FP Markets review: matching IC Markets on cost, adding a share platform

IC Markets and Pepperstone come up in almost every conversation about raw-spread forex brokers, and FP Markets rarely gets mentioned in the same breath despite running on the same liquidity model. We opened a Raw account with AU$100, traded EUR/USD through MT4, MT5 and cTrader across several sessions, and then did something we could not have done at either rival: opened a share position on the Iress platform without leaving the same login.

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Independent desks that publish their own broker research reach a similar verdict on the platform lineup, which is worth checking against a broker's own marketing before you open an account.

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01The Raw account's real cost, pip by pip

FP Markets advertises Raw spreads "from 0.0 pips" plus $3 per lot per side, language every ECN broker uses and few brokers live up to at every hour. Our own EUR/USD fills during London hours sat between 0.1 and 0.3 pips before commission, which an independent Australian cost audit in 2026 confirmed at a 0.3 pip average with a A$7 round-turn commission on that particular account currency. A separate comparison the same year put FP's commission a dollar cheaper than IC Markets and Pepperstone at $6 round turn in a different base currency. The honest summary: all three brokers land within a fraction of a pip of each other, and which one wins by a hair depends on your account currency and the hour you trade, not on any structural advantage one holds over the others.

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02Four platforms, and Iress is the one that matters

Where FP Markets does pull ahead is choice. MT4 and MT5 cover the traders who already have templates and Expert Advisors built for MetaTrader, and cTrader with TradingView charting covers those who do not. None of that differs meaningfully from IC Markets or Pepperstone. The Iress suite does: it is a genuine equities platform, the kind used by retail stockbrokers rather than CFD shops, and it lets an FP Markets client trade real shares alongside forex CFDs under one account relationship. A trader who has been running two separate broker logins, one for currency pairs and one for a share portfolio, gets to collapse that into one.

03Where the AU$100 minimum actually sits

AU$100 converts to roughly US$65 at recent rates, comfortably below IC Markets' US$200 Raw account minimum. That comparison flatters FP Markets a little: a Raw account funded at the bare minimum leaves almost no room to absorb a losing trade before a margin call, on any of these three brokers. Treat the low minimum as an easy way to test execution quality with real money at stake, not as a sensible amount to trade seriously with. We deposited AU$100 by card and had it credited within a few minutes, and the same card withdrawal returned to our account inside two business days once we closed the position.

Leverage caps also depend on which entity holds your account. The Cyprus entity applies the same 30:1 ceiling on major pairs that every CySEC broker must under European rules, while non-EU entities can offer leverage up to 500:1 on the same pairs. A trader comparing FP Markets to a European-only broker on leverage alone is often comparing two different regulatory regimes rather than two different risk appetites.

04The regulation is not the same everywhere

FP Markets' Australian entity, First Prudential Markets Pty Ltd, has held its ASIC licence (AFSL 286354) since 2005, and its Cyprus entity holds CySEC licence 371/18, both genuine Tier-1 oversight with segregated client funds and external dispute resolution. The group also runs an FSCA-licensed South African entity and a Seychelles entity under FSA licence SD130. A client onboarded through the Seychelles arm trades under materially thinner investor protection than one onboarded in Australia or Cyprus, and which entity you land with depends on where you sign up from, not on which one you would choose if asked. Anyone opening an account should check the entity named on their own account agreement rather than assume the ASIC licence covers them by association.

05Who should choose FP Markets over the other two

If your decision between FP Markets, IC Markets and Pepperstone comes down purely to EUR/USD pip cost, the three are close enough that the choice barely matters, and whichever demo account gives you the fills you like on your own pairs should decide it. Where FP Markets earns a real edge is the trader who wants raw forex spreads and a proper share platform without a second broker relationship. For that specific case, we would pick it over either rival.

This review describes what we saw on our own accounts. It is not personal financial advice.