Pepperstone Review
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Founded in 2010 in Melbourne, Pepperstone is regulated in Australia and the UK and has offices in the United States (US), United Kingdom (UK), China and Thailand. The broker processes on average $8.3 billion of trades each day, as of April 2019.
Pepperstone is best known for its extensive selection of third-party trading platforms, offering not only the full MetaTrader suite but also cTrader and a full selection of copy-trading platforms such as ZuluTrade, Tradency, and Myfxbook.
Review Summary
Pepperstone offers a narrow selection of tradable products but provides forex and CFD traders with competitive pricing and one of the largest selections of third-party platforms, including social copy trading, all under a trusted global brand.
Benefits
- Competitive commission-based pricing on Razor Account.
- Regulated in the UK and Australia.
- Large selection of social trading platforms for copy trading.
Considerations
- Limited range of CFD markets.
- No proprietary trading platform.
Is Pepperstone Safe?
Pepperstone is considered average-risk, with an overall Trust Score of 79 out of 99. Pepperstone is not publicly traded and does not operate a bank. Pepperstone is authorised by two tier-1 regulators (high trust), zero tier-2 regulators (average trust), and zero tier-3 regulators (low trust). Pepperstone 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 | Pepperstone | IG | Saxo Bank | CMC Markets |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Year Founded | 2010 | 1974 | 1992 | 1989 |
| Publicly Traded (Listed) | No | Yes | No | Yes |
| Bank | No | Yes | Yes | No |
| Tier-1 Licenses | 2 | 6 | 6 | 4 |
| Tier-2 Licenses | 0 | 4 | 1 | 2 |
| Tier-3 Licenses | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Trust Score | 79 | 99 | 98 | 98 |
Commissions & Fees
Pepperstone is an agency-execution broker that offers a good range of options on its pricing plans, with its commission-based Razor Account being the best choice.
Benefits
- Pepperstone offers two pricing models depending on the account type you open, ranging from the commission-based Razor Account to the Standard Account, which incorporates commissions into the prevailing spreads. Fees can also vary slightly, depending on the platform you choose to trade.
- The Razor Account can be used with either the MetaTrader (MT4) or cTrader platforms and follows a commission-based pricing structure in addition to prevailing spreads. Average spreads of 0.16 pips on the EUR/USD in the Razor Account (as of October 1st 2018) are comparable to industry peers when factoring in the commission of 0.753 pips to calculate the all-in cost of 0.91 pips on MT4 (or 0.86 pips on cTrader).
- In addition, Pepperstone’s active trader program offers further discounts on the applicable commission rates – depending on the amount you deposit and your expected trading volumes, helping to boost its ranking in this category among forex brokers that cater to active traders.
Considerations
- The standard account is commission free but has higher spreads instead and is not as competitive as the Razor Account, as average spreads on the EUR/USD are 1.16 pips, according to Pepperstone.
- With Pepperstone’s Active Trader program, traders must keep an eye on their trade volumes and inform the broker manually in order to claim any eligible rebates. A minimum of 200 lots is required to qualify for the lowest tier, with a rebate of $1.00 per standard lot.
- Pepperstone’s agency-only execution leaves less room for conflicts of interest that can arise with a dealing desk, yet it also leaves less control for execution quality as third-party dealers are relied upon in the agency model. Therefore, traders seeking pure agency execution may prefer Pepperstone.
Gallery
Further Reading
Fees Comparison
| Feature | Pepperstone | IG | Saxo Bank | CMC Markets |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Minimum Initial Deposit | $200.00 | £250.00 | $2,000.00 | $0.00 |
| Average Spread EUR/USD - Standard | 1.16 | 0.750 | 0.900 | 0.744 |
| All-in Cost EUR/USD - Active | 0.860 | 0.363 | 0.600 | 0.744 |
| Active Trader or VIP Discounts | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Commissions & Fees |
Platforms & Tools
While Pepperstone lacks a proprietary platform, it offers a nearly every third-party platform a trader could ever want to use, making it very diverse in its overall appeal.
Benefits
- Pepperstone offers the full MetaTrader and cTrader suites including MT4 (desktop and web), MT4 Multi-terminal, MT5, cTrader, and cAlgo. Traders can use either account type, Razor or Standard, with any platform.
- Pepperstone uses its EDGE infrastructure to help bridge the MetaTrader platform with liquidity providers to whom it routes your order for execution, while incorporating its Pepperstone Price Improvement (PPI) technology to help improve execution rates. This is a highly proactive approach for an agency broker.
- For social trading, Pepperstone offers traders access to Myfxbook, ZuluTrade, Mirror Trader, RoboX, MT4 Signals, and DupliTrade.
- Pepperstone received two 2019 awards from ForexBrokers.com: Best in Class MetaTrader Offering and Best in Class Social Copy Trading.
Considerations
- Both the desktop and web versions of MetaTrader 4 (MT4) come standard with minimal configuration changes made by Pepperstone.
- Compared to the MT4 platform, both platforms support algorithmic trading and fare well when compared alongside each other; however, cTrader has an advantage with its web-based platform, which offers a wider range of trading tools compared to MT4 web. Meanwhile, the desktop version of MT4 contains the algorithmic trading module – compared to cTrader, which requires the standalone cAlgo platform to run in parallel, a small but noteworthy difference.
Gallery
Further Reading
- Best Forex Trading Platforms 2019
- Best FX Brokers for Copy Trading 2019
- Best MetaTrader Brokers 2019
- Best cTrader Brokers 2019
Tools Comparison
| Feature | Pepperstone | IG | Saxo Bank | CMC Markets |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Virtual Trading (Demo) | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Proprietary Platform | No | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Desktop Platform (Windows) | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Web Platform | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Social Trading / Copy-Trading | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| MetaTrader 4 (MT4) | Yes | Yes | No | Yes |
| MetaTrader 5 (MT5) | Yes | No | No | No |
| cTrader | Yes | No | No | No |
| Charting - Indicators / Studies (Total) | 51 | 22 | 47 | 81 |
| Charting - Drawing Tools (Total) | 31 | 17 | 17 | 24 |
| Charting - Trade From Chart | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Watchlists - Total Fields | 7 | 12 | 12 | 8 |
| Order Type - Trailing Stop | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Platform & Tools |
Customer Service
To score Customer Service, ForexBrokers.com partnered with customer experience research group Customerwise to conduct phone tests from locations throughout the UK. For our 2019 Review, 229 customer service tests were conducted over six weeks.
Results
- Average Connection Time: <1 minute
- Average Net Promoter Score: 6.4 / 10
- Average Professionalism Score: 4 / 10
- Overall Score: 7.2 / 10
- Ranking: 8th (23 brokers)
- View Infographic
Research
Pepperstone’s broad range of third-party social copy-trading platforms and research tools helps counter-balance its limited scope of in-house content.
Benefits
- Pepperstone offers AutoChartist to live account holders, providing automated pattern recognition and trading signals. Pepperstone also offers Smart Trader Tools, an MT4 add-on with tools such as sentiment indicators, which is available to clients with an account balance of at least $500 AUD.
- For social copy-trading, Pepperstone offers the MirrorTrader and RoboX platform from Tradency, the ZuluTrade platform, and myFxbook for MT4, in addition to the native signals markets from MT4 and cTrader.
- When it comes to fundamental and technical analysis, Pepperstone offers content from third-party analysts and an economic calendar that shows consensus forecasts powered by Myfxbook, and an FX Weekly analysis from Boris & Kathy of BK Forex which also provides an Event Risk Calendar Forecast report.
- Aside from social trading and the platform-related add-ons, which help give MT4 a premium touch, Pepperstone’s research offering saw year-over-year improvements with the addition of the Chasing Returns module, and DupliTrade for social-copy trading, along with the firm’s regular contribution of analysis on Trading View.
Considerations
- With a weak offering of in-house research, Pepperstone relies almost entirely on third-party research providers.
Gallery
Further Reading
Research Comparison
| Feature | Pepperstone | IG | Saxo Bank | CMC Markets |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Daily Market Commentary | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Forex News (Top-Tier Sources) | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Weekly Webinars | No | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| AutoChartist | Yes | Yes | Yes | No |
| Trading Central (Recognia) | No | No | No | Yes |
| Delkos Research | No | No | No | No |
| Social Trading / Copy-Trading | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Social Sentiment - Currency Pairs | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Economic Calendar | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Research |
Mobile Trading
Mobile trading at Pepperstone is done either via the MetaTrader 4 mobile app or the cTrader app, both of which are available directly from the developer.
Benefits
- For traders who already have the MT4 mobile app installed, logging in is just a matter of searching for Pepperstone from the app login screen – compared to the cTrader mobile app where the developer makes a branded version for each broker, which can be found on iTunes and Google Play directly from Spotware Systems.
- Both apps (MT4, cTrader) rank highly in design, functionality and range of tools.
Considerations
- Like desktop and web trading, Pepperstone lacks a proprietary mobile app.
Gallery
Further Reading
Mobile Apps Comparison
| Feature | Pepperstone | IG | Saxo Bank | CMC Markets |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Android App | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Apple iOS App | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Trading - Forex | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Trading - CFDs | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Alerts - Basic Fields | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Watch List | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Watch List Syncing | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Charting - Indicators / Studies | 30 | 26 | 41 | 23 |
| Charting - Draw Trend Lines | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Charting - Trend Lines Moveable | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Charting - Multiple Time Frames | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Charting - Drawings Autosave | No | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Forex Calendar | No | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Mobile Trading |
Offering of Investments
The following table summarizes the different investment products available to Pepperstone clients.
Offering Comparison
| Feature | Pepperstone | IG | Saxo Bank | CMC Markets |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Forex: Spot Trading | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Currency Pairs (Total Forex pairs) | 59 | 91 | 182 | 183 |
| CFDs - Total Offered | 31 | 15000 | 32999 | 9959 |
| Cryptocurrency traded as actual | No | No | No | No |
| Cryptocurrency traded as CFD | Yes | Yes | No | Yes |
| Offering of Investments |
Final Thoughts
With less than 100 instruments available to trade, Pepperstone’s niche offering is designed for those traders who focus exclusively on forex and the most popular CFD markets. Pepperstone’s regulatory umbrella encompasses the UK’s FCA and Australia’s ASIC licensing, which helps win customers’ trust.
Pepperstone caters well to advanced traders with competitive pricing on its Razor Account and active trader offering. Pepperstone also supports algorithmic trading on platforms from MetaQuotes Software Corp, which also includes Spotware Systems’ platforms. In addition, Pepperstone offers a multitude of social copy-trading platforms.
Considering the low minimum deposit, range of platforms and account types, Pepperstone caters well to all types of forex-focused traders, regardless of experience level.
For our 2019 Forex Broker Review we assessed, rated, and ranked 28 international forex brokers. Each FX broker was graded on 81 variables. 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.
