CMC Markets Review

CMC Markets Ratings at a Glance

Why CMC Markets Over Others?  

The main advantages of trading CFDs through CMC Markets are summarized below.

Multi-Asset CFD Trading

CMC Markets specializes in CFD trading, which means that you buy and sell contracts that have their prices determined by their underlying markets and avoid trading directly in the assets themselves. CMC Markets offers trading in over 330 forex instruments and proprietary forex indices, over 10,000 shares and ETFs, more than 110 different commodities, 12 cryptocurrencies, 22 share baskets, 100 stock indices and over 50 interest rate and government bonds securities, all via CFDs. 

Powerful Trading Platforms

In addition to supporting the popular 3rd-party MT4 platform from MetaQuotes, CMC Markets offers a powerful proprietary web-based platform called Next Generation, as well as iOS and Android mobile applications. The sophisticated mobile app includes powerful charting features and more than 40 popular indicators and drawing tools.  

The broker’s highly customizable Next Generation trading platform lets you trade directly from the charts and features a charting package with 12 built-in chart types and over 115 technical indicators and drawing tools. Other useful features include a price projection tool, a client sentiment tool, multiple layouts and chart pattern recognition. As a forex broker, CMC provides a wide range of account types to suit retail traders' trade experience and offer balance protection to safeguard your investments.

Top-Tier Research and Educational Resources

CMC Markets’ excellent research and educational resources can be accessed through its website and the Next Generation platform. With respect to educational resources, CMC Markets provides a complete suite of educational materials that include video guides on using its platform, trading, spread betting, CFD trading, forex trading, technical indicators, fundamental analysis and a series of webinars. 

CMC Markets also gives you access to top-tier financial research through its global team of market analysts on its “Insights” module. You can access a Reuters news feed, Morningstar quantitative equity research reports, a proprietary online YouTube channel called CMC TV, a Reuters-powered market calendar and access to 45 financial commentators via the broker’s Twitter page. 

CMC Markets has no minimum deposit requirement to open an account, although you will need to have enough money in your account to use as a margin to trade live. Forex traders can benefit from CMC Markets’ ultra-low dealing spreads that start at 0.07 pips for EUR/USD. Below you can see the minimum margin rates and average spreads on some of the most popular CFDs offered by CMC Markets.

Because of its intuitive and sophisticated nature, CMC Markets’ platforms cater to professionals and new traders alike. The Next Generation web-based platform can be easily learned by novices, and the MetaTrader platform can be used by traders who already have knowledge of that platform. 

Entering trades can be done right off the charts on both platforms, but if you require automated trading, you might prefer to use the MetaTrader platform that has its own programming language, a variety of off-the-shelf trading robots and a broad community of users. If you find the Next Generation platform difficult to maneuver, you can view a tutorial video on the different features offered at CMC TV, the broker’s educational YouTube channel. 

Screenshot of CMC Markets’ Next Generation web-based trading platform. Source: CMC Markets

The broker’s excellent and easy-to-use mobile app lets you manage your account and trade from anywhere. The mobile app also has many useful features that include execution alerts and its client sentiment indicator. A mobile application specifically designed for the iPad makes better use of the device’s larger screen size. 

Access to webinars and seminars in addition to CMC Markets’ other educational offerings make the broker ideal to use for relatively inexperienced traders. CMC Markets also offers a demo account so you can practice using an electronic platform to trade with, while more experienced traders can use it to evaluate the broker’s platform and services.

Other ways CMC Markets increases the usability of its platform includes providing trading ideas via its OPTO trading intelligence news and research website. The website also features useful news and analysis, as well as an extensive ebook financial library and a Thomson Reuters economic calendar. Furthermore, you can find links to CMC’s YouTube channel known as CMC TV that features expert updates about significant market movements several times a week. 

CMC Markets offers educational resources for novice to advanced traders. The learning and innovation process never ends, with new and more advanced strategies and techniques being devised in response to ever-changing market conditions. 

CMC Markets’ research includes the latest news and analysis by some of the top names in finance such as Reuters and Morningstar. Its Insights section reports relevant market news and provides timely weekly research by an expert market analyst. You also get multiple articles on stocks and a general market outlook. 

In addition to webinars, the broker offers tutorial videos on how to use its platform, trading strategies, technical and fundamental analysis, portfolio management and other important information. Some of CMC Markets’ learning offerings are categorized below by the type of trader.  

• Beginning traders: CMC Markets caters to beginners with comprehensive online guides that cover topics like creating a trading strategy, what financial markets to trade, stop-loss trading, risk management strategies and trading guides for different assets. Learn the basics of technical and fundamental analysis with tutorials on charting, support and resistance, trendlines and other technical indicators. You can get access to tutorials covering stock analysis, trading events and leading economic indicators that help with how to analyze markets and tradable assets.  

• Intermediate traders: If you have some experience trading, CMC Markets provides tutorials on advanced chart formations, such as engulfing patterns seen on Japanese candlestick charts. Other key analysis techniques covered by CMC Markets include bullish and bearish divergence signals and chart pattern breakouts. 

• Advanced traders: Seasoned traders can take advantage of CMC Markets’ chart forum module, advanced techniques for technical analysis, API module linking and its price projection modules. Advanced technical analysis resources include charts such as Kagi, line break and Renko charts, as well as standard line, OHLC and candlestick charts. Other useful features include 35 drawing tools, 30 technical indicator overlays and 50 indicators.

Customer support can be extremely important if you have a problem with a trade, so the importance of being able to contact your broker during market hours to resolve an issue cannot be stressed enough. CMC Markets’ customer service has won awards for its promptness and, according to Investment Trends 2020 UK Leverage Trading Report, has the “Best Phone Customer Service and Best Email Customer Service” based on the highest user satisfaction reported among spread betters, CFD and FX traders. 

CMC Markets has an extensive FAQ page answering common questions, and its customer support is available in multiple languages 24 hours a day, 5 days a week. You can reach support staff by phone, email and directly through its offices in the UK, Austria, Australia, Canada, Sweden, Spain, Singapore, Poland, New Zealand, Norway, Italy, France, Germany and Ireland. 

The broker’s proprietary trading platform also has a useful live chat feature for CFD accounts located when you log in under the Support, Live Help feature.  The live chat service had a wait time of 8 minutes when tested for this review.

CMC Markets’ CFD offerings seem unusually broad. You can trade CFDs on forex, indices, cryptocurrencies, shares, ETFs, commodities and government securities via this online broker. An execution service in actual stocks, bonds and mutual funds is not available through this broker, however, and you should not consider CFDs suitable for long-term investment and income generation purposes.  

CMC Markets Stocks, ETFs and Indices

CMC Markets lets you trade CFDs on 1,000 ETFs and more than 9,400 global shares. In addition to popular stocks such as Apple Inc., Rio Tinto and Lloyds Banking Group, you can trade 4,800+ U.S. stocks, 894 UK stocks, 572 Canadian stocks and 22 share baskets. You can trade stocks of 21 other nations with different trading hours and commissions. Additionally, you can have access to 100 of the world’s largest indices via CFDs including the Germany 30, UK 100, US 30 and Australia 200.

CMC Markets Forex 

CMC Markets offers CFD trading in over 330 spot and forward currency pairs. You can also trade CMC Markets’ exclusive forex indices that include the CMC USD Index, the CMC GBP Index and the CMC EUR Index.

CMC Markets Cryptocurrencies

CMC Markets offers CFD trading in the world’s top cryptocurrencies, including Bitcoin, Ethereum, Bitcoin Cash, Litecoin, Ripple, Dash, EOS, Monero, Stellar, Cardano, Neo and Tron.

CMC Markets Commodities

In addition to gold and silver CFDs, you can trade CFDs on over 110 different commodities. CMC Markets also offers 3 commodity indexes: the Energy Index, the Agricultural Index and the Precious Metals Index. 

CMC Markets Government Securities and Interest Rates

CMC Markets lets you trade CFDs on more than 30 treasury securities issued by the governments of the UK, the U.S., Japan, the European Union and Canada. You can also trade CFDs on various benchmark interest rates. 

CMC Markets offers a tablet, iOS and Android mobile app. The iPhone and Android apps were designed with the active CFD trader in mind. They both feature live streaming prices and charts, pending order execution alerts, a Reuters news feed and CMC Markets’ client sentiment indicator. 

The iPad trading app combines the iPad technology and larger screen with CMC Markets’ Next Generation trading platform’s key features. The app for iPad features customizable layouts and advanced trading tools. All 3 mobile apps are loaded with helpful features traders can use while on the go.

Screenshot of CMC Markets mobile app for Android devices. Source: CMC Markets

CMC Markets is among the most experienced online financial brokers in the business. As one of the world’s top-ranked CFD brokers in customer support, you can also expect excellent service. Furthermore, you can gauge the suitability of its platforms and services by opening a demo account before funding a live account. 

One of the few drawbacks with CMC Markets, besides the fact that it doesn’t accept U.S. clients, is that its tradable asset base covers only CFDs. This means you cannot use this broker to purchase real stocks, mutual funds or bonds for long-term investment and income purposes. CMC Markets does have excellent pricing, education and research resources, however, and offers top-tier trading platforms that should suit any active CFD trader. 

Frequently Asked Questions