How do CMC Markets and Alpari stack up against each other?
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 CMC Markets and Alpari, 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.
Does CMC Markets or Alpari have a better trust and regulation rating?
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 CMC Markets holds four Tier 1 and one Tier 2 licences, and Alpari holds no Tier 1 and no Tier 2 licences.
Is CMC Markets financially regulated?
Yes CMC Markets was founded in 1989 and is regulated by ASIC, BaFin, FCA, FMA and MAS.
Is Alpari financially regulated?
Yes Alpari was founded in 2014 and is regulated by FSC.
Based on these findings, CMC Markets earned a higher trust rating than Alpari.
Does CMC Markets or Alpari have lower costs?
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 CMC Markets has overall lower trading costs than Alpari.
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Does CMC Markets or Alpari offer a better choice of trading platforms?
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, CMC Markets offers support for MT4 and CMCmarkets and Alpari offers support for MT4 and MT5.
Do the brokers offer copy trading?
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 Alpari and CMC Markets offer copy trading.
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Which broker offers a better choice of trading instruments?
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 CMC Markets offers a greater range and depth of instruments to trade than Alpari. CMC Markets offers 350 Forex pairs to trade and Alpari offers 60 Forex pairs to trade.
And what about Cryptocurrencies?
In this case, CMC Markets offers 12 cryptocurrencies while Alpari offers 4 cryptocurrencies. So if you want to trade cryptocurrencies, we advise trading with CMC Markets.
Which broker offers better deposit and withdrawal processes?
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 Alpari charges a withdrawal fee and CMC Markets does not. Overall, CMC Markets has better deposit and withdrawal processes than Alpari.
Which broker offers better educational support?
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.
CMC Markets has better educational support than Alpari. Both Alpari and CMC Markets offer educational support for more experienced traders.
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Which broker offers better market analysis materials?
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 CMC Markets offers better research analysis than Alpari and that both Alpari and CMC Markets offer frequent webinars.
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Our overall Verdict on CMC Markets
Please note that CMC Markets no longer offers services to South Africans. This review is for informational purposes only.
Founded in 1989, CMC Markets is a well-known Forex and CFD broker with a high trust rating and a huge range of financial instruments to trade. However, traders may be disappointed at the high trading fees on its commission-based account.
CMC Markets offers two live accounts with no minimum deposit requirements - a low-cost commission-free account with spreads starting at 0.7 pips on the EUR/USD and a commission-based account with spreads of 0.1 pip and commissions of 0.005% (which amounts to 50 USD per lot traded), which is extremely high.
Trading is offered on both MT4 and its powerful, innovative proprietary platform that features numerous technical and fundamental analysis tools. CMC Markets also offers excellent education and market analysis materials to get new traders started, and although customer service is offered 24/5, it does not provide a live chat feature, which is a serious oversight by this broker.
Our overall Verdict on Alpari
With a range of accounts on the MT4 and MT5 platforms, Alpari caters well to professional traders who are prepared to pay high minimum deposits for low ongoing trading costs. However, Alpari offers a limited number of tradable assets, which may leave some traders dissatisfied.
Alpari offers four live accounts on the MT4 and MT5 trading platforms. The Pro Account has spreads starting at 0.4 pips on the EUR/USD and no commission, making it one of the lowest-cost accounts in the industry. However, this is in exchange for a minimum deposit of 25,000 USD, putting it out of the reach of most traders. Alpari also offers an ECN account with a minimum deposit of 500 USD, and spreads of 0.4 pips with a commission of 3 USD (round turn), which may also appeal to experienced traders.
Alpari's CFD offering is limited compared to other brokers, with 22 indices, 4 metals, 3 commodities, 10 share CFDs, and 4 cryptocurrencies, but it has over 60 Forex pairs for trading. One drawback for beginner traders considering opening an account at Alpari is the lack of educational and market analysis materials, forcing traders to self-educate elsewhere.
Which broker has the highest overall rating?
CMC Markets has an overall rating of 4.53 and Alpari has an overall rating of 3.52. For more detail please read our reviews of
CMC Markets and
Alpari.
