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Alison Heyerdahl is the Head of Content at FxScouts and a Chartered Market Technician (CMT), as well as a trader and financial writer with extensive experience in Forex trading, broker analysis, and market research. She has reviewed 100+ brokers, publishes weekly YouTube trading videos, and co-hosts the “Let’s Talk Forex” podcast.
In the fast-paced world of forex trading, choosing the right broker is crucial. IC Markets and Global Prime are two popular options, each with unique strengths and weaknesses. This comparison will dive into the key features of both platforms,helping you decide which one best suits your trading style and goals.
The radar chart above illustrates the comparison between IC Markets and Global Prime across several key metrics, with the highest possible score being 100 in each category.
At FxScouts, our mission is to assist traders in finding the broker that best suits their needs. Comparing brokers side-by-side is an effective method to achieve this goal. We evaluated IC Markets and Global Prime, using our standard criteria: trust and regulation, trading platforms, costs and trading conditions, and educational and market analysis resources.
Trust and regulation are crucial when selecting a Forex broker. A broker’s credibility is largely built on its regulatory status. We spend considerable time verifying the safety of each broker by examining their regulatory licenses. We also consider numerous factors when deciding which tier a regulator belongs to. Regulators that we rank as the world’s top regulators, gets a tier 1 rank, while regulators who only scores a tier 5-rank, provide virtually no regulatory oversight. The more top-tier authorities regulating a broker, the higher its trust rating. Read more about regulation and our tier system here.
In our comparison:
Based on these findings, IC Markets earned a higher trust rating than Global Prime.
When comparing brokers, trading costs are a significant factor. We consider the minimum deposit required to open an account and ongoing costs, including spreads and commissions. We measure the cost to trade one lot of EUR/USD using the broker’s account with the lowest minimum deposit, including both the spread and any commission charged.
We found that Global Prime has overall lower trading costs than IC Markets.
Trading Platforms Offered Traders prefer brokers that offer a variety of trading platforms. We rate brokers higher if they support multiple platforms like MetaTrader4, MetaTrader5, cTrader, and proprietary platforms.
Copy trading is beneficial for beginner traders or those unable to trade full-time. In this case both Global Prime and IC Markets offer copy trading.
A broader range of CFD instruments provides more trading opportunities. IC Markets offers a greater variety of instruments compared to Global Prime:
For those interested in trading cryptocurrencies, Global Prime offers 40 cryptocurrencies, while IC Markets offers 18 cryptocurrencies. Therefore, Global Prime is the better choice for cryptocurrency trading.
Traders prefer brokers with quick and cost-effective deposit and withdrawal processes. We favor brokers that process withdrawals within 24 hours using multiple methods without charging fees.We found that IC Markets charges a withdrawal fee and Global Prime does not. Overall, Global Prime has better deposit and withdrawal processes than IC Markets.
We often find that brokers offer very little in the way of educational materials, forcing traders to use other third-party sites or self-educate elsewhere. Beginner traders need well-structured, well-presented materials in multiple formats to get a good start at trading. More experienced traders also benefit from webinars led by experts in the field and advanced trading strategy sections with new trading ideas.
IC Markets has better educational support than Global Prime. Both Global Prime and IC Markets offer educational support for more experienced traders.Access to frequent and high-quality market research and analysis is crucial.
We found that IC Markets offers better research analysis than Global Prime and that both Global Prime and IC Markets offer frequent webinars.
Founded in 2007 in Australia, IC Markets is a leading global Forex and CFD broker known for its low trading costs, raw pricing, and excellent execution speeds. Regulated by ASIC (Australia), CySEC (Cyprus), the SCB (Bahamas), and the FSA of Seychelles, IC Markets does not hold a licence with Nigeria’s SEC or CBN. However, Nigerian traders can legally open accounts under its offshore entities, typically in Seychelles or the Bahamas.
IC Markets is one of the most cost-effective brokers available. On its Raw Spread Account, average spreads on the EUR/USD are just 0.10 pips, combined with a round-turn commission of 6 USD per lot. It is also one of the few brokers to support all four major trading platforms—MetaTrader 4, MetaTrader 5, cTrader, and TradingView—making it a suitable option for traders with a wide variety of strategies and experience levels.
Nigerian clients benefit from access to powerful trading tools, including VPS hosting, Trading Central, advanced charting packages, and copy trading services such as Myfxbook AutoTrade and ZuluTrade. With 24/7 customer support and a seamless account setup process, IC Markets is a good choice for both beginners and advanced traders. While the broker’s educational content is above average, its market analysis section is limited compared to some competitors.
With excellent trading conditions and a variety of trading tools, Global Prime appeals to traders looking for a new MT4 broker with a low-cost trading environment.
An ASIC-regulated broker, Global Prime's trading conditions include some of the tightest spreads in the industry, with spreads that start at 0.00 pips on its commission-free account, low commissions on its ECN account, and no minimum deposit requirements. Global Prime also charges low non-trading fees, a welcome development in an industry in which fees are charged on almost every transaction.
Global Prime offers support for the MT4 and TraderEvolution platforms, alongside a variety of trading tools, including FIX API, TradingView, Zulutrade, Myfxbook Autotrade, and VPS services. However, traders should note that most of these tools are available at an extra cost.
While Global Prime provides excellent educational courses for beginner traders, it provides virtually no market analysis. Additionally, in order to access the educational materials, traders will have to pay a fee of 299 USD and a monthly subscription of 50 USD.
For more detailed reviews, please read our comprehensive assessments of IC Markets and Global Prime.
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Broker | FSCA Regulated | Licenced by | Min. Deposit | Cost of Trading Total trading cost at the time of last update, for 1 lot of EUR/USD using the account with the lowest minimum deposit. Includes spread and commission. | Official Site | Compare | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
 | No |    | USD 0 | USD 10 | |||
 | Yes |    | USD 3 | USD 7 | |||
 | Yes |   | USD 100 | USD 9 | |||
 | Yes |  | USD, NGN 0 | USD 10 | |||
| No |  | USD 5 | USD 6 | |||
 | No | | USD 200 | USD 8 | |||
 | Yes |  | USD 100 | USD 6 | |||
 | Yes | | USD 100 | USD 14 | |||
 | No |  | USD 0 | USD 7 |
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Alison and Chris cover a range of topics, including how to choose a Forex broker, safety and regulation, how to reduce your risk, trading psychology, trading platforms, and trading strategies, among others.
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