Markets.com Review – Marketsx CFD trading

This Contract for difference broker review covers Australian regulated CFD provider, Markets.com. Our Markets.com review, also covers Marketsx, their premium level multi-asset trading platform.

Markets.com also offer share trading in addition to the CFD and Forex offerings.

I therefore wanted to include this Contract for difference Australian regulated broker review of Markets’s accounts and help illustrate who they may be most suited to.

Markets com Review Summary:

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Review Detail: Markets.com Australia CFD provider

Markets.com is a Contract for difference (CFD) and multi-asset broker focusing on excellent technology and trading platforms, combined with great customer support and range of global markets to trade.

Company Profile

• Markets.com was founded in 2008 and is part of the TradeTech Group, a constituent of Playtech, a FTSE 250 listed company.
• Markets.com Australia (www.markets.com/au/) is solely and exclusively operated by Finalto (Australia) Pty Ltd which is an Australian based company (ACN 158 641 064) regulated by the Australian Securities and Investments Commission (“ASIC”) under AFSL number 424008.
  FinaltoAU is located at Level 36, Governor Phillip Tower, 1 Farrer Place, Sydney NSW 2000 Australia.
  
• Markets.com Australia deposits client funds in segregated client trust accounts with either the Commonwealth Bank of Australia or the National Australia Bank (they work with both tier 1 banks). However, client money can be used to maintain margin that is needed to cover positions opened by clients.

Account Types

Markets.com offer three main types of trading account. A demo account, retail account and a professional account.

Accounts can be opened in the following ten base currencies:

• AUD, CHF, DKK, EUR, GBP, NOK, PLN, SEK, USD and ZAR

For their MetaTrader platforms (MT4 and MT5) account base currencies available are:

• AUD, CAD, EUR, GBP, JPY, PLN and USD

Demo Account

Markets.com Australia do offer a demo trading account, however it is not immediately clear on their web site how to open it. Instead of having an option for demo account and separate option to open a live account, Markets.com streamline the process. To get started, you just have to create an account on Markets.com and automatically you will have a demo account.

The demo account functions under real-time market conditions, but with a virtual balance (rather than live funds).

To transition to a live trading account, you simply need to make an initial deposit and provide your proof of identity and residence (this is standard Know your customer requirements of all online brokers regulated in Australia).

In addition, the demo account remains valid for 1 year!

Retail Trader Account

This is the live trading account that most people will use, and includes access to all of their trading platforms (including Marketsx, MT4 and MT5).

Minimum Deposit Requirement

The minimum deposit requirement is AUD 250, no matter which trading platform/s you wish to use.

Negative Balance Protection

Negative balance protection is an automated adjustment of the account balance to zero should it become negative after a stop out. On their website, Markets.com state

We will always bring your account back to zero at no extra cost, ensuring that you never lose more than your initial deposit.

Professional Trader Account

If you are an an elective professional trader, the Markets.com professional trading account provides some unique differences compared to the retail account. These include:

• Preferential trading conditions/fees;
• Increased leverage; and
• Your own dedicated personal account manager.

To become a professional trader with Markets.com, they state you must fulfill at least two of the criteria below:

• The size of your financial instrument portfolio, including cash deposits, exceeds $500,000;
• You have carried out transactions, in significant size, on the relevant market at an average frequency of 10 per quarter over the previous 4 quarters; or
• You work or have previously worked in the financial sector for at least one year in a professional position.

Markets.com Electronic trading platform

Markets offers two excellent platforms for Forex and CFD traders, Marketsx and MetaTrader (MT4 & MT5), and for share dealing they offer Marketsi for share trading and investors. They also have dedicated mobile apps for Apple and Android.

Marketsx review

Marketsx is the proprietary Forex and CFD trading platform built by Markets.com.

Chart types

Our review found a great range of chart types are available including the ever popular Candlestick chart. Addition charts to choose from include: area, bar, Baseline, Heikin-Ashi (also sometimes spelt as Heiken-Ashi), Kagi, line, Point and figure, and Renko chart.

 

Technical analysis indicators available

A range of 88 technical analysis indicators are available when using the Marketsx Electronic trading platform. Below is a complete list of indicators available:

 

Quick buy and sell buttons

With Markets.com Multicharts tool you can add up to eight charts per page, choose your preferred layout and quickly open new positions by using the Buy or Sell button directly on the chart.

 

For active day traders, being able to quickly execute a trade so it’s great to see these buy/sell buttons so easily accessible.

 

Marketsx trading tools

The company has integrated 14 trader tools into their MarketsX platform to provide traders with unparalleled insight into the market.

These tools cover fundamental, technical and sentiment analysis, so no matter if you are a short-term trader or long-term investor there is something for everyone.

 

• SENTIMENT TOOLS

  1. Hedge Funds Investment Confidence – Uses data from the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) to monitor the stocks hedge funds are buying and/or selling to indicate sentiment.
  2. Bloggers Opinions – Provides access to the opinions of around 50,000 financial bloggers. Markets com states… Using state-of-the-art technology, we identify the experts and bloggers that consistently pick the best stocks to outperform the market.
  3. Insider Trades – Highlights the increase or decrease in share holdings of over 36,000 company insiders. The transaction history will show you individual buys and sells, who is behind them, what their role is in the company and how their trades rank.
  4. Trading Analyst Recommendations – Shows recommendations from various analysts about key US stocks.
  5. Trends In Trading – See the market sentiment, in real-time, of all traders using the Markets.com platform, as this tool analyses and collates data from every trade made in their platform.
  6. Signals – Combines data from five of Markets.com trading tools to give sentiment indications.
     
     

• TECHNICAL ANALYSIS TOOLS

  1. Advanced Charting – Excellent charting package with well over 80 indicators, wide variety of chart types, position tracking and much more. See our Marketsx review section for full details.
  2. Related Instruments – Find related instruments across different asset classes.
     
     


• FUNDAMENTAL TOOLS

  1. Advanced Alerts – Provides the ability to receive custom or price alerts via email, phone or on the trading platform.
  2. Financial Commentary – Essentially a live news ticker of macroeconomic figures and announcements. This tool is most applicable for those doing Retail foreign exchange trading, given the nature of the announcements.
  3. Thomson Reuters Stock Report – A company-specific analysis, which is updated daily and includes an average share rating supported by key data and indicators.

Disclaimer: The Analyst Recommendation and Tools & Analysis services and its content should not be construed as a solicitation to trade and/or invest.

Marketsi Review – Share Trading Platform

Marketsi is the proprietary share trading platform built by Markets.com. There are thousands of shares to buy and sell, combined with a suite of data and analytics tools.

Stock markets

Markets.com MarketsI platform gives access to 16 global stock exchanges. The worldwide stock markets you can access include:

• ASX – Australian Securities Exchange
• London Stock Exchange
• NASDAQ
• New York Stock Exchange (NYSE)
• and a dozen major European Bourses.

Share trading commission

There is no Market Spread added by Markets.com when you trade through the Marketsi platform. However, like the majority of Stock brokers, there is a commission charged when you buy or sell shares.

Currently you can benefit from their low-cost share trading and get three months of zero commissions when you open an account.
After the three months of zero commission, the following commissions apply to share trades:

• AU Stocks = 0.1% (min AU$10)
• US Stocks = 2c (min US$15)
• UK Stocks = 0.1% (min £8)
• EU Stocks (German, French and Spanish) = 0.1% (min €10)

Live data fees

To access live share prices in Marketsi, go to exchange subscriptions under the “Account” section. The Stock Exchanges Subscription table below indicates the cost for Level 1 and Level 2 data, and you can individually subscribe to the stock exchanges you need live prices for.

MetaTrader – MT4 and MT5

Access to two of the world’s leading platforms for trading FX, MetaTrader 4 (MT4) and cTrader. There are 11 available variations of these products including WebTrader, mobile devices including Forex online platform app for iPhone, iPad & Android, plus MetaTrader 5.

Users focused on EAs (expert advisor) may prefer Markets.com MT4 due to its wider availability, more online resources and larger online community. Other traders however, may be drawn to their excellent Marketsx platform.

Markets to Trade

While Markets.com was originally founded as a Contract for difference broker, in recent years they have expanded to include other products, including shares. They are now a true multi-asset broker. Markets.com’s range of instruments include:

• 70+ Currency pairs, including all major pairs and a large selection of minors and exotic currencies;
• 43 Global stock indices (Cash and Futures) including Australia 200, China 50, Europe 50, Germany 30, Hong Kong 45, UK 100, US 30, US 500, US Tech 100 and the VIXX;
• 26 Commodities (Spot and Futures);
• 4 Bonds;
• 77 Exchange-traded fund (ETFs);
• over 20 Blends. Blends allow you to use one instrument to take a position on multiple stocks.
  Examples include the Crypto blend (get exposure to four of the world’s largest Cryptocurrencies), Warren Buffett blend, Medical cannabis blend and many more;
• over 3300 shares from Australia and global Stock exchanges; and
• 7 Cryptocurrency CFDs – Markets.com Cryptocurrency offerings include Bitcoin (Futures and Spot), Ethereum, Ripple, Bitcoin Cash, Dash, Litecoin and Markets.com own unique CryptoBlend basket for those wanting broader market exposure to Cryptocurrency.
  Trading is offered with no commission and leverage up to 1:2, depending on the crypto. However, as always I advise to fully understand the high risks of combining both leverage and the volatility of the crypto / blockchain markets before trading Cryptocurrency CFDs.

All the above instruments are available in the Marketsx trading platform.

Trading Education Offered

XRay is a tool that gives you live market analysis with lots of different shows that stream direct into the platform to give insight, ideas etc.

There is a lot of variety in the content offered and for those that like video/interactive content rather than written material this will please you. It’s easy to watch live, or on catch-up at a time that suits you.

The content presented is mostly done by Neil Wilson, Markets.com chief market analyst. There is also opportunities to ask questions live to the presenter during some of the sessions.

Markets.com Account Funding Options

• Wire Transfer via Bank
• Credit card / debit card (Instant Funding 24/7)
• Neteller
• Skrill
• PayPal
• Additional payment methods include: Sofort, Fast Bank Transfers and iDeal. However please be aware that these payment methods are not available in all countries.

Markets.com do not charge any internal fees for deposits or withdrawals. However, please note payments to and/or from international banking institutions may attract transfer fees from either party, which are independent of Markets.com broker.

Broker Awards

In addition, Markets.com, has been recognised for excellence in their trading platform and innovative technology. Some of these awards include:

• Best Trading Platform 2020 Award – FXscouts
• Best Forex Trading Platform 2017 – UK Forex Awards
• Best FX Provider 2017 – UK Forex Awards

NOTE: the domain www.markets.com/au/ is solely and exclusively operated by Finalto (Australia) Pty Ltd, AFSL number 424008.