IC Markets True Cost in 2026: Per-Pair Spreads, Commissions, Swaps and Why Your Account Type Is Bleeding You
Quick answer
IC Markets spreads on the Standard account average roughly 1.0 to 1.2 pips on EUR/USD with zero commission. The Raw Spread MT4 and MT5 accounts price closer to 0.0 to 0.1 pips and add a 7 USD round turn commission per standard lot, putting the all-in cost near 0.7 to 0.8 pips. The cTrader Raw Spread account uses the same raw pricing but charges only 6 USD round turn, taking the all-in cost to roughly 0.6 to 0.7 pips, which makes it the cheapest IC Markets account for almost any trader doing more than two standard lots a month. IC Markets is regulated by ASIC AFSL 335692, CySEC 362/18 and FSA Seychelles SD018, with no FCA UK entity, so UK retail clients are routed via CySEC or Seychelles. For UK retail wanting an FCA umbrella, Vantage is the cleaner pick. For non-UK, cTrader, scalping or algo flow that lives or dies on cost, IC Markets remains the institutional retail default.
If you already know your weekly lot volume and you just want the cheapest IC Markets door, skip the table and open the cTrader Raw Spread account. It is the lowest all-in cost door IC Markets offers retail in 2026.
Affiliate link. CFDs carry significant risk of loss.
The single biggest reason retail traders quietly bleed alpha at IC Markets is not slippage, swap or even FX conversion. It is account selection. The IC Markets spreads you see on the marketing page are not one number, they are three different pricing engines living under the same brand, and the gap between the most expensive and cheapest door over a year of trading can easily clear four figures for an active scalper or algo operator. This piece costs every door honestly, pair by pair, and tells you where the break-even sits. No fabricated win rates, no opaque rebates, just published spreads, the official 7 USD and 6 USD round turn commissions and what they compound to when you actually trade them.
The verdict the desk has not changed for two years
IC Markets is one of the cheapest institutional retail brokers on the planet for one specific archetype. That archetype is a non-UK trader, doing more than two standard lots a month, who wants ECN style execution, deep liquidity, and platform optionality including cTrader. For that profile the cTrader Raw Spread account is the cheapest IC Markets account by all-in cost, and it beats Pepperstone, Vantage Raw and FP Markets Raw at the same volume by a few cents to a few dollars per lot depending on the pair.
What IC Markets is not is the right home for UK retail clients who want an FCA umbrella, because there is no FCA UK entity. UK clients are onboarded via CySEC or Seychelles and there is no compensation scheme equivalent to the UK FSCS 85,000 GBP cover. That is a regulatory fact, not a flaw in the cost engine. If you sit in the UK and you cannot stomach being routed outside FCA, you should take a hard look at Vantage versus IC Markets before opening anything here.
The three doors: Standard, Raw Spread, cTrader Raw
IC Markets sells three retail accounts. They run on different platforms, use different commission structures and target different traders, but the underlying liquidity pool is the same. Here is the honest breakdown.
Standard MT4 and MT5 accounts use a marked-up spread with no separate commission. EUR/USD typically prints 1.0 to 1.2 pips during London and New York liquidity. Minimum deposit is 200 USD or local equivalent. This door looks cheap to a beginner because there is no commission line item, but the markup is a hidden cost that bleeds at scale.
Raw Spread MT4 and MT5 accounts strip the markup to roughly 0.0 to 0.1 pips on EUR/USD and add a flat 7 USD round turn commission per standard lot, split as 3.50 USD per side. All-in cost on a standard lot of EUR/USD lands near 0.7 to 0.8 pips. Same 200 USD minimum.
cTrader Raw Spread accounts use the same raw pricing engine but charge only 6 USD round turn per standard lot, that is 3.00 USD per side. The pricing also lives on the cTrader platform, which gives you level two depth of market, native algorithmic strategy hosting and a cleaner partial fill model. Same 200 USD minimum.
The 1 USD per lot saving on the cTrader account is not marketing copy. It compounds. We will cost it below.
Get the framework the desk runs every morning. Free. No card. The same institutional structure the MACRO MASTERY desk uses on every read.
Per-pair all-in cost: ten pairs the desk actually trades
These are typical mid-session spreads during London and New York overlap, cross-checked against FXEmpire, BrokerChooser and the IC Markets official live spread tracker. Spreads widen during Asia and around high impact data. Commission is always the same 7 USD on Raw Spread MT4 and MT5 and 6 USD on cTrader Raw, but commission only applies on the raw accounts. All values quoted in pips of all-in cost per standard lot, with USD value in brackets where useful.
| Pair | Standard spread | Raw Spread + 7 USD | cTrader Raw + 6 USD | Cheapest |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| EUR/USD | 1.0 to 1.2 pips | 0.7 to 0.8 pips | 0.6 to 0.7 pips | cTrader Raw |
| GBP/USD | 1.2 to 1.4 pips | 0.9 to 1.0 pips | 0.8 to 0.9 pips | cTrader Raw |
| USD/JPY | 1.0 to 1.3 pips | 0.7 to 0.9 pips | 0.6 to 0.8 pips | cTrader Raw |
| AUD/USD | 1.1 to 1.3 pips | 0.8 to 0.9 pips | 0.7 to 0.8 pips | cTrader Raw |
| USD/CAD | 1.3 to 1.6 pips | 1.0 to 1.2 pips | 0.9 to 1.1 pips | cTrader Raw |
| USD/CHF | 1.4 to 1.7 pips | 1.1 to 1.3 pips | 1.0 to 1.2 pips | cTrader Raw |
| EUR/GBP | 1.3 to 1.6 pips | 1.0 to 1.2 pips | 0.9 to 1.1 pips | cTrader Raw |
| EUR/JPY | 1.5 to 1.8 pips | 1.2 to 1.4 pips | 1.1 to 1.3 pips | cTrader Raw |
| GBP/JPY | 2.0 to 2.4 pips | 1.6 to 1.9 pips | 1.5 to 1.8 pips | cTrader Raw |
| XAU/USD (gold) | 25 to 35 cents | 18 to 25 cents + 7 USD | 18 to 25 cents + 6 USD | cTrader Raw |
Source: IC Markets official live spread tracker, FXEmpire and BrokerChooser cross-check, May 2026. Mid-session London / New York. Spreads widen materially in Asia and around tier-one data.
Every row above points to the same conclusion. The cTrader Raw Spread account is the cheapest IC Markets door on every pair the desk benchmarks.
Standard versus Raw Spread MT5 versus cTrader Raw, in plain English
Standard MT5 is the door beginners walk through because the marketing reads cleaner. No commission, one number on the screen. The catch is the marked-up spread is a permanent tax, and unlike commission it is not negotiable, transparent or refundable through rebates.
Raw Spread MT4 and MT5 strip that tax. You see real interbank pricing, you pay a clean 7 USD round turn, and your effective cost on a major drops by roughly a third. Spread variance also tightens because there is no internal markup layer adjusting the quote.
cTrader Raw goes one step further. Same raw pricing, 1 USD lower commission per round turn, and a platform that retail rarely uses well but algorithmic and scalping flow loves. If you have never opened cTrader, do it on demo first, the order entry and depth of market view are genuinely a step up from MT5 for execution sensitive workflows.
One nuance worth knowing. cTrader Raw is sometimes quoted at 5 to 6 USD round turn depending on geography and partner programme. The conservative 6 USD figure used above is the official published rate and the safest number to model with. The full Raw Spread versus Standard breakdown lives here if you want the deeper account-by-account dissection.
ASIC regulated. Raw-spread ECN execution. Built for active intraday forex and index traders who care about cost per round-turn.
Commission mechanics: why 7 USD and 6 USD matter more than you think
Round turn commission is charged on the notional volume traded, not the deposit. A standard lot is 100,000 units of base currency. On Raw Spread MT4 and MT5 the broker takes 3.50 USD when you open and another 3.50 USD when you close. On cTrader Raw it is 3.00 USD each side. Half a lot is half the commission, ten lots is ten times the commission.
Translate that to pip equivalents. On EUR/USD a pip is worth roughly 10 USD per standard lot. A 7 USD round turn commission is therefore 0.7 pips of cost embedded in the trade. A 6 USD round turn is 0.6 pips. The Raw Spread accounts only beat the Standard account because the underlying spread is so much tighter that adding 0.6 to 0.7 pips of commission still produces a lower all-in number. On a pair where the raw spread is wider, like GBP/JPY, that maths still works because the Standard markup is even uglier.
Commission is also the reason high frequency strategies care which raw door they choose. A scalper doing 100 standard lots a month pays 700 USD in commission on Raw Spread MT5 versus 600 USD on cTrader Raw. That is 100 USD a month of pure account selection edge, roughly 1,200 USD a year, before considering the platform advantage.
Break-even lot volume: which account is bleeding you
This is the table that converts. Here is the monthly USD cost on EUR/USD only, modelled at a conservative midpoint spread (1.1 pips Standard, 0.75 pips all-in Raw, 0.65 pips all-in cTrader Raw) across realistic retail volumes.
| Monthly lots | Standard cost | Raw Spread cost | cTrader Raw cost | Annual saving switching Standard to cTrader |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2 lots | 22 USD | 15 USD | 13 USD | 108 USD |
| 10 lots | 110 USD | 75 USD | 65 USD | 540 USD |
| 25 lots | 275 USD | 188 USD | 163 USD | 1,344 USD |
| 50 lots | 550 USD | 375 USD | 325 USD | 2,700 USD |
| 100 lots | 1,100 USD | 750 USD | 650 USD | 5,400 USD |
| 250 lots | 2,750 USD | 1,875 USD | 1,625 USD | 13,500 USD |
Read that table carefully. A retail trader doing ten standard lots a month, which is genuinely modest for a serious swing trader running multiple positions, leaks 540 USD a year by sitting on the Standard account instead of cTrader Raw. A 25 lot a month trader leaks over 1,300 USD. A semi-active scalper at 100 lots leaks more than 5,000 USD a year. None of that buys you a single basis point of better execution, fills, withdrawal speed or regulatory protection. It is pure account selection tax.
The break-even point where the Standard account stops being viable is roughly two standard lots a month. Beneath that the saving is small enough that platform familiarity might justify staying on MT5 Standard. Above it, the Standard account is bleeding you.
Swap rates, the cost the marketing never centres
Swap is the overnight financing charge for holding a position past the broker rollover, which at IC Markets falls at 22:00 UTC. Swap is published per pair and per direction on the IC Markets official site and refreshed multiple times per week. It varies with prevailing rate differentials between the two currencies in the pair.
The honest read on IC Markets swap is that it is roughly in line with the institutional retail tier, neither outstandingly cheap nor expensive. The brokers that beat IC Markets on raw spread tend to match or slightly undercut on swap. The brokers that undercut on swap tend to be wider on raw spread. Net cost across spread plus commission plus swap is what actually matters, and for short term traders swap is a rounding error. For position traders holding majors for weeks, swap can dominate the cost picture and you should always pull the live number from your account dashboard before opening a holding-period trade.
One specific note. Triple swap rolls on Wednesday night, which is the industry convention to capture the weekend financing. If you swing trade across Wednesday and your direction is the negative carry side, that single night can be three nights of carry expense. Build it into your size, not your stop.
ASIC and FSCA regulation. Cent-account option for small balances. Leverage up to 1:1000 on the offshore entity for the high-leverage archetype.
IC Markets versus the institutional retail tier
The brokers that sit in the same cost tier as IC Markets are Pepperstone, Vantage and FP Markets, with Tickmill, Eightcap and Axi a notch behind. Across the four leaders the EUR/USD all-in cost on a raw style account clusters in the 0.6 to 0.8 pip range on a standard lot during major session liquidity. Differences inside that band are real but small, and which broker is cheapest by 0.05 pips this month is not a reason to switch.
Where IC Markets earns its spot in that conversation is platform breadth and execution depth. cTrader is meaningfully more powerful than MT5 for algo and execution-sensitive flow, and IC Markets is the deepest cTrader broker outside of FxPro. Vantage matches IC Markets on Raw cost and beats it on regulatory footprint for UK clients via FCA and Lloyd’s PI. Pepperstone matches on cost and beats slightly on customer service responsiveness. FP Markets sits roughly equivalent on cost with a thinner platform mix.
If you are non-UK, want cTrader, run algos or scalp, IC Markets is the default. If you are UK retail and want an FCA home, look at Vantage. Both can be right, neither is universally right, and the cost picture is close enough at the top of the table that platform fit should decide it.
FX conversion fees you might not see
If your base account currency does not match the second currency of the pair you are trading, the profit, loss and commission are converted into your account currency at the broker rate. IC Markets supports USD, EUR, GBP, AUD, CAD, JPY, NZD, SGD and a handful of others as base currencies, which covers almost every retail need.
The hidden cost lands when traders open a USD denominated account because that is the broker default, then fund it from a GBP or EUR bank account. Your bank charges an FX conversion fee on the way in. Your bank or the broker charges another fee on the way out. Over a year on a 10,000 USD account that can quietly burn 200 to 400 USD before you have placed a trade.
The fix is simple. Open the account in your home currency. IC Markets does not charge a deposit or withdrawal fee on its side, but your bank or wire intermediary may. Use a multi-currency provider like Wise or Revolut for the funding leg if your bank is expensive, and check that IC Markets allows the funding method in your region. Cards work, bank wires work, PayPal and Skrill work in most jurisdictions, crypto deposits are supported in some.
ASIC regulated. Strong mid-tier broker with competitive raw-spread accounts and full MT4 and MT5 support.
Where IC Markets is not the right home
The honest version. IC Markets is a poor fit for three groups. UK retail clients who want FCA protection and FSCS coverage will be routed to CySEC or Seychelles and should consider Vantage instead. US residents cannot open at IC Markets at all, because the broker does not service the US. Traders who actively want copy trading, social trading or a deep CFD share basket will find IC Markets thinner than eToro or Plus500 on those specific verticals, even though the FX and major index pricing is much better here. The full honest review of IC Markets covers the regulatory routing in more detail.
FAQ
1. What is the actual EUR/USD spread at IC Markets in 2026?
On the Standard MT4 and MT5 accounts EUR/USD averages 1.0 to 1.2 pips during London and New York liquidity with no commission. On the Raw Spread MT4 and MT5 accounts the spread is 0.0 to 0.1 pips raw plus 7 USD round turn, equivalent to roughly 0.7 to 0.8 pips all-in. On cTrader Raw Spread the spread is the same 0.0 to 0.1 pips but the commission drops to 6 USD round turn, so all-in cost is roughly 0.6 to 0.7 pips.
2. How much is the IC Markets commission?
7 USD round turn per standard lot on Raw Spread MT4 and MT5, which is 3.50 USD per side. 6 USD round turn on cTrader Raw Spread, which is 3.00 USD per side. Commission is pro rata for partial lots. Standard accounts charge no separate commission because the cost is baked into the wider spread.
3. Which IC Markets account is cheapest?
The cTrader Raw Spread account is the cheapest IC Markets account on every major pair the desk benchmarks once you are doing more than roughly two standard lots a month. The 1 USD lower commission compared to Raw Spread MT4 and MT5 compounds quickly at scale.
4. Is IC Markets regulated in the UK?
No. IC Markets is regulated by ASIC in Australia under AFSL 335692, by CySEC in Cyprus under licence 362/18 and by the FSA Seychelles under SD018. There is no FCA UK entity. UK retail clients are routed via CySEC or Seychelles, which means no FSCS 85,000 GBP compensation cover. For UK retail wanting an FCA umbrella, Vantage is the cleaner pick.
5. What is the IC Markets minimum deposit?
200 USD or local currency equivalent across all three retail account types. There is no minimum for funding above that level. The 200 USD floor is consistent across Standard, Raw Spread and cTrader Raw.
6. Does IC Markets charge deposit or withdrawal fees?
IC Markets does not charge deposit or withdrawal fees on its side. Bank wires, cards and supported e-wallets are free at the IC Markets layer. Your bank, card issuer or wire intermediary may charge their own fees, which is outside the broker’s control. Bank wire returns can take one to three business days depending on geography.
7. How do IC Markets swap rates compare to other brokers?
IC Markets publishes swap rates per pair and per direction on the official site, refreshed multiple times per week. The rates sit roughly in line with the institutional retail tier, neither outstandingly cheap nor expensive. For short term traders swap is a rounding error. For position traders holding majors over multiple weeks, always pull the live swap from the dashboard before sizing.
8. Does IC Markets offer Islamic swap-free accounts?
Yes. Swap-free status is available on Standard, Raw Spread MT4, Raw Spread MT5 and cTrader Raw Spread for qualifying clients. Apply after the live account is opened. An administrative fee may apply on positions held longer than a defined window, which is standard across the industry.
9. Is cTrader Raw better than MT5 Raw at IC Markets?
For most traders, yes. The commission is 1 USD per round turn cheaper, the platform has stronger depth of market visualisation and algo hosting, and execution sensitive workflows benefit from the cleaner order entry. The only reason to stay on MT5 Raw is if you have existing MT5 Expert Advisors that you do not want to port.
10. How does IC Markets compare to Pepperstone, Vantage and FP Markets on cost?
All four cluster within 0.05 to 0.15 pips of each other on EUR/USD all-in cost during major sessions. IC Markets and Pepperstone tend to print slightly tighter raw spreads, Vantage matches on cost and adds an FCA UK entity, FP Markets is competitive but slightly thinner on platform breadth. Platform fit and regulatory footprint should decide between them, not a 0.05 pip cost gap.
11. Can I trade gold cheaply at IC Markets?
Yes. XAU/USD typical mid-session spreads on the raw accounts are 18 to 25 cents plus the standard commission, which lands well inside the institutional retail tier. Standard account spreads on gold sit closer to 25 to 35 cents with no commission. cTrader Raw is the cheapest gold door at IC Markets on the same basis as the FX majors.
12. Are the IC Markets spreads I see in the live tracker actually what I will pay?
The live tracker reflects current mid-session pricing. Real-world execution will be at or very close to those numbers during major liquidity, but spreads widen materially around tier-one data releases, in the Asia open window and during the daily rollover at 22:00 UTC. Always check the live spread on your platform at the moment of execution rather than the marketing average.
The maths is the maths. If you trade more than two standard lots a month, the cTrader Raw Spread account is the cheapest IC Markets door. Open it directly via the desk’s IB link below.
Affiliate link. CFDs carry significant risk of loss.
Sources: IC Markets official live spread tracker and product disclosure statements (May 2026), FXEmpire IC Markets cost review (2026), BrokerChooser IC Markets fee analysis (2026), ASIC register AFSL 335692, CySEC register licence 362/18, FSA Seychelles register SD018. All spread and commission figures cross-checked at time of writing.
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