Pepperstone Broker Review

Is Pepperstone Safe?

Yes, Pepperstone is a safe broker for Nigerian traders to trade with. Pepperstone has a long history of responsible behaviour and strong international regulation.

Regulated in Kenya: Nigerian traders are onboarded through Pepperstone’s Kenyan-based entity, regulated by the Capital Markets Authority (CMA).  

Though the CMA is not a strict regulator, Nigerians will benefit from automatic negative balance protection and higher leverage limits, up to a maximum leverage of 400:1.

Safety Features: Pepperstone is known for treating its clients fairly and holds licences from many excellent regulators worldwide. It also provides all clients with negative balance protection, meaning traders cannot lose more than their initial deposit. On this basis, we consider Pepperstone a safe broker to trade with.

Pepperstone’s Trading Instruments

Pepperstone offers a wider range of tradable assets than its competitors, including over 90 Forex pairs and 1,000+ stock CFDs.

Pepperstone offers trading on Forex, Commodities, Indices, Currency Indices, Shares, and ETFs.

• Forex pairs: Pepperstone offers 90+ Forex pairs to trade, including majors, minors, and exotics. This is a broad range of Forex pairs compared to other brokers.  
• Indices: Pepperstone offers cash and futures contracts on 28 international indices, including the Wall Street, S&P500, FTSE100, and the UK100. This is a reasonable range of indices compared to other brokers.
• Stock CFDs: Pepperstone’s stock CFD offering is quite diverse compared to most of its competitors, with over 1,000 stock CFDs available to trade, including popular US tech companies, ASX stocks, those listed on the NASDAQ, the Hong Kong Stock Exchange, the NYSE, and more. 
• Commodities: Pepperstone offers trading on 41 commodities, including precious metals, energies, and agriculture, a much broader range than most other brokers.

Overall, Pepperstone provides a wide range of tradable assets, which should satisfy most traders.  

Accounts and Trading Fees

Pepperstone offers two trading accounts, and trading fees are average compared to other brokers.

Trading Fees: Neither the Standard Account nor the Razor Account has a required minimum deposit, though we recommend starting with a minimum of 200 USD to avoid margin calls. Trading costs on both accounts are around the average charged by most brokers. 

Accounts:

Standard Account: Pepperstone trading accounts don’t have a minimum deposit. The Standard Account offers variable spreads (as low as 1.00 pip on the EUR/USD) and no commission. It is available on cTrader, MT4 and MT5.

Razor Account: The Razor Account has variable spreads and charges a commission of 6 USD per lot traded (EUR/USD). Spreads on the EUR/USD can be as low as 0.0 pips with this account. The Razor Account is available on cTrader, TradingView, MT4 and MT5.

Demo Account: The MT4 and MT5 Demo accounts are available for up to 30 days. The demo account will expire at that point unless you already have a live account. cTrader demo accounts will remain active if the trader logs in at least every 30 days. The TradingView Demo account, however, does not expire, no matter the usage. 

Active Trader Program: Pepperstone has an Active Trader Program where traders may earn cash rebates on FX trades based on trading volume, thereby reducing commission costs. This is generally available for clients that trade at least 100-200 FX lots per month.

The rebate will depend on how many standard lots are traded each month on the same account – the more you trade, the higher your rebate.

Deposits and Withdrawals

Pepperstone generally charges no deposit and withdrawal fees, though it lacks transparency regarding funding methods and costs. And Nigerian traders will be disappointed that all NGN deposits and withdrawals are subject to conversion fees.

A well-regulated broker, Pepperstone ensures that all Anti-Money Laundering rules and regulations are followed, and as such, all non-profit withdrawals are returned to the deposit source. 

Accepted Deposit Currencies: Accounts can only be opened in USD or GBP. Because the Nigerian Naira is not one of Pepperstone’s accepted base currencies, Nigerian traders with NGN bank accounts will have to pay currency conversion fees. Pepperstone charges currency conversions at the current spot rate, minus a conversion fee of up to 1 percent, which is relatively high. 

Funding Methods: Pepperstone accepts deposits and withdrawals via Bank transfer, Credit/debit cards, PayPal and MPESA.

Overall, Pepperstone has an average range of funding methods compared to other large international brokers, but no fees are charged, and processing times are fast.

Pepperstone’s Mobile Trading Apps

Pepperstone does not have its own trading app, but MT4, MT5, TradingView and cTrader are all available as mobile apps. We found the cTrader and TradingView apps easier to use than MT4 and MT5 as they have a more modern design.

All four of Pepperstone’s trading platforms are available on Android and iOS mobile devices and tablets. Beginner traders should be aware that there is some loss in functionality when compared to desktop trading platforms, and poor mobile connections seriously impact trading.

cTrader App

cTrader is one of our favourite trading platforms, and Pepperstone is one of a handful of brokers that supports it. Its clean design makes it easy for beginners to pick up, but it also has the advanced order types and automation options required by more experienced traders. The Pepperstone cTrader app keeps most of the best parts of the desktop version, including the complete range of order types, price alerts, trade analysis, and symbol watchlists.

TradingView

TradingView is free of charge for traders who open a live account.  It is an excellent platform for researching, charting, and screening instruments.  Additional features of Pepperstone’s TradingView platform include:

• 50+ intelligent charting tools
• Over 100,000 custom user-built indicators and scripts
• Synchronised layout for multiple charts

Traders should note that TradingView is only available on the Razor Account.

MT4 and MT5 Apps

The Pepperstone MT4 and MT5 apps allow traders to work from anywhere, with nine timeframes, 30 indicators, and interactive currency charts. Functionality to close and modify existing orders, calculate profit/loss in real-time, and tick chart trading further assist traders while on the move.

Trading Platforms

Pepperstone offers four desktop trading platforms, which are excellent compared to other brokers.

Pepperstone offers four platforms: TradingView, Metatrader 4 and 5, and cTrader. All offer low latency, advanced charting tools, automated trading support, strategy backtesting, customisable charting, and several indicators.

The platforms are free to use and can be downloaded to your PC. All of them have web versions. They are also available on mobile platforms for both Android and iOS devices.

The benefit of Pepperstone offering third-party platforms such as MT4 and MT5 is that traders can take their customised versions of these platforms with them should they choose to migrate to another broker.  See below for more details on Pepperstone’s trading platforms.

TradingView: TradingView offers powerful charting tools and impressive charting technology. It also allows you to connect with the largest social trading network in the world, along with an economic calendar and news features for better trading. 

MetaTrader 4: MT4 is the most widely used Forex trading platform and can also be used to trade other instruments like commodities, cryptocurrency, stock index, and stock CFDs. Though it now shows its age, MT4 is still very popular for its auto trading features that enable algorithmic trading and strategy backtesting with expert advisors (trading robots).

MetaTrader 5: The more powerful release of MetaTrader, with all the features you enjoy but with even greater functionality. Rather than just an update to MT4, MT5 has its own advantages. First of all, it is available on mobile devices on both iOS and Android. Traders can trade share CFDs with faster processing and inbuilt indicators. Advanced customisation allows traders to create the best charting options for their trading goals and the reporting they need. MT5 has an intuitive design that replicates an institutional trading environment – perfect for those getting into trading.

cTrader: cTrader is a great platform, especially for advanced traders who want to code their own trading tool. It allows traders to access FIX API and code in C# with cTrader Automate. Advanced features allow traders to control slippage and order fills. 

Overall, Pepperstone’s trading platform support is one of the best in the industry.  It offers advanced trading and options for beginners as well. The most experienced traders have everything they could possibly need at Pepperstone.

Opening an Account at Pepperstone

Pepperstone’s account-opening process is seamless and hassle-free compared to other market makers.

All residents in Nigeria are eligible to open a trading account at Pepperstone. 

The account opening process is fully digital and fast – most traders will have an account open within one day. 

How to open an account at Pepperstone:

1. On the home page of the website, traders can click on a button marked “Join Now”
2. Traders will go through a menu in which they can login through a Google, Apple or Facebook account.
3. Once their login platform is selected, they will be required to enter their name, date of birth and other personal data.
4. The next step requires filling in your physical address details, country of residence, tax information, and identity number.
5. Traders will then have to detail their trading experience, including their financial status, and their trading history. Traders can also choose their preferred base currency (USD or GBP).
6. Then, traders will have to pick which account type they are looking to trial and download it.

Pepperstone’s account opening process is fast, fully digital, and hassle-free compared to other brokers.

Pepperstone’s Research and Trading Tools

Pepperstone’s trading tools and market research are excellent compared to other similar brokers.

Pepperstone has a comprehensive research and analysis platform, serving new content several times daily. There’s also The Trade-Off, a podcast that debates current events in financial markets.

Other than the news pieces about stocks, forex, crypto and more, there is a content section called Trading Guides where beginners can learn about the basics of trading. More advanced traders will find plenty of interesting information about tactics, platforms, patterns, and many other great tips for trading.

Analysis Blog: The in-house Pepperstone research team runs a regular blog covering both fundamental and technical analyses. The research provides information on market-moving events outside of conventional news sources.  The research team also provides a ‘Daily Fix’ – a day-to-day analysis of events affecting the markets. 

Trading Tools

Pepperstone offers several useful trading tools, including Capitalise.ai, Smart Trader Tools for MetaTrader, cTrader Automate, Autochartist, and API Trading. 

Capitalise.ai

This tool allows traders of all experience levels to create their own trading information platform with zero code or programming experience. It is free for all Pepperstone traders.

Smart Trader Tools for MetaTrader

Smart Trader Tools is a great trading tool suite with 28 tools available, expert advisors and indicators. Available only for MT4 or MT5 users. 

cTrader Automate

The cTrader API allows you to create custom indicators according to your strategy, and to build automated trading robots – if the trader knows how to use C#, this is the perfect tool.

Autochartist

A powerful market scanner, Autochartist allows you to access the trade opportunities that matter, cutting off all trading information you’re not interested in. 

API Trading

For experienced traders that use a customised trading system, API Trading brings all you need directly from the feed through your favorite platform.

Pepperstone Education

Pepperstone offers excellent educational material for beginners and a lot of content dedicated to learning how to trade. cTrader demo accounts allow users to keep using them for as long as they log in at least once a month. However, even without an account, you can always access the educational material on the website.

The education section at Pepperstone is carefully curated and targets traders of all experience levels, starting with their “Learn to trade forex” section. Dozens and dozens of articles provide the information that beginners need to start trading confidently, and you will also find exclusive tips targeted to more seasoned veterans. 

Each article comes with a tag: Beginner, Intermediate, or Advanced. This helps new traders find the information they need without looking around. 

Webinars: Weekly webinars pick up where the structured education stops, with more detailed strategy sessions led by expert traders. The webinar subjects vary from trading strategies to technical and fundamental analyses.  Note that one has to register a Pepperstone account to access the live webinars.

Customer Support

Pepperstone’s customer support is knowledgeable compared to other brokers in the industry.

Like most brokers, customer support is available 24/5 (from 10 am Sunday to 5 pm Friday) via phone, email, and live chat. While English is Pepperstone’s main support language, support is also available in other languages. 

On the weekends, support is only available on chat. You can also interact with the Pepperstone team via Facebook, LinkedIn, and X. The live chat agents were very knowledgeable. 

Safety and Regulation

Regulation: Pepperstone is regulated by the Australian Securities and Investments Commission (ASIC), the UK’s Financial Conduct Authority (FCA), the Cyprus Securities and Exchange Commission (CySEC), the Dubai Financial Services Authority (DFSA), the Capital Markets Authority (CMA) of Kenya, the Securities Commission of the Bahamas (SCB), and the Federal Financial Supervisory Authority (BaFin) of Germany. See below for a list of Pepperstone registered companies:

• Pepperstone Group Limited is ASIC regulated with licence number 414530.
• Pepperstone Limited is regulated under registration number 684312 by the FCA.
• Pepperstone Markets Limited is licensed and regulated by the Securities Commission of The Bahamas, license number SIA-F217.
• Pepperstone EU Limited is regulated by CySEC, licence number 388/20.
• Pepperstone Financial Services (DIFC) Limited is regulated by the DFSA under license number F004356.
• Pepperstone Markets Kenya Limited is regulated by the CMA Kenya under licence number 128.
• Pepperstone GmbH is regulated by BaFin, Germany, under registration number 151148.

Awards

Along the years, Pepperstone has gained recognition from its peers. These are all the awards that Pepperstone has achieved so far:

• 2023 FXScouts – Global Forex Broker of the Year
• 2023 Good Money Guide  – Best MT4 Broker
• 2022 TradingView – Broker of the Year 2022
• 2023 DayTrading – Best Overall Broker 2023
• 2022 FxScouts – Global Forex Broker of the Year
• 2022 UK Investment Trends – Overall Client Satisfaction
• 2022 Compare Forex Brokers – Best Forex Broker Overall
• 2022 Good Money Guide – Best MT4 Broker
• 2022 Broker Chooser – Top 5 MetaTrader brokers

With over a decade of responsible behaviour to its clients, a large international customer base, regulation from some of the strictest authorities in the world, and a long list of awards, we consider Pepperstone a reliable and safe Forex broker.

Evaluation Method

We value transparency and openness in the way we review the partners. To bring transparency to the forefront, we have published our review process, including a detailed breakdown of the Pepperstone offering. Central to that process is the evaluation of the reliability of the broker, the platform offering of the broker, and the trading conditions offered to clients, which are summarised in this review. Each one of these is graded, and an overall score is calculated and assigned to the broker.

Risk Statement

Trading Forex is risky, and each broker is required to detail how risky the trading of Forex CFDs is to clients. Pepperstone would like you to know that: Margin trading products are complex instruments and come with a high risk of losing money rapidly due to leverage. 86%% of retail investor accounts lose money when trading on margin with this provider. You should consider whether you understand how margin trading works and whether you can afford to take the high risk of losing your money.

Overview

Pepperstone is an internationally recognised FCA and ASIC-regulated broker with high-speed trading execution, and an offering for beginners that most NDD brokers don’t have.  With all four of the major third-party trading platforms and very low spreads compared to most other brokers, Pepperstone’s clients have both the best available technology and the best available trading conditions that have earned the broker its reputation.  With good education and market analysis sections and a decent selection of trading tools, Pepperstone should be a top choice for Nigerian Forex traders looking for a low-cost and reliable NDD broker.

Editorial Team

 

Chris Cammack
Head of Content

Chris joined the company in 2019 after ten years experience in research, editorial and design for political and financial publications. His background has given him a deep knowledge of international financial markets and the geopolitics that affects them. Chris has a keen eye for editing and a voracious appetite for financial and political current affairs. He ensures that our content across all sites meets the standards of quality and transparency that our readers expect.

 

Alison Heyerdahl
Senior Financial Writer

Alison joined the team as a writer in 2021. She is the Senior Editor for FXScouts.  She has a medical degree with a focus on physiotherapy and a bachelor’s in psychology. However, her interest in forex trading and her love for writing led her to switch careers. She has a passion for Forex trading and over a decade of editorial experience researching Forex and the financial services industry, producing high-quality content. She hosts a weekly podcast, “Let’s Talk Forex,” alongside her colleague, Chris, and has produced over 100 Forex educational videos for the FXScouts YouTube channel. She also writes weekly technical analyses and has tested and reviewed over 100 Forex brokers.

 

Ida Hermansen
Financial Writer

Ida joined our team as a financial writer in 2023. She has a degree in Digital Marketing and a background in content writing and SEO. In addition to her marketing and writing skills, Ida also has an interest in cryptocurrencies and blockchain networks. Her interest in crypto trading led to a wider fascination with Forex technical analysis and price movement. She continues to develop her skills and knowledge in Forex trading and keeps a close eye on which Forex brokers offer the best trading environments for new traders.