Broker comparison between FXCM vs Admiral Markets

　　General Information & Regulation

　　FXCM is a leading international provider of online forex trading, CFD trading, and related services. Founded in 1999 and headquartered in London, UK, the company's mission is to give traders around the world access to the world's largest and most liquid markets by providing innovative trading tools, employing talented trading mentors, meeting strict financial standards, and striving to provide the best online trading experience in the market. The company is currently fully licensed by the Australian Securities and Investments Commission ( regulatory license number 309763) , also fully licensed by the Financial Conduct Authority (license number 217689) in the UK.

　　Market Instruments

　　FXCM offers investors a diverse range of tradable instruments, including currency pairs, precious metals, commodities, global stock indices, treasury bonds, as well as a forex basket, a stocks basket, CNH, and other popular products.

　　Leverage & Accounts

　　There are two types of accounts: Regular Accounts and Premier Accounts. Regular accounts have a minimum deposit of $50 and allow investors to trade up to 39 popular currency pairs and the entire CFD range with up to 1:400 leverage. The Premier Account is designed for high-volume investors and requires, firstly, an FXCM account or a new account, a total USD notional trading volume of $10 million per natural month. The account offers investors a range of benefits: exclusive support, premium services, and tailor-made trading solutions.

　　Spreads & Commissions

　　The spreads are 1.3 pips for EUR/USD, 2.3pips for EUR/GBP, and 1.8pips for AUD/USD. The Premier account offers investors a cashback offer. If a client trades EUR/USD pair and reaches $300 million in notional volume for the month (for the fifth step), then the cashback amount is $25/million, for a total cashback amount of $7,500. The cashback for equity index CFD products ranges from $1 to $3 per million USD.

　　Trading Platform

　　FXCM has fully optimized and upgraded its MT4 platform to execute traders' orders faster and more consistently. The advantages of MT4 are setting stop-loss/stop gain before execution, setting stop loss and stop gain of 0.01 (micro) lot when creating a new trade, trading with more accurate lot sizes, enhancing risk management by partially closing positions, and controlling when traders want to close a position and how much of a position traders want to close. In addition, FOREX offers a free MT4 Virtual Private Server (VPS) storage service. This VPS has three advantages: EA will continue to operate when the computer is turned off; the server is dedicated to EA trading and will not operate other applications; and traders can log into their platform from any computer even if they do not have MetaTrader 4 installed.

　　Deposit & Withdrawal

　　FXCM welcomes several payment methods, including online banking payments, bank transfers, and other payments. The minimum single deposit for CUP is $100, and the minimum deposit for a credit card or wire transfer is $50. Besides, traders can withdraw funds once a month for free.

　　General Information & Regulation of Admiral Markets

　　Admiral Market is an online trading service provider, established in 2001, providing investment services for forex and indices, precious metals, energies, stocks, bonds, and digital currency CFD trading. Admiral Markets Pty Ltd (ABN 63 151 613 839) (“Admiral Markets”) holds an Australian Financial Services Licence (AFSL) to carry on financial services business in Australia, limited to the financial services covered by its AFSL no. 410681.Admiral Markets Pty Ltd is fully owned by Admiral Markets Group AS holding company. Admiral Markets UK Ltd holds a license from FCA in teh UK, with regulatory license number 595450, and Admiral Markets Cyprus Ltd is authorized and regulated by CySEC in the Cyprus under license number 201/13.

　　Market Instruments of Admiral Markets

　　Admiral Markets provides popular trading products on the global financial market, including Forex, Indices, Stocks, Commodities, Bonds, ETFs, etc. The forex market provides more than 40 pairs of currency CFDs, including forex direct trading, forex cross trading, and other rare currency pairs. Commodities can trade CFDs on hundreds of barrels of oil and dozens of pounds of gold. Featured bond products include 10-year US Treasury bond futures CFD and German bond futures CFD.

　　Minimum Deposit of Admiral Markets

　　Account types vary depending on trading platform. The minimum deposit to start a live account, that is Invest. MT5 account, is 1 AUD/EUR/GBP/USD. Actually, it is the reasonable amount for new traders to get started.

　　Leverage of Admiral Markets

　　Admiral Markets offers a flexible trading leverage mechnism. Retail traders only can choose pretty conservative leverage ratio, from 1:20 to 1:30, while wholesale clinet can enjoy a significant increase in leverage ratio, which is up to 1:500. Please keep in mind that leverage may magnify returns but also risks.

　　Spread & Commissions of Admiral Markets

　　Trade MT5 account spreads start at 0.5, handling fees for single stocks and ETF CFDs-starting at $0.01 per share, no commission; Zero MT5 account spreads starting at 0, forex and precious metals-$1.8 to $3.0 per 1.0 lot, cash index-0.05 per 1.0 lot To $3.0, energy-$1 per 1.0 lot. Trade.MT4 spreads from 0.5, single stocks and ETF CFDs-from 0.01 USD per share, no commission; Zero.MT4 spreads from 0, forex and precious metals-1.8 to 3.0 USD per 1.0 lot, cash index-0.05 to 3.0 per 1.0 lot USD, energy-1 USD per 1.0 lot.

　　Trading Platforms

　　Admiral Markets has teamed up with MetaQuotes, the company behind the MetaTrader4 & 5 trading platforms. On top of MT4 and MT5, traders can also use the MetaTrader Supreme Edition and MetaTrader WebTrader.

　　Deposit & Withdrawal of Admiral Markets

　　Admiral Markets welcomes its clients to fund their accounts through the following payment methods:

• 　　Wire transfer (AUD/GBP/EUR/CHF/RUB/USD, no charge fees, no maximum and minimum amount restrictions, processing within 1-3 working days.)

• 　　Visa & MasterCard (AUD/GBP/EUR/CHF/USD, no charge fees, the minimum amount 75 AUD/50 USD/EUR/GBP/CHF, and the maximum 7500 AUD/5000 USD/EUR/GBP/ CHF, instant arrival)

• 　　UnionPay ( RMB accepted, no handling fee, minimum deposit of 100 CNY, the maximum of 2000000 CNY, one working day to arrive)

• 　　Skrill ( in AUD/USD/EUR/SGD, no handling fee, the minimum amount is 75 AUD/50USD/EUR/80 SGD, the maximum amount of 15000 AUD/10,000 USD/EUR/16000 SGD, instant arrival)

　　Withdrawal methods must be same as the deposit methods, with two free withdrawals per month, and the processing time is 1-3 working days. UnionPay cards accept RMB, with two free withdrawals per month, the minimum amount is 200 yuan, the maximum amount is 200,000 yuan, and the processing time is 1-3 working days. Skrill, currencies accepted are AUD/USD/EUR/SGD, with two free withdrawals per month, the minimum amount is 1 AUD/USD/EUR/SGD, and the maximum amount is 15000 AUDdollars / 10000 USD / 10000 Euros / 16000 SGD, instant payment. Neteller, the accepted currencies are AUD/USD/EUR/GBP/JPY/SGD/BRL/MXN,Free withdrawals are made 2 times a month, and it will be received instantly.

　　Trading Hours

　　Admiral Markets follow standard market trading hours. Specific opening and closing hours depend on the instrument traded but usually run from Monday to Friday, although cryptocurrency is traded in decent volumes over the weekend. The Admiral Markets Group does run a reduced schedule during certain bank holidays. Changes to trading hours, including respective time zones, are published on the brokers website