How do CityIndex and Admirals 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 CityIndex and Admirals, 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 CityIndex or Admirals 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 CityIndex holds four Tier 1 and one Tier 2 licences, and Admirals holds three Tier 1 and no Tier 2 licences.

 

Is CityIndex financially regulated?

Yes CityIndex was founded in 1983 and is regulated by ASIC, CIMA, CySEC, FCA, FSA-Japan and MAS.

 

Is Admirals financially regulated?

Yes Admirals was founded in 2001 and is regulated by ASIC, CySEC, FCA, FSCA and JSE.

 

Based on these findings, 0 earned a higher trust rating than 0.

Does CityIndex or Admirals 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 CityIndex has overall lower trading costs than Admirals. 

 

Does CityIndex or Admirals 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, 0 offers support for and 0 offers support for . 

Do the brokers offer copy trading?

In this case both Admirals and CityIndex 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 CityIndex offers a greater range and depth of instruments to trade than Admirals. CityIndex offers 84 Forex pairs to trade and Admirals offers 82 Forex pairs to trade.

And what about Cryptocurrencies?

In this case, Admirals offers 42 cryptocurrencies while CityIndex offers 6 cryptocurrencies. So if you want to trade cryptocurrencies, we advise trading with Admirals.

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 neither Admirals nor CityIndex charges a withdrawal fee. Overall, CityIndex has better deposit and withdrawal processes than Admirals. 

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. 

Admirals has better educational support than CityIndex. Both Admirals and CityIndex 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 0 offers better research analysis than 0 and that both Admirals and CityIndex offer frequent webinars.

 

Our overall Verdict on CityIndex

Founded in 1983, CityIndex is one of several brokers that pre-dates the internet and the subsequent online trading boom. Owned by NASDAQ-listed StoneX, CityIndex is a good broker for traders looking for simple account options and a large range of financial instruments on the MT4 trading platform.

A well-regulated broker, CityIndex offers one live commission-free account with no minimum deposit requirement and spreads that start at 0.50 pips on the EUR/USD, which is much tighter than similar brokers. CityIndex offers a choice between MT4 and its own proprietary web trader platform – an advanced automated trading platform with deep customisation and back-testing.

CityIndex's financial instrument offering is impressive, with over 4700 assets available for trading, including 84 Forex pairs, 4500 stock CFDs, indices, commodities, bonds, metals, and interest rates.

City Index’s education section is useful for beginners who want to get up to speed quickly, and its market analysis provides excellent trade ideas. Overall, a good all-round broker that competes well with other traditional brokers of its size and type.

Our overall Verdict on Admirals

A trustworthy global online broker, Admirals is regulated by some top-tier authorities, including the UK’s FCA. It offers a range of low-cost accounts, allows spreadbetting for residents of the UK, and has an excellent suite of trading tools. However, traders may be disappointed in the high currency conversion fees for accounts denominated in other currencies.

Admirals offers support for the MT4 and MT5 trading platforms in addition to Admirals’ sleek mobile app that is intuitive and easy to set up. It boasts excellent trading conditions on four live accounts, with spreads that start at 0.5 pips (EUR/USD) on its commission-free accounts, and commissions of 6 USD (round turn) on its Zero Accounts in exchange for spreads of 0.1 pips (EUR/USD), which is highly competitive.

Admirals offers trading on over 3200 CFDs and over 4000 stocks and is home to the MetaTrader Supreme Edition, a plugin that offers technical analysis on virtually every financial instrument.  

Overall, with local FCA regulation, the ability to spreadbet, some of the lowest trading fees in the industry, a huge choice of financial instruments, and excellent trading tools, Admirals will appeal to many British traders. 

Which broker has the highest overall rating?

CityIndex has an overall rating of 4.38 and Admirals has an overall rating of 4.28. For more detail please read our reviews of CityIndex and Admirals.