone is an Australian private company established in 2010. A longer track record means the company has successfully navigated periods of crisis or uncertainty in the financial sector. A good example is how Pepperstone handled the Swiss franc crisis in 2015.
During the 2015 Swiss National Bank-related forex crisis, Pepperstone was able to avoid losses by using foresight and its high-speed technology. Before the crisis, Pepperstone warned against possible dangers, discouraging clients from taking excessively leveraged positions on the franc. They accomplished this through enforcing position caps and limiting the leverage on affected accounts. For clients who were exposed through open positions, Pepperstone’s systems liquidated these positions, thus helping them avoid their balance going into negative.
On the other hand, you may have some trouble if you are looking for more information about Pepperstone. Transparently disclosed financial information is quite limited compared to other brokers. It is also difficult to find out who the owners are.

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Account base currencies

At Pepperstone, you can choose from the following 10 base currencies:

This selection is average compared to competing brokers.

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

A convenient way to save on currency conversion fees is by opening a multi-currency bank account at a digital bank. These usually 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.

Deposit fees and options

Pepperstone charges no deposit fees.

There are multiple options for depositing funds and their availability depends on which regulator you belong to.

Also, compared to IC Markets and Axi, Pepperstone offers the same range of payment methods.

Here's all you need to know about depositing money at Pepperstone and key info on minimum deposit requirements.

A bank transfer can take several business days, while payment with a credit/debit card is instant. You can only deposit money from accounts that are in your name.

Pepperstone supports the following electronic wallets:

• POLi
• BPay
• PayPal
• Neteller
• Skrill
• Union Pay
• MPESA+FaceID

Pepperstone withdrawal fees and options

You can withdraw your money from Pepperstone free of charge to credit/debit cards and some electronic wallets. However, Skrill and Neteller (if available) withdrawals cost $1.
Bank transfer withdrawals are also free in the EU and Australia, but cost $20 for clients in other countries.

Read this guide with all key info on available withdrawal methods and related fees.

You can only withdraw money to accounts in your name.

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

How do you withdraw money from Pepperstone?

• Log in to your Pepperstone account
• Click 'Funds' in the menu on the left
• Click 'Withdraw Funds'
• Choose a withdrawal method
• Select the account you want to withdraw from
• Enter the amount
• Click Continue
• Finish your request

Can you open an account?

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75.2% of retail CFD accounts lose money

Pepperstone accepts customers from all over the world. Notable exceptions include the US, Canada, New Zealand and Japan.

Read this article on how to get your account started with Pepperstone.

What is the minimum deposit at Pepperstone?

The required Pepperstone minimum deposit is $0.

This is a big argument in their favor, as some CFD brokers require a minimum of $2,000.

Account types

You can choose from two account types, Standard and Razor, which have different pricing structures.

*The size of the commission depends on the trading platform you use. The round turn commissions per lot, i.e. the commission for opening and closing $100k positions are:

• $7.00 for MetaTrader 4
• $7.00 for MetaTrader 5
• $6.00 for cTrader

If you prefer trading at high volume, you may want to check out the Active Trader program. This gives you rebates based on the number of trades you carry out and you can save on commissions.

Apart from the Standard and Razor accounts, there's a third account type called a Managed Account. This is mainly aimed at fund managers, who can use this account to easily manage hundreds of sub-accounts.
Pepperstone also offers corporate accounts.

How to open your account

The account opening process is easy and fully digital: theonline application takes roughly 10-15 minutes. On paper, you have to wait 1-3 days for account approval; however, ours was verified within a day.
Pepperstone account opening in four steps:

1. Register your email and password; confirm your email; then proceed to the Secure Client Area.
2. Fill in your personal information and set the base currency of your account.
3. Complete a trading expertise survey.
4. Upload a copy of your passport/ID and a utility bill or some other proof of address.

If a problem occurs, you can get help via email or live chat (i.e. you can send them copies of your ID/passport, and they will upload it for you).

Pepperstoneoffers three mobile trading platforms: MetaTrader 4, MetaTrader 5 and cTrader. MetaTrader 4 is the most popular of the three and is available for both iOS and Android. We tested it on both.
After you download the MT4 mobile trading platform, you have to access the Pepperstone-Live server.

The mobile trading platform is available in several languages.

Changing the language is a bit tricky on Android devices; you can do it only if you change the default language of your mobile.

Look and feel

Pepperstone has a great mobile trading platform; we really liked its design and user-friendliness. You will easily find all the features.

Login and security

Pepperstone provides only a one-step login for its mobile platform. A two-step authentication would be more secure and adding this feature should be high on any company's list of security changes.

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

Search functions

The search functions are good.

You can search by typing the name of the product you're looking for or by navigating the category folders.

Placing orders

You can use the following order types on the mobile trading platform:

• Market
• Limit
• Stop

There are also order time limits you can use:

• Good 'til canceled (GTC)
• Good 'til time (GTT)

Alerts and notifications

You cannot set alerts and notifications on the Pepperstone mobile platform.

Our analysts personally tested Pepperstone's mobile app, check out their verdict.

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75.2% of retail CFD accounts lose money

Pepperstone offers three desktop trading platforms: MetaTrader 4, MetaTrader 5 and cTrader. We reviewed MetaTrader 4 (MT4), as this is the most popular among investors.
It has the same design, is available in the same languages, offers almost the same order types (trailing stop is also available), has the same search functions, and offers the same portfolio and fee reports as the web trading platform. These reports can be found under the 'Account History' tab: right click on one position, then choose 'Save as Detailed Report'.
The major difference is that you can set alerts and notifications on the desktop trading platform, in the form of mobile push and email notifications. To set email or mobile notifications, you must provide your email address and mobile MetaQuotes ID (you can find it in the settings of the MT4 app). You can enter them under 'Options' in the 'Tools' menu.

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75.2% of retail CFD accounts lose money

Disclaimer: CFDs are complex instruments and come with a high risk of losing money rapidly due to leverage. 75.2% 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.

Pepperstone is primarily a forex broker with a good selection of other CFD products including crypto, popular shares and commodities.
Among crypto CFDs, you can trade Bitcoin, Bitcoin Cash, Ethereum, Dogecoin, Litecoin and Polkadot. Speaking of commodities, we really liked that you can have positions in gold against multiple currencies (USD, EUR, AUD, GBP, CHF).
At Pepperstone, you can trade 600+ US stocks as share CFDs, including large-cap companies like Boeing, Facebook, Apple, Exxon and Alibaba. You can go long and short. After-hours trading is possible (this is when earnings are typically released).
Their share CFD selection also includes 100 popular UK stocks, a number of German shares as well as more than 200 Australian shares. You'll need MetaTrader 5 to trade share CFDs. It's good to know that, unlike traditional share trades, there is no stamp duty to be paid on UK CFD trades. As an alternative to CFD trading, UK residents can use spread betting. In the UK, spread betting profits are exempt from capital gains tax and the stamp duty.
This selection is average compared to competing brokers.

Changing the leverage manually is a very useful feature if you want to lower the risk of your trade. Be careful when trading forex and CFDs as preset leverage levels may be high.

Social trading, algo trading and strategies

Pepperstone has partnered up with multiple social trading platforms, through which you can access copy trading features including Myfxbook, Mirror Trader, MetaTrader Signals and DupliTrade.

• Myfxbook is an automated forex trading service. It is a mirroring service that allows you to copy other trades from other trading systems.
• MetaTrader Signals lets you access thousands of trading strategies and signals from other traders.
• Lastly, DupliTrade collects all the above services into one. DupliTrade lets you tap into other traders' expertise for new techniques. However, you will have to deposit a minimum of AUD 5,000 to access DupliTrade's strategy providers.

Spread betting

Pepperstone provides spread betting for UK and Irish clients. In the UK, spread betting profits are exempt from capital gains tax.

We recommend Pepperstone for forex traders looking for a great account opening experience and superb customer service.

Below you can find links to all aspects of Pepperstone in this comprehensive collection.

We have compiled what's relevant about Pepperstone the company in this article:
About Pepperstone

Further reading:

• Pepperstone fees
• Pepperstone minimum deposit
• Pepperstone Minimum Deposit from South Africa
• Pepperstone Minimum Deposit from Kenya
• How to withdraw from Pepperstone
• Pepperstone's customer service detailed
• Is Pepperstone considered safe?
• Pepperstone research and analysis tools
• Opening an account at Pepperstone
• Pepperstone available instruments
• Pepperstone trading platforms
• Pepperstone MetaTrader
• Does Pepperstone have MT4?
• What is Pepperstone's cTrader?
• Does Pepperstone have low spreads?
• Pepperstone app
• Can you trade options at Pepperstone?
• Pepperstone alternatives