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Broker Score | Risk Statement | Min. Deposit | Regulation | Trading Desk Type | Trading Instruments | Forex Pairs | Crypto Pairs | Pros | Cons | Regulation | Trading Conditions | Trading Platforms | Deposit & Withdrawal | Education & Research | Assets Available | Customer Service | % Lose with this broker | Leverage | Spread | Hedging | Scalping | Account Types | Islamic Account | Trading Platforms | Funding Methods | Trading Commission | ||
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of retail CFD accounts lose money | USD 5 | ECN/DMA, STP | Commodities, Cryptocurrencies, Stock CFDs, ETFs, Forex, Indices, Metals | 49 | 15 |
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| Read Review | 0 | 400:1 | 0.40 pips | Yes | Yes | MetaTrader4 Micro-Fixed, MetaTrader4 Standard-Fixed, MetaTrader5 Micro-Floating, MetaTrader5 Standard-Floating, NetTraderX Beginner-Fixed, NetTraderX Beginner-Floating, NetTraderX Standard-Fixed, NetTraderX Standard-Floating | Yes | MT4, MT5 | Bank Transfer, Visa, Mastercard, PerfectMoney, WebMoney, Boleto, Bitcoin, CashU | None | ||||||||||
72.90% of retail CFD accounts lose money | USD 0 | STP | Bonds, Commodities, Cryptocurrencies, Energies, Stock CFDs, ETFs, Forex, Indices, Metals, Stock DMAs | 53 | 40 |
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| Read Review | 72.90% | 1000:1 | 0 pips | Yes | Yes | Pro Plus, HFCopy, Islamic, Micro, Premium, Pro, Zero | Yes | MT4, MT5, HFM Trading App | Bank Transfer, Visa, Mastercard, Skrill | 6 USD / lot - Zero Account |
The Radar Chart below highlights how the brokers stack up against each other across various metrics. The highest score a broker can receive in each area is 5.
At FxScouts, we help traders find the broker that suits their trading needs. In many cases, the best way to achieve this is to compare brokers side-by-side.
To compare HFM and IFC Markets, we used the same factors we use when reviewing brokers: The trust and regulation of the broker, the trading platform, the costs and trading conditions, and the level of education and market analysis available at the broker.
Trust and regulation are some of the most important factors to consider when choosing a Forex broker. Trust in the Forex trading business is almost entirely founded upon regulation. We spend many hours evaluating the safety of each broker by delving into their fine print and confirming each one of their regulatory licences on the online registers. The more top-tier authorities a broker is regulated by, the higher its trust rating.
In our comparison, we found that HFM holds two Tier 1 and one Tier 2 licences, and IFC Markets holds one Tier 1 and no Tier 2 licences.
Based on these findings, HFM earned a higher trust rating than IFC Markets.
Another important aspect we consider when comparing brokers is the cost of trading. When evaluating trading costs, we always consider the minimum deposit required to open an account and the ongoing trading costs, including the spreads and commissions. When calculating trading costs, we measure the cost to trade one lot of EUR/USD using the broker’s account with the lowest minimum deposit. The cost includes both the spread and any commission charged.
Not all brokers publish their trading costs, so we often open accounts and trade on their platforms to verify the spreads and commissions. Based on our reviews, we found that IFC Markets has overall lower trading costs than HFM.
Traders want Forex brokers to offer them a choice of trading platforms, so we give brokers who offer multiple platforms higher ratings. Trading platforms we consider include MetaTrader4, MetaTrader5, cTrader and proprietary mobile and web-based platforms.
In this case, 0 offers support for and 0 offers support for .
Copy trading is a great option for beginner traders who can’t trade full-time or lack experience with Forex trading. In this case both HFM and IFC Markets offer copy trading.
A variety of CFD instruments – and a large range of CFDs for each instrument category allow traders more opportunities for profitable trading. The best brokers will have thousands of CFDs to trade, covering all these instrument categories. We found that HFM offers a greater range and depth of instruments to trade than IFC Markets. HFM offers 53 Forex pairs to trade and IFC Markets offers 49 Forex pairs to trade.
In this case, HFM offers 40 cryptocurrencies while IFC Markets offers 15 cryptocurrencies. So if you want to trade cryptocurrencies, we advise trading with HFM.
Although brokers may have reasonable trading fees, many traders are caught out by the high non-trading fees charged by some brokers, including deposits and withdrawals. Traders want to be able to deposit and withdraw funds quickly and cheaply. Most brokers have multiple funding methods with zero fees for making deposits, but some brokers make it more expensive and take longer to process withdrawals.
We rate brokers more highly that process withdrawals within 24 hours by multiple withdrawal methods and without charging processing fees. We found that IFC Markets charges a withdrawal fee and HFM does not. Overall, HFM has better deposit and withdrawal processes than IFC 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.
HFM has better educational support than IFC Markets. Both HFM and IFC Markets offer educational support for more experienced traders.
To successfully predict the price movements of an instrument, traders will need access to frequent market research and analysis. We find that research and market analysis are always better when they are produced in-house and updated frequently. Third-party resources don’t show the same expertise in trading ideas, so we place a strong emphasis on frequent in-house updates. Some brokers also often offer interactive webinars where traders can learn from experts in the field.
We found that 0 offers better research analysis than 0 and that both HFM and IFC Markets offer frequent webinars.
HFM (formerly known as HotForex) is not ASIC-regulated. We recommend traders look at trading with Axitrader or Pepperstone instead.
HFM is a global CFD broker offering a relatively wide range of trading products including Forex, cryptocurrencies, commodities, indices, shares, bonds, and ETFs. Unusually for a large international broker, HFM does not hold an ASIC licence and Australian traders will be trading through the St Vincent and Grenadines licenced subsidiary.
The HFM Micro Account has lower trading costs than most other brokers’ entry-level accounts with a 5 USD minimum deposit, fast market execution and spreads starting at 1 pip on the EUR/USD. Experienced traders will be interested in HFM’s ZERO Spread Account, with EUR/USD spreads starting at 0.0 pips and a 6 USD commission.
HFM supports both the MT4 and MT5 platforms – but unlike most other brokers does not offer its own web-based platform – and has several excellent trading tools to assist traders further. Access to better trading tools like Autochartist, which other brokers offer as a free service, requires an account balance of 100 USD – well above the required minimum deposit.
HFM does not charge any withdrawal or deposit fees, allows hedging, scalping, and copy trading, and offers an excellent selection of educational and market analysis materials to get new traders started
IFC Markets caters well to beginner traders with four low-cost Micro accounts, a well-structured education section, and support for its proprietary platform, which is easier to use and set up than other third-party platforms. IFC Markets also stands out for its innovative Portfolio Quoting Method, which allows for the creation of personalized trading instruments.
IFC Markets offers a low-cost trading environment for traders willing to try its proprietary NetTradeX platform. Support is also provided for the Metatrader platforms, but trading costs remain uncompetitive. However, clients can choose to trade on over 600 financial assets, including synthetic CFDs, and even create their instruments.
It is clear that IFC Markets focuses on providing a welcoming environment for new traders, with minimum deposits of 5 USD on its beginner-friendly Micro accounts and a host of learning materials covering trading basics.
Alongside the high trading fees on the Metatrader platforms, IFC Markets' non-trading fees are high, including charges for deposits and withdrawals. In addition, it has a limited number of base currencies, which means that Australian traders will have to pay currency conversion fees.
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