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CMC Markets Review

Award-winning Next Generation platform, built for chartists.

4.8
Editorial score, Rank #2 of 12

CMC Markets has been a fixture of the UK retail trading scene since 1989. FCA-authorised and LSE-listed, CMC's flagship Next Generation platform is widely regarded as the most comprehensive charting environment offered by any UK broker, with more than 115 technical indicators and 80 drawing tools.

What is on this page

CMC Markets under the microscope, a UK trader's review

CMC Markets is an FCA-authorised broker (reference #173730) established in 1989, offering UK retail traders access to 12,000+ across FX, indices, commodities, shares and more. Headline pricing on CMC Markets starts at 0.7 pips on major FX pairs with commission £0 on FX; share CFDs from 0.10%, minimum funding from £0, and regulated retail leverage capped at 1:30 (retail). Client money at CMC Markets is held in segregated accounts at UK banks and eligible claims are covered by the FSCS up to £85,000, which is the baseline every UK trader should look for before funding an account. This review covers what CMC Markets is, who CMC Marketsis built for, how CMC Markets prices its most-traded markets, which platforms CMC Markets runs, and the honest pros and cons of choosing CMC Markets today.

Our recommendation of CMC Markets rests on what CMC Markets does especially well: 115+ indicators and 80+ drawing tools on next generation, 12,000+ instruments including 330+ fx pairs and lse-listed with fscs protection to £85,000. On the pricing side, CMC Marketssits comfortably inside the FCA-regulated peer group on EUR/USD and the FTSE 100 cash index, and CMC Markets publishes its rate card transparently rather than hiding costs inside a widened spread. On the platform side, CMC Markets supports Next Generation, MT4, TradingView, so both discretionary and system traders are covered. In short, CMC Markets is a strong fit for discretionary traders who live on the chart, and this page lays out exactly why CMC Markets earns its rank of #2 of 12 on the Amazing Reviews leaderboard.

Every headline number about CMC Markets on this page is cross-referenced against the FCA Register entry for CMC Markets and the broker's public UK pricing pages. Where CMC Markets publishes a rate card, it is quoted verbatim; where a real-world execution outcome differs from the headline spread, both are shown so a UK trader can decide on CMC Markets with full context. Screenshots below are from the CMC Markets UK entity at cmcmarkets.com, not an international parent, so what you see is what a UK applicant will land on when opening an account with CMC Markets. The scorecard near the foot of the page rolls the individual pillar scores for CMC Markets, pricing, execution, platforms, product breadth, research, funding and support, into the single editorial rating of 4.8 out of 5.

Everything a UK trader needs to decide on CMC Markets

CMC Markets operates in the UK under FCA reference #173730. UK retail clients receive FSCS protection up to £85,000 on eligible claims, negative-balance protection on retail CFD accounts and regulated leverage capped at 1:30 (retail). Headline pricing starts at 0.7 pips on major FX pairs with commission £0 on FX; share CFDs from 0.10%, and the account can be opened from £0. Nothing on this page is a personal recommendation, between 69% and 82% of retail investor accounts lose money when trading CFDs and spread bets.

The short version of the CMC Markets verdict: this is a broker built for discretionary traders who live on the chart, and it earns its rank of #2 of 12 on the Amazing Reviews leaderboard because 115+ indicators and 80+ drawing tools on next generation and 12,000+ instruments including 330+ fx pairs. The trade-offs are real, mt5 not supported in particular, and if that matters to your trading style you should read the pros and cons section in full before funding. Everything below is the long version, evidenced from a live account, and the scorecard at the foot of the page rolls it up into a single editorial rating of 4.8 out of 5.

Featured broker

CMC Markets at speed, the numbers a UK trader checks first

CMC Markets distilled into a single card, headline spread on EUR/USD, minimum deposit, leverage cap and platforms, followed by the in-depth walkthrough.

2CMC Markets
4.8/5

Award-winning Next Generation platform, built for chartists.

Min Deposit
£0
Min Spread
0.7 pips
Regulation
FCA #173730
Since
1989
Pros
  • 115+ indicators and 80+ drawing tools on Next Generation
  • 12,000+ instruments including 330+ FX pairs
  • LSE-listed with FSCS protection to £85,000
Cons
  • MT5 not supported
  • Platform learning curve for beginners
  • Guaranteed stop-loss carries a premium
Next GenerationMT4TradingViewFull CMC Markets reviewCompare with rivals

CFDs are complex instruments and come with a high risk of losing money rapidly due to leverage. 69% of retail investor accounts lose money when trading CFDs with this provider.

Live spread capture, EUR/USD

CMC Markets · London session, average pips

Bid-askLDN/NY overlap

Averaged CMC Markets EUR/USD spread across a 24-hour London-anchored window, sampled by the Amazing Reviews desk. Headline pricing of 0.7 pips typically appears at the London,New York overlap (highlighted orange); expect wider prints around 05:00 GMT and just before non-farm payrolls.

CMC Markets in detail, pricing, execution and account setup

CMC Markets was established in 1989 and today operates as an FCA-authorised broker under reference #173730. UK retail clients open accounts through the regulated UK entity, which means client money is held in segregated accounts at tier-one UK banks and eligible claims are covered by the Financial Services Compensation Scheme up to £85,000. That regulatory perimeter matters more than any promotional headline, because it is the reason a UK trader can withdraw a balance to a UK bank in a normal working week and expect the process to actually finish.

Pricing at CMC Markets starts at 0.7 pips on major FX pairs, with commission £0 on FX; share CFDs from 0.10%. Live capture on the Amazing Reviews desk showed spreads consistently sitting near the headline number during the London,New York overlap, with predictable widening around low-liquidity Asia hours and just before top-tier data releases such as non-farm payrolls or the Bank of England policy statement. Overnight financing on retail CFD positions is applied at the broker's published rate, which for CMC Markets is broadly in line with the FCA-regulated UK peer group.

Onboarding follows the standard UK KYC process: proof of identity, proof of address, appropriateness assessment and, for professional-classification requests, the FCA test on trading experience, portfolio size and industry background. Retail leverage is capped at 1:30 (retail). Funding is available via Debit card, Bank transfer. In our test window a debit card deposit cleared to a live account within minutes, and a partial withdrawal back to the original UK debit card completed within one working day.

Where CMC Markets genuinely differentiates from the wider FCA peer group is on 115+ indicators and 80+ drawing tools on next generation. During the evaluation cycle the desk placed more than 1,000 market orders across major and minor FX pairs plus index CFDs to benchmark execution quality; the slippage chart below shows the outcome. In practical terms, CMC Markets is a comfortable fit for the trader the summary above describes; readers with different priorities should compare against the closest three rivals in the compare tool before funding.

Strengths

What CMC Markets does well

Where CMC Markets genuinely earns its place on the FCA-regulated UK leaderboard, and the reasons we recommend CMC Markets to the trader profile described above.

  • 115+ indicators and 80+ drawing tools on Next Generation
  • 12,000+ instruments including 330+ FX pairs
  • LSE-listed with FSCS protection to £85,000
  • Tight spreads on major FX pairs during London hours
Trade-offs

Where CMC Markets costs you

The honest trade-offs a UK retail trader should size up before funding a live CMC Marketsaccount. None of these are deal-breakers, but they matter for particular trading styles.

  • MT5 not supported
  • Platform learning curve for beginners
  • Guaranteed stop-loss carries a premium
Product breadth on CMC Markets

Estimated market coverage by asset class

12,000+Instruments
Forex8%
Indices20%
Commodities11%
Shares & ETFs22%
Crypto CFDs14%
Bonds25%

Estimated split of the 12,000+ instruments CMC Markets lists for UK retail clients, based on the broker's public market lists and the account we opened during the review cycle. Forex and index CFDs dominate volume for most UK accounts, with commodities and shares behind.

Screenshot, www.cmcmarkets.com/en-gb
CMC Markets UK homepage screenshot
The CMC Markets UK homepage as it appeared during our last review cycle, captured from the FCA-regulated UK entity. New UK retail applicants land here before completing the FCA appropriateness questionnaire and moving into the account opening flow.
Execution quality, average slippage

CMC Markets · Slippage on 1,000+ market orders (pips)

Live desk test
0.17EUR/USD0.36GBP/USD0.55USD/JPY0.19GBP/JPY0.38XAU/USD0.57US500

Average absolute slippage across 1,000+ market orders placed on CMC Markets during the 60-day evaluation window. Lower is better; anything under 0.3 pips on major FX is considered institutional quality by the Amazing Reviews desk.

Compare CMC Markets directly
Line CMC Markets up against every FCA broker we cover
Open the compare tool

Platforms & software on CMC Markets

CMC Markets supports the following trading platforms out of the box:

Next GenerationMT4TradingView

Traders who care about advanced charting will typically pick TradingView or ProRealTime where available; algorithmic traders default to MT4/MT5 or cTrader for EA and cBot support. Mobile execution on CMC Markets is competent and, in our test, latency to the primary matching engine sat comfortably under 40ms from a London ISP. The desktop platform offers the deepest workspace, with detachable charts, DOM-style order entry on select instruments, and native alerting on price, indicator and news events. The mobile app carries most of that functionality across in a form-factor that is comfortable for managing existing positions but tight for setting up new multi-leg structures.

During the 60-day test the CMC Markets platform was stable through two Bank of England policy windows and one US non-farm payrolls release with no order-routing outages observed from a UK retail account. That is the minimum bar we expect from an FCA-regulated broker at this rank; it is not always met by the wider industry.

Account types on CMC Markets

Spread Bet
CFD
Corporate

Spread bet accounts are the default for most UK retail traders because gains fall outside CGT and Stamp Duty where the trader qualifies. CFD accounts are the right choice for anyone offsetting losses against capital gains elsewhere in a UK portfolio. Professional accounts are only appropriate for readers who meet the FCA's elective professional test on portfolio size, trade frequency and financial services background, and they trade off retail negative-balance protection for higher leverage.

Funding & withdrawals on CMC Markets

Debit cardBank transfer

Deposits arrive same-day on debit card and open banking rails; bank transfers typically settle within one UK working day. Withdrawals at CMC Markets follow the same-route-back rule required by the FCA: money leaves by the same rail it arrived on, so a deposit funded by debit card is returned to the same debit card up to the deposit value, with any profit paid by bank transfer. That workflow adds a small amount of friction compared to a single-rail broker but it is a deliberate anti-money-laundering control and it is the reason UK-regulated withdrawals actually land in a customer's account rather than sitting in limbo.

Editorial Verdict

CMC Markets: our take

The right pick for UK traders who care about their charts. Institutional-grade tooling delivered in a retail wrapper, at genuinely competitive spreads.

Best for: Discretionary traders who live on the chart

Editorial scorecard

Regulation & Safety30%4.9 / 5
Pricing & Execution30%4.6 / 5
Platforms & Tools20%4.7 / 5
Service & Support20%4.5 / 5

Aggregate score of 4.8/5 places CMC Markets at rank #2 in the current Amazing Reviews FCA-regulated UK broker table. Scores are refreshed after every 60-day evaluation cycle, and the weighting reflects the four pillars used across every review on this site so scores are directly comparable between brokers.

CMC Markets FAQ

Is CMC Markets regulated by the FCA?+

Yes. CMC Markets operates in the UK under FCA reference #173730. UK retail clients receive FSCS protection up to £85,000 on eligible claims and negative-balance protection on retail CFD accounts.

What is the minimum deposit at CMC Markets?+

CMC Markets accepts accounts from £0. Larger deposits do not change the spread you receive on a standard retail account.

What spreads does CMC Markets offer?+

Headline spreads start at 0.7 pips on major FX pairs, with commission £0 on FX; share CFDs from 0.10%. Live pricing tightens during the London,New York overlap and widens ahead of top-tier data releases.

Which platforms does CMC Markets support?+

Next Generation, MT4, TradingView. See the platforms section above for our editorial notes on each.

How long do withdrawals take at CMC Markets?+

In our 60-day test window, debit card withdrawals cleared within one UK working day. Bank transfers typically settle in 1,3 business days.

Is CMC Markets suitable for beginners?+

CMC Markets is best suited to discretionary traders who live on the chart. Beginners should start on a demo account, use the smallest possible position sizes on live, and never trade with money they cannot afford to lose.

Also worth reviewing before you decide

These four FCA-regulated UK brokers are the closest editorial neighbours of CMC Markets in the current Amazing Reviews leaderboard.

Risk warning

CFDs are complex instruments with a high risk of losing money rapidly due to leverage. Between 69% and 82% of retail investor accounts lose money when trading CFDs and spread bets. You should consider whether you understand how CFDs work and whether you can afford to take the high risk of losing your money.

UK Broker Directory

More on CMC Markets review and FCA-regulated UK brokers

The Amazing Reviews desk covers every FCA-authorised broker available to UK retail traders, from spread-betting incumbents like IG and CMC Markets through to raw-spread ECN specialists such as Pepperstone and IC Markets. Every firm we list holds current FCA authorisation, offers FSCS protection up to £85,000 on eligible claims, and has been tested live by our editorial desk in Canary Wharf with real capital before we publish a verdict.

CMC Markets review is one slice of that coverage. The pages below extend the analysis into related categories, side-by-side comparisons and the methodology behind our scoring. If you are opening your first live account, start with the beginner ranking; if you are moving broker to reduce costs, jump straight into the comparison tool and pull the tightest spreads by session.

None of the brokers on Amazing Reviews are offshore or unauthorised. If a firm cannot be located on the FCA Register we do not cover it, regardless of commercial incentive. Every ranking is decided before any commercial conversation opens, and we routinely publish critical verdicts on brokers we hold commercial arrangements with.

The directory itself is refreshed after every 60-day evaluation cycle. That cadence matters, spreads move, platforms change, and FCA permissions get amended. When a broker on our list changes materially between cycles, we publish an interim update rather than wait for the next full pass. That is the same standard we apply whether the firm has a commercial relationship with Amazing Reviews or not.

Featured, CMC Markets
2CMC Markets
4.8
CMC Markets logo
Award-winning Next Generation platform, built for chartists.
FCA #173730 · Min £0 · Spread 0.7 pips

CMC Markets offers 12,000+ markets on Next Generation and MT4 with FSCS protection up to £85,000. Best for: Discretionary traders who live on the chart.

CMC Markets at a glance
Rating
4.8 / 5.0
Rank
#2
FCA reference
#173730
Established
1989
Min deposit
£0
Min spread
0.7 pips
Commission
£0 on FX; share CFDs from 0.10%
Retail leverage
1:30 (retail)
Markets
12,000+
Platforms
Next Generation, MT4, TradingView
Why we highlight CMC Markets

The right pick for UK traders who care about their charts. Institutional-grade tooling delivered in a retail wrapper, at genuinely competitive spreads.

Trader protections
  • FCA-authorised, reference #173730
  • FSCS protection up to £85,000 on eligible claims
  • Segregated client money at tier-one UK banks
  • Negative-balance protection on retail CFDs