How do FOREX.com and FP Markets 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 FOREX.com and FP 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.

Does FOREX.com or FP Markets 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 FOREX.com holds four Tier 1 and no Tier 2 licences, and FP Markets holds two Tier 1 and no Tier 2 licences.

 

Is FOREX.com financially regulated?

Yes FOREX.com was founded in 2001 and is regulated by ASIC, CIMA, CySEC, FCA and MAS.

 

Is FP Markets financially regulated?

Yes FP Markets was founded in 2005 and is regulated by ASIC, CMA, CySEC, FSC, FSCA and FSA-Seychelles.

 

Based on these findings, FOREX.com earned a higher trust rating than FP Markets.

Does FOREX.com or FP Markets 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 FP Markets has overall lower trading costs than FOREX.com. 

 

Does FOREX.com or FP Markets 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, FP Markets offers support for cTrader, MT4, MT5 and IRESS and FOREX.com offers support for MT4, MT5, FOREX.com Web Trader and TradingView. 

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 FOREX.com and FP Markets offer copy trading.

 

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 FOREX.com offers a greater range and depth of instruments to trade than FP Markets. FOREX.com offers 91 Forex pairs to trade and FP Markets offers 70 Forex pairs to trade.

And what about Cryptocurrencies?

In this case, FP Markets offers 11 cryptocurrencies while FOREX.com offers 8 cryptocurrencies. So if you want to trade cryptocurrencies, we advise trading with FP 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 both FOREX.com and FP Markets charges a withdrawal fee. Overall, FOREX.com has better deposit and withdrawal processes than FP Markets. 

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. 

FOREX.com has better educational support than FP Markets. Both FOREX.com and FP Markets offer educational support for more experienced traders.

 

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 FOREX.com offers better research analysis than FP Markets and that both FOREX.com and FP Markets offer frequent webinars.

 

Our overall Verdict on FOREX.com

Founded in 2001, Forex.com is a well-regulated broker with low fees and a wide range of trading platforms.

It offers four account types, each with a minimum deposit requirement of 100 USD, two of which have trading costs included in the variable spreads, and two commission-based accounts. Spreads start at 1.0 pip (EUR/USD) on the spread-only accounts, and down to 0 pips (EUR/USD) on the commission-based accounts in exchange for a commission of 10 USD per lot traded.

Forex.com provides support for MT4, MT5, TradingView, and its own Forex.com trading platform and experienced traders will appreciate the range of trading tools on offer, including Trading Central,  SMART Signals, and subsidised VPS hosting.  

Education and market analysis are both excellent and experienced traders will appreciate the wide range of tradable assets, including over 91 currency pairs, 4500 share CFDs, commodities, indices, precious metals, and cryptocurrencies.

Overall, Forex.com ticks all the boxes for those looking for a wide range of assets to trade and a choice of trading platforms.

Our overall Verdict on FP Markets

FP Markets is a well-regulated Forex broker with two low-cost, low-minimum deposit accounts, and a range of excellent trading tools and trading platforms. We were also impressed with how easy the FP Markets Trading App was to use and the quality of FP Markets' customer service.

In terms of fees, FP Markets has an “ECN pricing” model, which it claims provides “extremely competitive” costs. Unfortunately, we found that the fees on its standard trading accounts were higher than most of its ECN competitors. But FP Markets does make it easy for beginners to get started, with 100 AUD minimum deposits and unlimited demo accounts. 

We are also impressed that in addition to MT4, MT5, and cTrader, TradingView is also available. FP Markets is now one of a handful of brokers that has such a good platform offering. TradingView has been added in January 2024 and we believe it brings a lot of advantages to an already comprehensive tech portfolio.

South African traders will also be pleased to note that as of January 2023, FP Markets acquired a licence from the national authority, the Financial Sector Conduct Authority (FSCA), and will soon be onboarding clients through this entity. This means that SA client funds will be segregated at South African banks, and that traders benefit from local protection. 

Which broker has the highest overall rating?

FOREX.com has an overall rating of 4.62 and FP Markets has an overall rating of 4.40. For more detail please read our reviews of FOREX.com and FP Markets.