Pepperstone vs IC Markets: which is better in Australia?
The short answer
On an AUD-denominated raw account, Pepperstone is cheaper. It charges AUD 7.00 round turn on FX against IC Markets' AUD 9.00, publishes PayID as a funding method where IC does not, and runs a proprietary platform alongside the four third-party ones. IC Markets answers with published average spreads, a stated withdrawal cut-off, a named custodian bank and a swap-free account on the Australian entity.
- AUD commission: 7.00 vs 9.00 round turn. On a USD account both charge USD 7.00 — IC publishes a genuinely higher AUD rate rather than a converted one.
- Both cap retail leverage identically at 30:1 majors, 20:1 gold, 2:1 crypto. These are ASIC caps, not broker choices.
- Pepperstone's wholesale threshold is ten times easier to meet on the trading test — AUD 50,000 notional per trade against IC's AUD 500,000.
- IC Markets offers swap-free on the Australian entity. Pepperstone publishes no swap-free page at all, despite its own FSG telling clients to visit one.
- IC's own PDS discloses a AUD 20 monthly inactivity fee after 12 months, while its help centre says there is none. The PDS is the binding document.
- Pepperstone's Australian PDS is dated August 2023 and is materially out of date — no commission table, no TradingView, and it still lists a payment method the site has dropped.
Pepperstone or IC Markets — the short answer
Choose Pepperstone if you fund in AUD and trade FX or gold actively: the round-turn commission is AUD 2.00 per lot lower, PayID deposits are published, there is a proprietary platform and app, and the wholesale trading test is far easier to satisfy.
Choose IC Markets if you want a swap-free account under the Australian entity, a stated withdrawal cut-off time, ten base currencies rather than six, or a broader share CFD list. IC also names its custodian bank and its data-centre locations, which Pepperstone does not.
Which Australian entity are you dealing with?
| Pepperstone | IC Markets | |
|---|---|---|
| Legal entity | Pepperstone Group Limited | International Capital Markets Pty Ltd |
| ACN | 147 055 703 | 123 289 109 |
| AFSL | 414530 | 335 692 |
| Registered office | Level 16, Tower One, 727 Collins Street, Melbourne VIC 3008 | Suite 2, Level 6, 50 Carrington Street, Sydney NSW 2000 |
| AFCA membership | 28689 | 13527 |
| Custodian bank named? | No — "an Authorised Deposit Taking Institution" | Yes — National Australia Bank |
| Current PDS | August 2023 | November 2025 |
A note on the IC Markets name. IC Markets rebranded its offshore Seychelles business to "IC" and moved it to ic.com. The Australian site has not rebranded — icmarkets.com.au still trades as IC Markets under International Capital Markets Pty Ltd. This matters because the offshore site advertises leverage up to 1:5000 and a US$1,000,000 client funds insurance policy, neither of which is available to an Australian client. If you land on ic.com, you are not looking at the ASIC entity.
Pepperstone's Australian PDS is three years old and materially stale. The August 2023 document contains no account types, no commission table, no mention of the 2.5% swap charge Pepperstone now publishes on its website, no TradingView, and it still lists a payment method the site has since dropped. The PDS is the legally required disclosure document. When the website and the PDS disagree, you are relying on a website page that can change without notice.
What does each one cost?
| Cost | Pepperstone | IC Markets |
|---|---|---|
| Raw commission, AUD account, MT4/MT5, FX | AUD 3.50 per side — AUD 7.00 round turn | AUD 4.50 per side — AUD 9.00 round turn |
| Raw commission, USD account, FX | USD 3.50 per side — USD 7.00 round turn | USD 3.50 per side — USD 7.00 round turn |
| Raw commission, AUD account, gold | AUD 4.50 per side (MT5) — AUD 9.00 round turn | Metals charged as FX — AUD 9.00 round turn |
| cTrader / TradingView | USD 6.00 and USD 7.00 round turn, fixed per lot | USD 3.00 per side per $100,000 traded |
| EUR/USD minimum spread | 0.0 Razor · 1.0 Standard | 0.0 Raw · 0.8 Standard |
| Gold minimum spread | 0.08 Razor · 0.15 Standard | 0.05 Raw · 0.1 Standard |
| Average spreads | Not published | Published, but undated and internally inconsistent |
| Swap mark-up disclosed | Yes — 2.5% on index, commodity and share CFDs | Not published |
| Minimum deposit | $10 (currency not stated); none for bank wire | USD 200 |
| Inactivity fee | None | AUD 20 per month after 12 months, per the PDS |
The commission line is the one that compounds. On an AUD account trading ten standard lots a month, the difference between AUD 7.00 and AUD 9.00 round turn is AUD 20 a month, or AUD 240 a year — before any spread difference. At fifty lots a month it is AUD 1,200 a year. Neither figure is hidden; both are published; almost nobody compares them in the account currency an Australian client actually uses.
IC Markets' inactivity fee is disclosed in two contradictory places. Its help centre says: "No, you will not be charged any account inactivity fees." Its Australian Product Disclosure Statement says a monthly fee of AUD 20 or base currency equivalent applies to accounts inactive for 12 months or more. The PDS is the binding document. Assume the fee applies.
We have not printed IC Markets' published average spreads. Its own table shows a Raw EUR/USD average of 0.01 while four other pages on the same domain claim 0.1; the Standard row shows a minimum of 0.8 against an average of 0.1, which is arithmetically impossible; and its help centre says the gold average is 1 pip against a table value of 0.09. No measurement period is stated anywhere. Pepperstone publishes no averages at all. Compare the minimums, and treat any average from either broker with caution.
Leverage, and the wholesale classification
Retail leverage is identical at both, because both are simply restating ASIC's product intervention caps. There is nothing to choose between them here.
| Asset class | Retail cap — both brokers |
|---|---|
| Major FX pairs | 30:1 |
| Minor FX, gold, major indices | 20:1 |
| Other commodities, minor indices | 10:1 |
| Shares | 5:1 |
| Crypto | 2:1 |
Where they differ is in how you leave the retail category, and the difference is substantial.
| Route | Pepperstone Pro | IC Markets Professional |
|---|---|---|
| Wealth test | Net assets ≥ AUD 2.5m or gross income ≥ AUD 250,000 for two years, accountant-certified | Net assets ≥ AUD 2.5m or gross income ≥ AUD 250,000 for two years, re-certified every two years |
| Trading test | 20 trades a quarter over four quarters, each notional ≥ AUD 50,000 | 20 trades a quarter over four quarters, notional ≥ AUD 500,000 |
| Maximum leverage once approved | Up to 1:500 | Up to 500:1 |
| Negative balance protection | Not guaranteed — one-time cover up to USD 100,000 | Does not automatically apply |
The trading test differs by a factor of ten — AUD 50,000 notional per trade at Pepperstone against AUD 500,000 at IC Markets. On the standard route, that is roughly half a standard lot versus five. If you are considering wholesale classification on trading history rather than wealth, this is the deciding fact.
Read this before you consider it. Wholesale classification is not an upgrade. Both brokers state that negative balance protection stops applying — Pepperstone limits it to a one-time USD 100,000 and IC says it does not automatically apply at all. You are trading leverage up to 500:1 with the possibility of owing money you did not deposit. Retail protections exist because most people who lose them regret it.
Funding, withdrawals and platforms
| Pepperstone | IC Markets | |
|---|---|---|
| PayID | Yes — $10 minimum, free, instant | Not published |
| BPAY | Yes — free, up to 1 business day | Yes — AUD only, 12 to 48 hours |
| Base currencies | 6 — USD, EUR, GBP, AUD, SGD, HKD | 10 — AUD, USD, EUR, CAD, GBP, SGD, NZD, JPY, HKD, CHF |
| Cards, Apple Pay, Google Pay | All three, free, instant | Cards only |
| Withdrawal cut-off | Not published | 12:00 AEST/AEDT — before it, processed same day |
| Domestic bank withdrawal | Up to 7 business days (withdrawals page) | Typically next working day |
| Proprietary platform | Yes — web platform and mobile app | None |
| MT4 · MT5 · cTrader | All three | All three |
| TradingView | Yes — Razor account only; free subscription tier offered | Yes — via cTrader |
| Servers disclosed | Not published | Equinix NY4 New York; LD5 London |
| Execution claim | "from just 50 milliseconds, a 99.32% fill rate" | "average execution speed is under 40ms" |
PayID is the clearest funding difference for an Australian client and Pepperstone publishes it while IC does not. The withdrawal cut-off is the clearest difference the other way — IC states 12:00 AEST plainly, and Pepperstone publishes no cut-off and gives three different answers on withdrawal timing across its site.
Both execution claims carry problems. Pepperstone's body text says 99.32% and the footnote on the same page says 99.00%, across three different measurement windows; "50 milliseconds" is a floor, not an average. IC says "under 40ms" on its trading conditions page and "around 35 milliseconds" in its help centre. Neither publishes slippage statistics. Treat both as marketing.
Swap-free accounts
IC Markets offers swap-free on the Australian entity. It is available on the Raw and Standard account types on MT4 and cTrader, must be elected at registration, and IC publishes a full holding-fee table in USD per lot per day — EUR/USD $3, gold $12, Bitcoin $13 — after a five-day grace period. Eligibility is framed around religious belief with proof, at IC's discretion.
Pepperstone publishes no swap-free page at all — not on the Australian site, not on the global site, not on the Arabic one. Its own Financial Services Guide and Wholesale Client Information Statement both instruct clients to "visit the swap free page on our website", and its PDS describes a swap-free product and an administration fee. That page does not exist. Whether an Australian client can obtain a swap-free account, and on what terms, cannot be determined from Pepperstone's own site. If you need one, ask before you open the account.
One page on IC's Australian domain — the swap-free page itself — carries offshore content: it advertises "1:500 leverage" and refers to "IC Markets Global". Neither applies to an ASIC retail client, who is capped at 30:1. IC's separate Islamic account page redirects off the Australian domain entirely.
Demo accounts
| Pepperstone | IC Markets | |
|---|---|---|
| Expiry | Both models — 60 days from creation on MT4, MT5 and the Pepperstone platform; 90 days of inactivity on cTrader and TradingView | 30 days of inactivity |
| Non-expiry option | Yes — on request, with a funded live account | not published |
| Virtual balance | Unlimited; no figure published | Self-selected; no figure published |
| Top-ups | Self-service on cTrader and TradingView; by email on MT4 and MT5 | Self-service 'Add Funds' |
| Limits | 10 demos with a live account, 5 without | not published |
Pepperstone is the clearest published illustration in the industry of the fixed-term versus inactivity distinction — the same broker uses both, and which one you get depends only on the platform you chose at signup. IC uses inactivity only, which for a swing trader testing a strategy across several months of data is the more useful model, provided you log in monthly.
Frequently asked questions
Which regulators license Pepperstone and IC Markets in Australia?
Both are supervised by ASIC, Pepperstone under AFSL 414530 and IC Markets under AFSL 335692, so Australian clients of either get the same leverage caps and client-money rules. Pepperstone also holds licences from the FCA in the United Kingdom (684312), CySEC, the DFSA, BaFin and the SCB in the Bahamas.
Should I become a wholesale client for higher leverage?
Wholesale or professional classification lifts the retail leverage caps, but it also removes retail protections, including negative balance protection and access to the external complaints scheme. Australian rules require you to meet asset or income tests to qualify. Higher leverage enlarges losses as much as gains, so most retail traders should not seek it.
How do I decide between the brokers compared here?
Weight the criteria that matter most to you: cost per trade, platform quality, regulation in your country, funding methods, and customer support. The article walks through each dimension and states which broker wins on each.
What is a round-turn commission?
A round-turn commission is the total commission charged to open and then close one standard lot, covering both sides of the trade. Raw-spread accounts quote costs this way so they can be compared directly against brokers that quote per side. Add it to the spread when comparing the true cost of a trade.
Why does the comparison come down to cost and platform?
Because both brokers are licensed by the same Australian regulator, ASIC clients of either get the same leverage caps, client-money segregation and complaints route. Regulatory protection is therefore not a differentiator between them, which leaves trading cost, execution and platform choice as the factors that actually separate the two.
Which platforms does each offer?
Both offer MT4, MT5, cTrader and TradingView. Pepperstone additionally has its own web platform and mobile app, IC Markets has no proprietary platform. Pepperstone restricts TradingView to the Razor account. IC publishes its data-centre locations, Equinix NY4 in New York for MetaTrader, LD5 in London for cTrader, which matters if you are placing a VPS close to the server. Pepperstone does not publish its server locations.
What happens if I use high leverage on forex?
High leverage amplifies both gains and losses. A small adverse move can wipe out the position and trigger a margin call. Use conservative sizing, always set a stop loss, and never risk more than a small percentage of the account on a single trade.
What else should I consider before choosing between these brokers?
Beyond fees and regulation, consider funding methods available in your country, customer support hours in your language, platform stability during high-volatility events, and whether the broker offers Islamic or swap-free accounts if needed.
The verdict
For an Australian trader funding in AUD, Pepperstone is the cheaper account — AUD 2.00 per lot lower on the round turn, no inactivity fee, PayID deposits, a proprietary platform alongside the four third-party ones, and a wholesale trading test that is realistically attainable. The reservations are real: a Product Disclosure Statement three years out of date, no published average spreads, no published server locations, and a swap-free product its own legal documents describe but its website does not.
IC Markets answers with disclosure Pepperstone does not match — a named custodian bank, published data-centre locations, a stated withdrawal cut-off, a current PDS, a swap-free account on the Australian entity, and ten base currencies. Against that: a higher AUD commission, an inactivity fee its help centre denies, offshore content sitting on its ASIC pages, and an average-spread table that contradicts itself in three places.
Both are ASIC-licensed, both are AFCA members, and both hold client money in trust. Neither offers a compensation scheme, because Australia does not have one for this category. If cost is the deciding factor and you fund in AUD, the answer is Pepperstone. If you need a documented swap-free account under the Australian licence, the answer is IC Markets.
Risk warning and disclosure. This article compares published information and is not personal investment advice. It does not account for your objectives, financial situation or needs. CFDs are complex instruments and come with a high risk of losing money rapidly due to leverage. Neither Pepperstone Group Limited (AFSL 414530) nor International Capital Markets Pty Ltd (AFSL 335692) publishes a retail loss percentage, as ASIC does not require it; figures quoted for other group entities are not Australian figures. Read each firm's Product Disclosure Statement and Financial Services Guide before deciding. All figures were taken from each broker's own Australian website and disclosure documents on 10 August 2026; figures from ic.com, icmarkets.bs and icmarkets.eu relate to offshore entities and have not been used. Economies.com has no commercial relationship with IC Markets. We do have commercial relationships with Pepperstone and Capital.com and may earn a commission if you open an account through those links, at no additional cost to you. This has not affected the figures above, all of which are sourced from each firm's own published material.