Capital.com Review
Capital.com stands out for its quality research, strong educational content, and innovative web platform, making it a great choice for both beginners and experienced traders. Capital.com holds fewer regulatory licenses and offers a narrower range of markets than some of the best brokers, but still significantly outperforms the industry average.
- Minimum Deposit: $20.00
- Trust Score: 76
- Tradeable Symbols (Total) : 4056
Capital.com pros & cons
Pros:
- High-quality educational articles and courses.
- Newsroom-grade research articles.
- Good variety of video content for market analysis.
- Emotional Quotient (eQ) AI tool integration for identifying trading behaviors.
- Dedicated Investmate educational app’s game-like design makes learning fun.
- Offers an extensive range of over 200 cryptocurrency CFDs (not available in the U.K. except to professional traders).
Cons:
- MetaTrader 5 is not available.
- Respectable range of tradeable symbols – but still fewer than industry leaders.
- Lacks additional licenses in tier one jurisdictions outside of the U.K. and Australia.
Overall Summary
| Feature | Capital.com |
|---|---|
| Overall | |
| Trust Score | 76 |
| Offering of Investments | |
| Commissions & Fees | |
| Platforms & Tools | |
| Research | |
| Mobile Trading Apps | |
| Education |
Is Capital.com safe?
Capital.com is considered average-risk, with an overall Trust Score of 76 out of 99. Capital.com is not publicly traded and does not operate a bank. Capital.com is authorised by two tier-1 regulators (high trust) and one tier-2 regulator (average trust). Capital.com is authorised by the following tier-1 regulators: Australian Securities & Investment Commission (ASIC) and the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA). Learn more about Trust Score.
Regulations Comparison
| Feature | Capital.com |
|---|---|
| Year Founded | 2016 |
| Publicly Traded (Listed) | No |
| Bank | No |
| Tier-1 Licenses | 2 |
| Tier-2 Licenses | 1 |
| Tier-3 Licenses | 0 |
| Trust Score | 76 |
Offering of investments
Capital.com offers shares trading and over 4,000 CFDs across a variety of popular asset classes that include 3,615 shares, 26 indices, 138 forex pairs, 206 cryptocurrency pairs, 31 commodities, and nearly a dozen thematic indexes. Spread betting is also available for U.K. residents.
Crypto CFDs are not available to retail traders from any broker's U.K. entity, nor to U.K. residents.
Capital.com offering of investments:
| Feature | Capital.com |
|---|---|
| Forex Trading | Yes |
| CFD Trading | Yes |
| Tradeable Symbols (Total) | 4056 |
| Forex Pairs (Total) | 138 |
| US Stock Trading (Non CFD) | Yes |
| Int'l Stock Trading (Non CFD) | Yes |
| Cryptocurrency (Physical) | No |
| Cryptocurrency (CFD) | Yes |
| Social Trading / Copy-Trading | No |
Commissions and fees
Capital.com offers retail traders three account types to choose from: Standard, Plus, and Premier. Overall, pricing at Capital.com is in line with the industry average.
Account comparison: The Standard account allows a maximum deposit of $3,000, with a minimum deposit of $20. However, Capital.com’s other two account types do require minimum deposits – $3,000 for the Plus account, and $10,000 for the Premier account. With the Plus account, clients gain access to a dedicated account manager, custom analytics, and a platform walkthrough. The Premier account has all the benefits of the Plus account, with the addition of exclusive webinars and premier events.
Trading costs: Capital.com lists 0.8 pips as its dynamic spread for the EUR/USD – which we confirmed to be its average spread for the month of September 2021.
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Capital.com pricing summary:
| Feature | Capital.com |
|---|---|
| Minimum Deposit | $20.00 |
| Average Spread EUR/USD - Standard | 0.8 (Sep 2021) |
| All-in Cost EUR/USD - Active | 0.8 (Sep 2021) |
| Active Trader or VIP Discounts | Yes |
| Execution: Agency Broker | No |
| Execution: Market Maker | Yes |
Mobile trading apps
Apps overview: Capital.com offers three mobile trading apps: its proprietary Trading app, the Investmate app for education, and the MetaTrader 4 (MT4) app – all of which are available for iOS and Android from the Apple App Store and Google Play store, respectively.
Note: For this review I focused on Capital.com’s MT4 and Investmate app. I was unable to install the Trading app due to a country restriction imposed by the developer. For a look at its stock trading app for forex trading, read the review of Capital.com on our sister site, StockBrokers UK.
Ease of use: The MT4 mobile app is offered by nearly all brokers due to its user-friendly interface, and the variety of features that come standard with MetaTrader. The MT4 mobile app makes viewing and managing positions simple and easy, but it doesn’t support algorithmic trading – for that you’ll need the desktop app.
Charting: MT4’s mobile charts are user-friendly and allow for dozens of indicators. Useful functions such as drawing trend lines and changing the time frame are straightforward, and chart tap is as easy as tapping and holding to enable the quick pie menu.
Trading tools: MT4’s economic calendar is powered by its Tradays app, which requires a separate installation that launches from within the MetaTrader app. To access the MetaTrader community features in the app, you’ll need to log into the MQL5 community.
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Capital.com mobile trading:
| Feature | Capital.com |
|---|---|
| Android App | Yes |
| Apple iOS App | Yes |
| Alerts - Basic Fields | Yes |
| Watch List | Yes |
| Watch List Syncing | No |
| Charting - Indicators / Studies | 30 |
| Charting - Draw Trendlines | Yes |
| Charting - Trendlines Moveable | No |
| Charting - Multiple Time Frames | Yes |
| Charting - Drawings Autosave | Yes |
| Forex Calendar | Yes |
Other trading platforms
Capital.com offers three trading platform suites: MetaTrader 4 for desktop and mobile, Capital.com’s proprietary trading app, and the TradingView web platform – known for its powerful charting. It offers the no-frills MT4 experience straight from the developer, without any noteworthy add-ons that would help Capital.com stand out from the best MetaTrader brokers.
Platforms overview: The MetaTrader 4 suite is available at Capital.com for macOS and Windows operating systems, alongside the web version that can be accessed via any modern browser. The Capital.com web platform is easy to use and has a great balance of features. I found the discover tab to be useful for taking a broad view of the market – to see the most traded, most volatile, and the risers and fallers at a glance. There are also pre-defined watchlists that can be customized and at least ten thematic indices – from e-sports to electric cars to cryptocurrencies.
Charting: The MetaTrader platform suite is known for its robust easy-to-use charts. Zooming in and out and rearranging windows and tabs is a breeze on MT4. It also supports the ability to drag and drop from the default list of nearly 50 indicators. The Capital.com web platform stands out in its own right with rich features and a variety of tools, such as pre-defined watchlists that act as screeners to scan the market, along with sentiment data and integrated research from Trading Central.
Trading Central: The full suite of Trading Central modules is integrated into the Capital.com web trading platform, including Analyst Views, Featured Ideas, and TC Market Buzz.
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Capital.com trading platform:
| Feature | Capital.com |
|---|---|
| Virtual Trading (Demo) | Yes |
| Proprietary Platform | Yes |
| Desktop Platform (Windows) | Yes |
| Web Platform | Yes |
| Social Trading / Copy-Trading | No |
| MetaTrader 4 (MT4) | Yes |
| MetaTrader 5 (MT5) | No |
| cTrader | No |
| DupliTrade | No |
| ZuluTrade | No |
| Charting - Indicators / Studies (Total) | 75 |
| Charting - Drawing Tools (Total) | 18 |
| Charting - Trade From Chart | Yes |
| Watchlists - Total Fields | 6 |
| Order Type - Market | No |
Market research
Capital.com’s market commentary is well-organized, offering various theme-specific playlists on YouTube and on its website. It also offers detailed articles under its news and analysis section which I found to be rich with information. From technical analysis to commentary about economic fundamental data points, Capital.com’s robust research offering exceeds what I’d expect to find with the average broker.
Research overview: Capital.com offers research alongside its educational content from within the Capital.com TV section of its website where videos are arranged into playlists.
Market news and analysis: The research videos found in the Market Outlooks section are well made, including the weekly outlook and content for specific symbols. Likewise, the articles that Capital.com publishes on its website are well-written, link to sources, and often include charts and analysis – comparable to what you would find in a newsroom publication. Overall, I was impressed.
Trading Central: The integration of Trading Central’s full suite of modules into Capital.com’s web platform, helps further complement its overall research offering.
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Capital.com research:
| Feature | Capital.com |
|---|---|
| Daily Market Commentary | Yes |
| Forex News (Top-Tier Sources) | No |
| Autochartist | No |
| Trading Central (Recognia) | No |
| Delkos Research | No |
| Social Sentiment - Currency Pairs | Yes |
| Economic Calendar | Yes |
Education
Capital.com has a solid array of educational materials that includes articles, videos, and a comprehensive lesson program, making it an excellent choice for beginners. This educational program includes 28 lessons spread across five courses, and ends with a final test designed to gauge your progress and your financial knowledge. I found its Investmate app to be even more impressive. It adopts a style influenced by gaming, which allows you to learn at your own pace while tracking your progress.
Learning center: Capital.com has at least 72 educational videos on its YouTube channel – some of which are embedded in its web platform. It also features ten written guides that I found to be informative and rich with detail, that focus on individual topics such as CFD trading and trading psychology. Several of these guides have sub-articles that dive into even greater detail, explaining various terms and concepts beyond what you would find in an investor glossary. Overall, Capital.com’s strong educational offering is right up there with the best brokers in this category.
Investmate: Several brokers, such as IG, have created apps strictly dedicated to educating traders, and Investmate is Capital.com’s answer to this industry trend. Investmate is a great example of a mobile app that makes education its prime focus, while still ranking highly for ease of use and providing a smooth user experience.
Room for improvement: Capital.com’s educational content would benefit from an expansion of its lesson program. Including more content and offering the ability to organize that content by experience level would further elevate this already-impressive educational tool.
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Capital.com education:
| Feature | Capital.com |
|---|---|
| Has Education - Forex or CFDs | Yes |
| Client Webinars | Yes |
| Client Webinars (Archived) | Yes |
| Videos - Beginner Trading Videos | Yes |
| Videos - Advanced Trading Videos | Yes |
| Investor Dictionary (Glossary) | Yes |
Final thoughts
As a relative newcomer, Capital.com has proven it can deliver high-quality research and educational content, along with an excellent web trading platform that offers a decent range of markets.
Expanding its list of licenses in more tier-one jurisdictions will help win more trust, and increasing its range of markets will bring it closer to matching up with the best forex and CFD brokers. Overall, Capital.com finished best in class for 2022 in the beginners category, as well as for its crypto offering.
About Capital.com
Founded in 2016, the Capital.com brand caters to over 1.8 million customers and is regulated in the U.K. by the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) and in Cyprus by the Cyprus Securities and Exchange Commission (CySEC), in Australia by the Australia Securities and Investment Commission (ASIC), and in Belarus by the National Bank of Belarus.
2022 Review Methodology
For our 2022 Forex Broker Review we assessed, rated, and ranked 39 international forex brokers over a three-month time period resulting in over 50,000 words of published research.
Each broker was graded on 113 different variables, including our proprietary Trust Score algorithm. This innovative scoring system ranks the level of trustworthiness for each broker based on factors such as licenses, regulation and corporate structure. Read about Trust Score here.
As part of our annual review process, all brokers had the opportunity to provide updates and key milestones and complete an in-depth data profile, which we hand-checked for accuracy.
Ultimately, our rigorous data validation process yields an error rate of less than .1% each year, providing site visitors with quality data they can trust. Learn more about how we test.
Forex Risk Disclaimer
"There is a very high degree of risk involved in trading securities. With respect to margin-based foreign exchange trading, off-exchange derivatives, and cryptocurrencies, there is considerable exposure to risk, including but not limited to, leverage, creditworthiness, limited regulatory protection and market volatility that may substantially affect the price, or liquidity of a currency or related instrument. It should not be assumed that the methods, techniques, or indicators presented in these products will be profitable, or that they will not result in losses." Learn more.
About the Author
Steven Hatzakis Steven Hatzakis is the Global Director of Research for ForexBrokers.com. Steven previously served as an Editor for Finance Magnates, where he authored over 1,000 published articles about the online finance industry. Steven is an active fintech and crypto industry researcher and advises blockchain companies at the board level. Over the past 20 years, Steven has held numerous positions within the international forex markets, from writing to consulting to serving as a registered commodity futures representative.
