ActivTrades vs IC Markets
A side-by-side comparison built from each broker's own published record — licenses checked against official registers, terms quoted from their own pages, with the source linked on every claim.
| Regulation | FCA · SCB · FSC · CMVM · BACEN · CSSF | Financial Services Authority · Cyprus Securities and Exchange Commission · Australian Securities and Investments Commission |
| License no. | FCA 434413 (ActivTrades PLC; company reg. England & Wales 05367727) SCB 199667 B (ActivTrades Corp — printed as company 'registration number 199667 B'; SCB licence number not separately printed) FSC GB24203277 (ActivTrades Markets Ltd., Global Business Licence) CMVM 433 (ActivMarkets Empresa de Investimento, S.A.; company reg. 516 929 291) BACEN CNPJ 45.050.917/0001-03 (ActivTrades CCTVM — 'autorizada a funcionar pelo Banco Central do Brasil'; no separate licence number printed) CSSF not published on fetched pages (entity ActivTrades Europe SA and 'Regulated by CSSF' verified on broker site; Luxembourg company reg. B232167 appears in search-indexed broker content but was not directly verified) | Financial Services Authority SD018 (Raw Trading Ltd, trading as IC / IC Markets Global; Seychelles company reg. 8419879-1) Cyprus Securities and Exchange Commission 362/18 (IC Markets (EU) Ltd) Australian Securities and Investments Commission AFSL 335692 (International Capital Markets Pty Ltd, registration 123 289 109) |
| Founded | 2001 | 2007 |
| Minimum deposit | $0 | $0 |
| EUR/USD spread from | 0.5 pips (standard Individual account — broker publishes "Trade With Spreads from 0.5 pips", commission-free; localized spread table shows EURUSD "as low as 0.5") | 0.0 pips (Raw Spread account, commission $3.50/lot per side; broker states average EURUSD spread 0.1 pips). Standard account from 0.8 pips, no commission. |
| Leverage | SCB (Bahamas): 1:400 on forex (0.25% initial margin) CMVM (Portugal): Retail 1:30 on forex (3.33% margin) | FSA Seychelles: Up to 1:5000 on FX majors, tiered by exposure (1:5000 to 25 lots, then 1:3000 / 1:1000 / 1:500); gold 1:2000; indices 1:200; crypto 1:500; stocks 1:20. Reduced during higher-margin periods. CySEC: 1:30 |
| Gulf Payments | ||
| Platforms | ActivTrader, MetaTrader 5, TradingView, MetaTrader 4 (still named in site copy 'MT4, MT5, ActivTrader and TradingView', but absent from the current Platforms menu) | MetaTrader 4, MetaTrader 5, cTrader, TradingView |
| Broker-published claim | Withdrawals are processed "Same day if request by 12:30 (UK Time Zone)"; the Funding And Withdrawals Fact Sheet lists a Standard Timeframe of "Same working day" for bank transfer and "30 min" for credit/debit cards, Neteller, Skrill and crypto — with the caveat that "the specified timeframes are indicative only" and apply after the company has received the transaction. [Source] | Withdrawal requests cut off time is 12:00 AEST/AEDT. If your withdrawal is submitted before this time it will be processed on the day of receipt; if submitted after, it is processed the following business day. Card withdrawals may take 3-5 business days to arrive (up to 10 in rare cases); international bank wires may take up to 14 days and can incur intermediary/beneficiary fees. IC does not charge additional fees for deposits and/or withdrawals. [Source] |
| Withdrawal methods | Bank transfer, Credit/Debit card, Neteller, Skrill, Crypto (BCH, BTC, ETH, LINK, LTC, USDC, USDT, XLM, XRP, DASH), PayPal (ActivTrades PLC and ActivTrades Europe SA clients only), Instant bank transfer – Volt (entity-dependent) | Credit/Debit Cards (Visa, Mastercard), Bank Wire Transfer, PayPal, Skrill, Neteller, WebMoney, FasaPay, POLi, BPAY, RapidPay, Klarna, Thai Internet Banking, Vietnamese Internet Banking |
| Crypto deposits/withdrawals | Yes | Yes |
| Islamic Accounts | Yes | Yes |
| Measured by us | Testing in progress | Testing in progress |
| Accepts clients from | Australia, Hong Kong, United Kingdom, Singapore, China, Thailand, Mexico, Taiwan, United Arab Emirates, Germany, India, Saudi Arabia, Malaysia, Turkey, Mongolia, Kenya, Colombia, Italy, Vietnam, Chile, Peru, Indonesia, Argentina, Qatar, Kuwait, Oman, Bahrain | Australia, Germany, Italy, Saudi Arabia |
| Open account | Open account |
We do not name a winner here. The two records sit side by side because the right answer depends on where you live, what you trade, and which entity would onboard you — all of which the table shows.
By Country
- ActivTrades + IC Markets: Australia, Germany, Saudi Arabia, Italy
- ActivTrades Yes / IC Markets No: Hong Kong, United Kingdom, Singapore, China, Thailand, Mexico, Taiwan, United Arab Emirates, India, Malaysia, Turkey, Mongolia, Kenya, Colombia, Vietnam, Chile, Peru, Indonesia, Argentina, Qatar, Kuwait, Oman, Bahrain
Is ActivTrades or IC Markets better?
Neither is better in the abstract. Compare the rows that apply to you: whether each broker accepts clients from your country, which entity and regulator you would be onboarded under, the minimum deposit, and how withdrawals work on the rail you would actually use.
Which is safer, ActivTrades or IC Markets?
Safety follows the entity that holds your money, not the brand. Both records list every regulator and license number each broker publishes — check which entity serves your country, then verify that license on the regulator's own register.