Our Take
Pepperstone is a forex and CFD broker that offers a wide range of tradable assets such as commodities, cryptocurrencies, exchange-traded funds (ETFs), forex, indices, and stocks.
Its impressive suite of third-party integrations with platforms like the cTrader, MetaTrader 4, MetaTrader 5, and TradingView, coupled with competitive fees and high-quality research, makes it well suited for experienced traders looking to deploy advanced trading strategies.
Warning
CFDs are complex instruments and come with a high risk of losing money rapidly due to leverage. 81.3% of retail investor accounts lose money when trading CFDs with this provider.Before investing, you should consider whether you understand how CFDs work and whether you can afford to take the high risk of losing your money.
Pros & Cons
Pros
1,200+ tradeable assets
Wide selection of third-party platform integrations
Available in 160+ countries
Zero account, deposit, or withdrawal fees
Overseen by various regulatory bodies
Cons
Not available to U.S. residents
No non-CFD trading
Pros Explained
- 1,200+ tradeable assets: Pepperstone offers a wide range of tradable assets, from forex and stocks to cryptocurrencies and ETFs.
- Wide selection of third-party platform integrations: Pepperstone customers can make use of several trading platforms, including MetaTrader 4, MetaTrader 5, TradingView, and cTrader, among others.
- Available in 160+ countries: Pepperstone is available globally, with the exception of a handful of countries including the United States.
- Zero account, deposit, or withdrawal fees: Pepperstone doesn’t charge any account maintenance, deposit, or withdrawal fees. However, third-party fees may apply when transferring funds to Pepperstone.
- Overseen by various regulatory bodies: Pepperstone is licensed by regulatory bodies such as the Australian Securities and Investments Commission (ASIC), Dubai Financial Services Authority (DFSA), the U.K.'s Financial Conduct Authority (FCA), and the Securities Commission of the Bahamas (SCB), among others.
Cons Explained
- Not available to U.S. residents: Pepperstone isn’t available to clients in the United States as it’s not regulated by any U.S. financial regulations, such as the SEC or NFA.
- No non-CFD trading: Although Pepperstone offers 1,200+ tradable investments, it focuses exclusively on forex and CFDs. It doesn’t offer any non-CFD share or ETF trading, for example.
Introduction
Headquartered in Melbourne, Australia, Pepperstone was founded in 2010 by Owen Kerr and Joe Davenport with the aim of providing a superior online trading platform.Today, Pepperstone offers access to 1,200+ contracts for differences (CFDs) across commodities, cryptocurrencies, forex, indices, ETFs, and stocks to clients in over 160 countries.
What’s more, Pepperstone stands out for providing a suite of trading software targeted at more sophisticated traders, making it an excellent choice for experienced traders looking to execute more complex trading strategies. With offices in Dubai, Düsseldorf, Limassol, London, Nairobi, and Nassau, Pepperstone has managed to establish itself as a global leader in forex and CFD trading.
Usability
Pepperstone’s trading platform is designed for both novice and advanced traders, catering to all experience levels and providing the tools needed to align trading strategies with risk appetite.
Pepperstone’s platforms are available on both desktop and mobile, allowing customers to trade from the comfort of their own home or on the go.
Trade Experience
The Pepperstone trading platform is flexible and caters well to clients of all experience levels.
It offers two types of accounts: a Standard and a Razor account, with the former suited for beginners and the latter for more experienced users.
Additionally, Pepperstone also provides a demo account, allowing traders to test the waters without risking real money.
Pepperstone also offers an Islamic, or swap-free, account, which makes them one of the more inclusive trading platforms, as well as copy trading for those looking to replicate the trading strategies of more experienced traders.
Desktop Trade Experience
Pepperstone customers can trade via a web-based trading platform or by downloading software directly to their desktop.
Pepperstone’s desktop trading experience is enhanced through integrations with third-party trading platforms, such as TradingView, MetaTrader 4, MetaTrader 5, and cTrader, which allow more advanced order and automated trading strategies.
Mobile Trade Experience
Pepperstone’s mobile app offers a seamless trading experience thanks to fast executions, interactive charts, and a suite of technical analysis tools, making it easy to trade on the go.
You can use Pepperstone’s mobile trading app to place orders and search for any products that you want. You can also set notifications and alerts for any of the available tradable instruments. The mobile app is available in several languages.
Furthermore, Pepperstone’s integrations with cTrader, MetaTrader 4, and MetaTrader 5 are also available as mobile applications for Android and iOS devices.
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Regulation and Security
Pepperstone is one of the most regulated forex brokers on the market and is licensed in the following countries:
- Australia by the Australian Securities and Investments Commission (ASIC)
- Germany by the Bundesanstalt für Finanzdienstleistungsaufsicht (BaFin)
- Cyprus by the Cyprus Securities And Exchange Commission (CySEC)
- Kenya by the Capital Markets Authority of Kenya (CMA)
- Dubai by the Dubai Financial Services Authority (DFSA)
- United Kingdom by the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA)
- Bahamas by the Securities Commission of the Bahamas (SCB)
Pepperstone keeps customer funds safe by placing them in segregated client accounts. In addition, the broker doesn’t use client funds for any hedging trades.
Range of Offerings
Pepperstone allows traders to trade forex and a wide array of CFDs on a range of different asset classes, including:
- Currencies
- Commodities
- Cryptocurrencies
- Stocks
- Indices
- ETFs
The broker offers over 90 currency pairs and over 1,200 CFDs across different assets, covering the majority of the most popular tradable assets.
Pepperstone doesn’t allow you to invest in shares and ETFs directly, nor does it offer any other financial products beyond CFDs.
Order Types
Pepperstone offers three main order types on its trading app: market orders, limit orders, and stop orders.
- Market order: A market order is an order to buy (or sell) an asset at the next available price.
- Limit order: A limit order is an order to buy (or sell) at a specific price.
- Stop Order: A stop order, also known as a stop-loss order, is an order placed at a specific price level where an asset will be sold (or bought) to limit losses on a trading position.
In addition to the three main order types Pepperstone provides, integrations with third-party trading platforms, such as cTrader, MetaTrader 4, or MetaTrader 5, which allow more advanced order types.
Trading Technology
Pepperstone has incorporated various trading technologies to enhance your trading experience. Below are some of the trading technologies you can benefit from on Pepperstone.
API Trading
Pepperstone supports API trading for traders who use automated trading systems or are keen to build their own algorithms. Pepperstone’s API trading technology offers higher market visibility and provides access to various liquidity providers.
Autochartist
Autochartist is a chart analysis tool that provides hundreds of trading ideas. With its market scanner, you can gain insights into market movements and significant price levels that you can leverage for your trading.
cTrader
cTrader is a trading platform specifically built for margin trading, offering both manual and automated trading capabilities. The platform includes cTrader Automate (formerly known as cAlgo), which uses the C# language, allowing developers and traders to create automated trading robots (cBots) and custom indicators. The cTrader Automate API is extensive and supports CFD and forex trading, providing a powerful tool for algorithmic trading.
MetaTrader4
MetaTrader 4 (MT4) is one of the most widely used trading platforms in the world, primarily designed for forex trading but also supporting other types of financial instruments like CFDs on stocks, commodities, and indices. MT4 comes with a user-friendly interface and a wide range of features.
MetaTrader5
MetaTrader 5 (MT5) is the successor to MetaTrader 4 (MT4), offering more advanced trading and analytics tools compared to its predecessor. It also introduces several new features and improvements, making it more suitable for trading a broader range of financial instruments.
Smart Trader Tools
The Smart Trader is a set of tools designed to help users enhance their trade management and execution. Smart Trader tools are available for MetaTrader 4 and MetaTrader 5 platforms, enabling traders to improve their overall trading experience, manage their risk, and perfect their trading strategy with 28 smart trading applications, including indicators and expert advisors.
Costs
Pepperstone has a very customer-friendly free structure, charging no inactivity, withdrawal, or wire fees. However, depending on your bank or funding method, there may be charges for transfers made to Pepperstone.
The spreads and commission fees charged by Pepperstone depend on the account type you choose. You can choose between the Standard or Razor account. Both account types have a minimum spread, and in most cases, Pepperstone will charge its own spread atop the market spread.
Moreover, Pepperstone applies spread charges to most of its products, such as crypto, forex, metals, and soft commodities. However, for CFD trades on shares, the broker charges a commission instead of a spread.
Costs Overview
| Average Spread EUR/USD - Standard | 1.1 |
|---|---|
| Active Trader or VIP Discounts | Yes |
| Inactivity Fee | No |
| Withdrawal Fees | No |
| Wire Fees | No |
| Additional Charge for Guaranteed Stops | Yes |
| Overnight Financing Costs | Varies depending on the market and position size |
Account and Research Amenities
Pepperstone aims to make forex and CFD trading accessible to everyone by providing different account options, a range of trading tools and platforms, as well as market research and educational materials to satisfy the needs of its diverse customer base.
Let’s take a look at some of the amenities available for traders on Pepperstone.
Forex Screener
While Pepperstone doesn’t have its own forex screener, it provides customers with a market screening tool through integration of Autochartist, the market analysis software.
Using Autochartist’s market scanner, you can access analyzed market data across a range of asset classes that can help you refine your trade strategies and make better trading decisions.
Tools and Calculators
Pepperstone provides its customers with access to a range of third-party trading tools, such as cTrader, MetaTrader4, MetaTrader5, and Autochartist.
You also get access to an array of calculators that you can use for currency conversion, and to calculate pips, pivot points, position sizing, stop-loss, and take-profit levels. These calculators can help traders better manage their risk and make more informed trading decisions.
Charting
Pepperstone’s integration of TradingView provides its users with advanced charting tools, covering all leading technical indicators and price chart variations. TradingView’s user-friendly interface makes chart analysis accessible for beginners as well.
Charting tools are also available with Pepperstone’s third-party trading software integrations, such as MetaTrader 4, MetaTrader 5, and cTrader.
News
Pepperstone’s in-house market news consists of several daily articles and videos that cover both fundamental and technical analysis. The content is also synced across various channels, such as streaming news headlines on the cTrader platforms, the Pepperstone website, and its YouTube channel.
Third-Party Research
IIn a bid to ensure that users are up to date with the most important market-moving events, Pepperstone offers in-house market analysis.
In addition, Pepperstone also provides traders with access to third-party research and tools to ensure that customers have a seamless trading experience with everything provided under one roof.
Third-party analysis tools available to Pepperstone users include Autochartist and TradingView.
Social and Copy Trading Capabilities
Pepperstone offers copy trading, which is an excellent way for traders to mirror the trading strategies of their more experienced counterparts.
Copy trading, also referred to as social trading, is where an inexperienced trader can copy the trades of experienced traders in a fully automated manner to essentially replicate their performances.
This type of trading has become very popular in the past decade among retail traders.
Funding Methods
You can fund your Pepperstone account using a variety of methods, including bank transfer, credit or debit card, PayPal, and Skrill. Depending on the region you are in, the available funding options will vary.
You can find the range of funding options available under the ‘My Account’ section in the trading app. After selecting your funding method, enter the amount you want to deposit and any other information needed and submit.
It can take a few days for the funds to reflect in your account depending on the funding method used. For instance, if you opt for a bank transfer, it can take up several business days. Conversely, card payments are typically processed within minutes.
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Portfolio Analysis
Pepperstone doesn’t offer a proprietary portfolio analysis tool as part of its trading platform. Instead, you can use Webtrader to gain insight into a range of metrics covering your trading activities.
Education
Pepperstone offers various educational materials that are easily accessible on its website, including articles and webinars that offer exclusive insights on powerful trading tools.
The available educational learning materials are ideal for anyone looking to learn more about key concepts such as exchange rates, fundamental analysis, leverage, margin, spread, risk management, technical analysis, and forex in general.
The content, however, is geared more towards beginners. Advanced traders will find Pepperstone’s research more interesting than its educational content.
Customer Service
Pepperstone has a range of customer support options. If you need help, you can chat with the customer service team via live chat or WhatsApp. Alternatively, you can also email Pepperstone or call during business hours.
Additionally, they have a comprehensive FAQ section on their website that provides answers to most common customer queries. Depending on the support channel you use, you can receive a response within a few minutes and up to 24 hours.
Transparency
Pepperstone uses various liquidity providers from top-tier financial institutions to give its customers access to ample liquidity and competitive pricing on a wide range of financial instruments.
The forex trading company acts as a non-dealing desk broker. That means its trading desk sources and aggregates the best buy and sell prices from one or more third-party liquidity providers, and passes these prices onto clients.
Moreover, Pepperstone offers traders competitive trading spreads, and transparently highlights its commission and rates its website.
Available Account Types
Pepperstone Broker has two account types: standard and Razor.
- Standard: The standard account is designed for traders who prefer commission-free trading, with spreads starting from 1.0 pips. It's more suitable for beginners who trade lower volumes.
- Razor: The Razor account is geared more towards experienced traders and offers spreads as low as 0.0 pips. However, it charges a small commission per trade. This account is more suitable for algorithmic traders and scalpers who require raw spreads and faster executions.
Both accounts can be used with cTrader, MetaTrader 4, and MetaTrader 5.
The Bottom Line
Pepperstone is an excellent online broker for anyone looking for a reliable platform to trade CFDs, especially for more advanced traders who seek a large number of tradable assets and access to third-party trading tool integrations. But what makes it stand out even more is that it's licensed and regulated by various regulatory bodies globally, highlighting the company’s commitment to trust and transparency.
Pepperstone has also made sure that it accommodates traders of all levels, allowing them to choose an account best suited to their trading needs, while offering extensive customer support. Pepperstone offers a library of educational content targeted at beginners. More experienced traders can benefit from the company’s readily available industry research. What’s more, its fee structure is attractive, considering it doesn’t charge any fees for deposits, withdrawals, or inactivity, while its spreads are highly competitive.
Compare Pepperstone to Similar Forex Brokers
| Broker | Star Rating | Minimum Deposit | Average Spread for EUR/USD | Forex Pairs | Available to U.S. Traders |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| IG | 4.7 | $0 | 0.6 | 80 | Yes |
| FOREX.com | 4.5 | $100 / €100 /£100 | 1.0 | 87 | Yes |
| Pepperstone | 4.6 | $0 | 1.1 | 62 | No |
How We Chose the Best Brokers for Forex Trading
Our commitment to providing unbiased, comprehensive reviews of forex brokers is rooted in extensive research and expert analysis. We evaluated 18 forex brokers based on rigorous criteria, focusing on key aspects such as regulatory oversight, costs, trading experience, and available offerings. Our methodology ensures that our recommendations are based on reliable data and a thorough understanding of the industry.
To gather data, we sent a questionnaire to each of the 18 brokers, covering multiple areas critical to a forex trader's experience. Our researchers and editors verified the responses and supplemented the data with additional online research and direct communication with each broker. This research was conducted between May 13 and July 30, 2024, ensuring that our evaluations reflect current information.
Our proprietary scoring model evaluated each broker across 11 major categories and 73 weighted criteria, plus an additional 15 non-weighted criteria. The overall ratings are a weighted average of the weighted criteria, ensuring a balanced and fair assessment.
Some brokers also demonstrated their platforms live via videoconferencing, and our experts conducted hands-on testing with live accounts to further validate the platforms' functionality and user experience. This comprehensive approach allows us to present an unbiased, detailed review of today's best forex brokers.
For more information, read our fullmethodology explanation.
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