Every week a version of the same question lands in broker forums: XM or IC Markets? It sounds like a preference question. It is really two questions stacked on top of each other — which entity will actually onboard you, and which cost model matches how often you trade. Answer those two and the choice usually makes itself.
This comparison works through both brokers entity by entity, converts their headline spread claims into per-lot money, and then sets them against UZFX, whose ASIC-only, single-account, MetaTrader-free model sits at the opposite end of the design spectrum. Where a figure moves, it is because the two brokers publish different numbers for different jurisdictions — not because one of them is hiding something.
Quick Comparison Table
| Field | XM Group | IC Markets |
|---|---|---|
| Founded | 2009 | 2007 (Sydney) |
| HQ | Belize (XM Global), Cyprus (XM Ltd) | Sydney, Australia |
| Tier-1 licences | ASIC AFSL 442878, CySEC 120/10 | ASIC AFSL 335692, CySEC 362/18 |
| Offshore entities | FSC Belize, FSA Seychelles, DFSA Dubai, FSC Mauritius | FSA Seychelles (SD018), SCB Bahamas, CMA Kenya |
| Minimum deposit | ~USD 5 (Micro/Standard), USD 10,000 (Shares) | USD 0 retail; USD 5,000 / USD 100,000 for Raw Pro tiers |
| Account types | Micro, Standard, Ultra Low, Zero, Shares | Standard, Raw Spread (MT4/MT5), cTrader Raw, Raw Pro, Raw Pro+, Islamic |
| EUR/USD spread | ~1.6 pips Standard, ~0.8 pips Ultra Low, 0.0 pips Zero | ~0.8 pips Standard, ~0.02–0.1 pips Raw Spread |
| Commission | None except Zero (~USD 3.50/side) | None on Standard; USD 3.50/side (MT) or USD 3.00/side (cTrader) on Raw |
| Max leverage | 1:1000 offshore, 1:30 EU, ~1:25 ASIC | 1:5000 offshore, 1:30 EU and ASIC |
| Platforms | MT4, MT5, XM App | MT4, MT5, cTrader, TradingView, WebTrader |
| Instruments | 1,000+ (incl. real shares) | 2,250+ on MetaTrader; 2,850+ total |
| Inactivity fee | ~USD 10/month after long dormancy | Not charged |
Regulation: Same Word, Different Promise
Both brokers are legitimately licensed. The mistake is treating “regulated” as a single property.
XM Group runs separate legal entities. Australian clients deal with the ASIC-licensed arm under AFSL 442878. EU clients fall under XM Ltd at CySEC (120/10), which includes Investor Compensation Fund cover of up to EUR 20,000 if the firm fails. Most clients in Asia, Latin America and Africa, however, are onboarded by XM Global Limited under FSC Belize, or by Seychelles and Mauritius entities — jurisdictions where segregation and negative balance protection exist on paper but no compensation scheme stands behind them.
IC Markets follows the same architecture with different addresses. International Capital Markets Pty Ltd holds ASIC AFSL 335692, active since 2009. IC Markets (EU) Ltd holds CySEC 362/18. The entity most non-EU traders sign with is IC Markets (Seychelles) Ltd, FSA licence SD018 — the one that quotes 1:5000 leverage.
So when someone asks which broker is safer, the honest answer is: check the licence number on the account agreement, not the brand on the homepage. The ASIC professional registers search is where to verify an AFSL — enter the number directly, and confirm the legal entity name matches your documents. For reference, UZFX operates under a single ASIC licence, AFSL 001291473, with no offshore mirror entity, which removes this ambiguity entirely but also removes the high-leverage tier some traders want.
Cost: Converting Pips into Dollars
Headline spreads are marketing. Per-lot cost is arithmetic. Take EUR/USD, one standard lot (100,000 units), where 1 pip ≈ USD 10.
IC Markets Raw Spread: spreads average 0.02–0.1 pips in liquid hours, plus USD 3.50 per side, so USD 7 round turn. All-in, roughly USD 7.20–8.00 per lot.
IC Markets Standard: no commission, spreads from about 0.8 pips and averaging near 0.86. All-in, roughly USD 8.60 per lot.
XM Standard: no commission, averaging near 1.6 pips during the London/New York overlap. All-in, roughly USD 16 per lot.
XM Ultra Low: no commission, 0.8–1.2 pips. All-in, roughly USD 8–12 per lot.
XM Zero: raw spreads from 0.0 pips plus about USD 3.50 per side, comparable to IC Markets Raw Spread, but the account requires a larger opening balance.
The pattern is clear: IC Markets’ raw tier is the cheapest execution in the pair, and XM Ultra Low closes most of the gap. A trader doing 50 lots a month saves roughly USD 400 a year on IC Markets Raw versus XM Standard, and roughly USD 50–150 versus XM Ultra Low. Both figures are smaller than the average swap cost on a multi-day position, which is why the full cost breakdown matters more than the spread screenshot.
One more line item: XM charges an inactivity fee of about USD 10 a month after extended dormancy. IC Markets does not list one. For a small account parked between strategies, that is worth noting.
Leverage and Margin
IC Markets quotes up to 1:5000 on FX majors through the Seychelles entity, tiered by exposure — 1:5000 up to 25 lots, stepping down to 1:3000, 1:1000 and 1:500 as position size grows, with gold at 1:2000 and indices at 1:200. XM quotes up to 1:1000 offshore, 1:30 for EU retail and around 1:25 for Australian clients.
Higher leverage is not a feature in itself. It changes how much margin a position consumes, and therefore how much room a losing position has before a margin call. A trader using the same 0.5-lot position on either broker will see identical P&L and identical risk; only the blocked margin differs. The danger is behavioural — 1:5000 invites position sizes that a 2% risk rule would never permit. Read the leverage and margin mechanics before treating a high cap as an advantage.
UZFX quotes up to 1:500 on its ASIC entity, which sits above XM’s Australian cap and below both brokers’ offshore tiers.
Platforms: Where the Two Genuinely Diverge
XM offers MetaTrader 4 and MetaTrader 5 across desktop, web and mobile, plus the XM App for account management, funding and price alerts. That is a complete MetaTrader offering and nothing else. Traders who want a broker-branded charting suite will not find one.
IC Markets offers MT4, MT5, cTrader (including cTrader Copy and cAlgo), a TradingView integration, and an MT4 WebTrader. Execution is colocated at Equinix NY4 and LD5, with reported average fills around 40 ms and no requotes on majors in liquid hours. The cTrader option is the real differentiator: level-II depth, cleaner order handling and a copy-trading stack that MetaTrader does not match natively.
Both brokers support expert advisors. Neither offers a proprietary terminal.
That is exactly the gap UZFX is built around. UZFX runs a Web Terminal, H5 mobile site, and native apps for iOS, Android, Windows and Mac, with a single standard account and no MetaTrader dependency. The trade-off is explicit: no EAs, no third-party indicator marketplace, no MT4 ecosystem. The gain is a shorter setup path and one interface maintained by one team. Our platform comparison covers what that trade actually costs in practice.
Product Range
IC Markets lists 2,250+ instruments on MetaTrader and 2,850+ in total, spanning forex, indices, commodities, bonds, crypto CFDs, share CFDs, futures CFDs and a newer 24-hour share CFD line.
XM lists 1,000+ instruments across forex, indices, commodities, crypto CFDs and share CFDs, plus a genuine real-shares offering on its Shares account — a product IC Markets does not provide in the same form. That Shares account requires a USD 10,000 minimum, so the practical benefit is limited to larger accounts.
For most retail CFD traders the difference is theoretical. Nobody trades 2,850 instruments. What matters is whether your specific market is covered with a competitive spread — check the contract specification for that one symbol rather than the marketing total.
UZFX advertises 100+ instruments, concentrated in forex, metals, indices, energy, crypto and a small equity CFD set. That is a narrower menu by design, matching its single-entity model.
Support and Education
XM’s strongest asset is language coverage — live chat, email and phone support in 30+ languages, 24/5, plus a deep education library of webinars and structured courses. For a Vietnamese, Thai, Indonesian or Arabic-speaking beginner, that localisation is often the deciding factor.
IC Markets support is 24/5 in around 15 languages with a solid but smaller knowledge base. Its education section is functional rather than expansive, and it leans on the assumption that MT4/MT5 users already know what they are doing.
Neither broker is weak here; XM is simply better resourced for first-time traders.
Broker vs Broker: Where Each Wins
| Dimension | XM Group wins | IC Markets wins |
|---|---|---|
| Entry cost | ✅ USD 5 Micro/Standard tiers | — |
| Raw-spread execution | — | ✅ 0.0 pips + USD 7 round turn |
| Platform choice | — | ✅ cTrader, TradingView, MT4/MT5, WebTrader |
| Account structure | ✅ Four tiers incl. Micro | — |
| Max leverage | — | ✅ 1:5000 offshore vs 1:1000 |
| Language coverage | ✅ 30+ languages | — |
| Bonuses | ✅ Deposit match, loyalty programme | — |
| Inactivity fees | ❌ ~USD 10/month after dormancy | ✅ None listed |
| Real shares | ✅ Shares account (USD 10,000) | ❌ CFDs only |
| Education depth | ✅ Full academy | — |
A short way to read that table: cost-sensitive active traders pick IC Markets; first-time and small-account traders pick XM.
And the third option, for traders who want neither MetaTrader nor a multi-entity structure: UZFX at a USD 10 minimum, one standard account, zero commission, spread-based pricing, ASIC AFSL 001291473. It does not try to beat IC Markets on raw spreads or XM on language breadth. It competes on simplicity, and the full UZFX review is where to judge whether that trade is worth it for you.
FAQ
Is XM or IC Markets the safer broker in 2026?
Both are genuinely licensed, and both route most non-EU clients to offshore entities with lighter protection. XM’s Asian and Latin American clients typically land under FSC Belize or FSA Seychelles with leverage up to 1:1000. IC Markets’ non-EU clients typically land under FSA Seychelles SD018 with leverage up to 1:5000. EU clients of both sit under CySEC with a 1:30 cap, and XM’s EU entity adds Investor Compensation Fund cover to EUR 20,000. Verify the exact entity on your account agreement before funding.
Which broker is cheaper per lot, XM or IC Markets?
On EUR/USD and one standard lot: IC Markets Raw Spread costs roughly USD 7.20–8.00 all-in, IC Markets Standard about USD 8.60, XM Ultra Low USD 8–12, and XM Standard about USD 16. IC Markets is the cheaper execution for anyone trading more than a handful of lots per month; XM Ultra Low is competitive enough that swap and slippage often dominate the difference.
Which is better for a beginner, XM or IC Markets?
XM, for most beginners outside Europe and Australia. The Micro account, the USD 5 entry point, the education academy and support in 30+ languages remove more friction than tighter raw spreads do. A beginner who trades 1–5 lots a month will not recover IC Markets’ advantages in saved spread.
What is the minimum deposit at XM and IC Markets?
XM Micro and Standard open around USD 5 depending on entity and payment method; the Shares account needs USD 10,000. IC Markets lists USD 0 on retail tiers, but its Raw Pro (USD 5,000) and Raw Pro+ (USD 100,000) tiers require real balances. Both minimums are far below what a disciplined 2% risk rule needs to trade a standard lot — micro lots are the correct tool at that account size.
How do XM and IC Markets platforms compare with UZFX?
XM provides MT4/MT5 plus the XM App; IC Markets provides MT4/MT5, cTrader, TradingView and WebTrader. UZFX provides none of those and instead runs a proprietary Web Terminal, H5 mobile site and native iOS, Android, Windows and Mac apps. If expert advisors, cTrader depth or the MT4 indicator marketplace are part of your process, UZFX is not a substitute. If you want one interface, one account and one regulator, it is.
Final Verdict
Neither broker is the “right” answer in the abstract. IC Markets is the better execution venue — its raw-spread tier, cTrader access and NY4/LD5 colocation are genuine structural advantages for anyone whose edge is measured in fractions of a pip. XM is the better on-ramp — lower entry cost, four account tiers, exceptional language coverage and an education library that actually teaches.
What both share is a structural complication: the entity that signs you up decides your leverage, your compensation rights and your dispute forum, and that entity is usually not the tier-1 one on the homepage banner. Read the agreement, verify the licence number on the regulator’s own register, and treat a 1:5000 cap as a risk to be managed rather than a feature.
Traders who want a single-regulator, single-account, MetaTrader-free setup at a USD 10 minimum should look at UZFX instead — and should confirm its ASIC authorisation, AFSL 001291473, through the ASIC registers before depositing anything.
Risk Disclaimer
Trading leveraged CFDs and forex carries a high level of risk and may not be suitable for all investors. You can lose more than your initial deposit. Spreads, commissions, swap rates and leverage limits vary by account type, legal entity and jurisdiction, and can change without notice. All figures in this article reflect publicly published broker data as of November 2026 and should be re-verified against the broker’s own contract specifications before you trade. Past performance is not indicative of future results. This article is for informational purposes only and does not constitute financial advice or an offer to trade.
Last reviewed: 15 November 2026 by the MarketCFD editorial team. Compare more brokers in our best forex broker comparison, or read the individual XM Group review and IC Markets review.