Compare Forex Brokers side by side

How do IC Markets and FXCC stack up against each other?

The Radar Chart below highlights how the brokers stack up against each other across various metrics. The highest score a broker can receive in each area is 5.

At FxScouts, we help traders find the broker that suits their trading needs. In many cases, the best way to achieve this is to compare brokers side-by-side.

To compare IC Markets and FXCC, we used the same factors we use when reviewing brokers: The trust and regulation of the broker, the trading platform, the costs and trading conditions, and the level of education and market analysis available at the broker.

Does IC Markets or FXCC have a better trust and regulation rating?

Trust and regulation are some of the most important factors to consider when choosing a Forex broker. Trust in the Forex trading business is almost entirely founded upon regulation. We spend many hours evaluating the safety of each broker by delving into their fine print and confirming each one of their regulatory licences on the online registers. The more top-tier authorities a broker is regulated by, the higher its trust rating.

In our comparison, we found that IC Markets holds one Tier 1 and no Tier 2 licences, and FXCC holds one Tier 1 and no Tier 2 licences.

Is IC Markets financially regulated?

Is FXCC financially regulated?

Based on these findings, IC Markets earned a higher trust rating than FXCC.

Does IC Markets or FXCC have lower costs?

Another important aspect we consider when comparing brokers is the cost of trading. When evaluating trading costs, we always consider the minimum deposit required to open an account and the ongoing trading costs, including the spreads and commissions. When calculating trading costs, we measure the cost to trade one lot of EUR/USD using the broker’s account with the lowest minimum deposit. The cost includes both the spread and any commission charged. 

Not all brokers publish their trading costs, so we often open accounts and trade on their platforms to verify the spreads and commissions. Based on our reviews, we found that FXCC has overall lower trading costs than IC Markets. 

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Broker

Trading Conditions

Base Currencies

EURUSD (Standard)

Trading Cost (Standard)

EURUSD (Best)

GBPUSD (Best)

USDJPY (Best)

Commission

IC Markets

4/ 5

AUD, USD, EUR, GBP, CAD, SGD, NZD, JPY, CHF, HKD

0.10 pips

USD 8

0.02 pips

0.23 pips

0.14 pips

USD 7

FXCC

5/ 5

EUR, USD, GBP

0.60 pips

USD 6

0.40 pips

0.40 pips

0.40 pips

USD 0

Does IC Markets or FXCC offer a better choice of trading platforms?

Traders want Forex brokers to offer them a choice of trading platforms, so we give brokers who offer multiple platforms higher ratings. Trading platforms we consider include MetaTrader4, MetaTrader5, cTrader and proprietary mobile and web-based platforms. 

In this case, IC Markets offers support for cTrader, MT4, MT5 and TradingView and FXCC offers support for MT4. 

Do the brokers offer copy trading?

Copy trading is a great option for beginner traders who can’t trade full-time or lack experience with Forex trading. In this case both FXCC and IC Markets offer copy trading.

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Broker

Platform Choice

Copy Trading

Platforms

IC Markets

5/ 5

Yes

MT4, MT5, cTrader, TradingView

FXCC

4/ 5

No

MT4

Which broker offers a better choice of trading instruments?

A variety of CFD instruments – and a large range of CFDs for each instrument category allow traders more opportunities for profitable trading. The best brokers will have thousands of CFDs to trade, covering all these instrument categories. We found that FXCC offers a greater range and depth of instruments to trade than IC Markets. FXCC offers 71 Forex pairs to trade and IC Markets offers 64 Forex pairs to trade.

And what about Cryptocurrencies?

In this case, IC Markets offers 18 cryptocurrencies while FXCC offers 14 cryptocurrencies. So if you want to trade cryptocurrencies, we advise trading with IC Markets.

Which broker offers better deposit and withdrawal processes?

Although brokers may have reasonable trading fees, many traders are caught out by the high non-trading fees charged by some brokers, including deposits and withdrawals. Traders want to be able to deposit and withdraw funds quickly and cheaply. Most brokers have multiple funding methods with zero fees for making deposits, but some brokers make it more expensive and take longer to process withdrawals. 

We rate brokers more highly that process withdrawals within 24 hours by multiple withdrawal methods and without charging processing fees. We found that IC Markets charges a withdrawal fee and FXCC does not. Overall, IC Markets has better deposit and withdrawal processes than FXCC. 

Which broker offers better educational support?

We often find that brokers offer very little in the way of educational materials, forcing traders to use other third-party sites or self-educate elsewhere. Beginner traders need well-structured, well-presented materials in multiple formats to get a good start at trading. More experienced traders also benefit from webinars led by experts in the field and advanced trading strategy sections with new trading ideas. 

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Broker

Beginner Course

Advanced Course

Well Structured Education

Education Quality

Webinars

IC Markets

Yes

Yes

Yes

High

Yes

FXCC

Yes

No

Yes

Medium

No

Which broker offers better market analysis materials?

To successfully predict the price movements of an instrument, traders will need access to frequent market research and analysis. We find that research and market analysis are always better when they are produced in-house and updated frequently. Third-party resources don’t show the same expertise in trading ideas, so we place a strong emphasis on frequent in-house updates. Some brokers also often offer interactive webinars where traders can learn from experts in the field. 

We found that IC Markets offers better research analysis than FXCC and that both FXCC and IC Markets offer frequent webinars.

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Broker

Economic Calendar

Autochartist

Trading Central

Trading View

Free VPS

IC Markets

Yes

Yes

Yes

Yes

Yes

FXCC

Yes

No

No

No

Yes

Our overall Verdict on IC Markets

An excellent all-round broker with a very high trust rating, IC Markets was founded in 2007 in Australia and holds licences from some of the strictest regulators in the world. IC Markets is well-known for its low trading costs, choice of trading platforms, and wide range of trading tools.

IC Markets offers a lower-cost trading environment than almost any other broker, with average spreads of 0.10 pips (EUR/USD) on its Raw Spread Account in exchange for a low commission of 6 USD (round turn) per lot.IC Markets is one of the few Forex brokers to support all three major trading platforms, including MetaTrader4, MetaTrader5, and cTrader; and offers numerous trading tools for each, including VPS services, Trading Central, and various copy trading services.

Beginner traders will benefit from IC Markets’ exceptional customer support, available 24/7 to help with any account or technical queries. While its education section is more comprehensive than most other brokers, it offers a fairly limited selection of market analysis materials.

Our overall Verdict on FXCC

Established in 2010, FXCC appeals to MT4 traders looking for excellent trading conditions on a single live account. However, FXCC offers a limited range of tradable instruments compared to its peers.

FXCC offers a single live commission-free account with no minimum deposit requirements and spreads that average at 0.60 pips (EUR/USD), which is tighter than other brokers.   Trading platform choice is limited to MT4 but is available on multiple devices as well as major web browsers.  FXCC also lacks trading tools, but free VPS hosting is offered for traders who maintain an account balance of 2500 USD or trade over 30 lots per month. 

Apart from the wide selection of Forex pairs (70+), FXCC has a disappointing range of CFDs. This is mostly down to the fact that trading is only available on the MT4 platform.  It also provides a limited range of educational and market analysis materials and has a demo account that expires in 30 days, making it a poor choice for beginner traders.  

Which broker has the highest overall rating?