CMC Markets
Founded in 1989 as Currency Management Consultants, CMC Markets is a contract-for-difference (CFD) trading platform. CMC Markets offer CFDs on over 10,000 financial instruments. It cannot be used to purchase and trade shares.
What is CMC Markets?
Unlike other online trading portals, CMC Markets only offers contract for difference (CFD) trading. CFDs allow you to speculate on the rising or falling prices of financial assets without actually owning them, for example currencies and cryptocurrencies, commodities, shares and ETFs and government bonds.
CMC Markets has two trading platforms. The company’s platform, Next Generation, and MetaTrader 4, a common platform used by most forex and CFD brokers.
What can people invest in through CMC Markets?
CMC Markets has over 10,000 CFD markets to trade across forex, indices, commodities, shares, ETFs and treasuries.
As you are speculating on rising and falling prices, you can do so on everything from currencies, shares, cryptocurrencies and more.
CMC Markets does not offer share trading.
Some key features of CMC Markets include:
- Multi-award-winning trading platform optimised for mobile and computer
- Premium traders have access to exclusive client events, workshops and forms
- Stop-loss orders to ensure a trade will close at a set price if it moves against you (for a premium)
- Free demo account to practice trading with no cost, or risk, involved
How much does it cost to invest with CMC Markets
There are no account fees or minimum amount needed to start trading with CMC Markets. There are, however, a number of costs to consider:
- Commission: a small charge to your account on the execution of any order
- Spread: The spread is the difference between the buy price and the sell price quoted for an instrument. The underlying market price will generally be in the middle of these two prices. The larger the spread the more movement in instrument price needed to make a profit
- Card fees: You need to top up your trading account in order to start trading. If this is done through a card, a 2.3% fee is charged. This is waved for first-time deposits
- Inactivity fee: If you do not trade for 12 months, you will incur a monthly inactivity fee of either NZ$15 or US$15, depending on your account currency.
Do note that the spread and commission charged varies depending on the instruments being traded. You can view more details here.
How do I sign up to CMC Markets?
You must be at least 18 years of age to begin trading with CMC Markets. When you sign up for CMC Markets you will open a demo account. This allows you to practise trading and getting familiar with the platform, with no money or risk involved.
In order to open a demo account you need to:
- Enter a valid email address
- Your full name
- A phone number
- A password
Once you have opened a demo account, you can open a live account by simply clicking the live account button on your login page.
To open your live account you will need:
- A valid passport or driver licence
- A recent bank statement, mortgage statement or utility bill.
