How do HFM 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 HFM 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 HFM 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 HFM holds two Tier 1 and one Tier 2 licences, and FP Markets holds two Tier 1 and no Tier 2 licences.

 

Is HFM financially regulated?

Yes HFM was founded in 2010 and is regulated by CySEC, DFSA, FCA, FSC, FSCA and FSA-Seychelles.

 

Is FP Markets financially regulated?

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

 

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

Does HFM 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 HFM. 

 

Does HFM 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 and HFM offers support for . 

Do the brokers offer copy trading?

In this case both FP Markets and HFM 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 FP Markets offers a greater range and depth of instruments to trade than HFM. FP Markets offers 70 Forex pairs to trade and HFM offers 53 Forex pairs to trade.

And what about Cryptocurrencies?

In this case, HFM offers 40 cryptocurrencies while FP Markets offers 11 cryptocurrencies. So if you want to trade cryptocurrencies, we advise trading with HFM.

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 FP Markets charges a withdrawal fee and HFM does not. Overall, HFM 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. 

HFM has better educational support than FP Markets. Both FP Markets and HFM 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 FP Markets and HFM offer frequent webinars.

 

Our overall Verdict on HFM

HF Markets is the European subsidiary of HFM. For FCA protection, we recommend that UK residents look at trading with HF Markets instead.

HFM is a global CFD broker offering a relatively wide range of trading products including Forex, commodities, indices, shares, bonds, and ETFs – though it recently stopped offering crypto CFDs. 

The HFM Micro Account has lower trading costs than most other brokers’ entry-level accounts with a 5 USD minimum deposit, fast market execution and spreads starting at 1 pip on the EUR/USD. Experienced traders will be interested in HFM’s ZERO Spread Account, with EUR/USD spreads starting at 0.0 pips and a 6 USD commission.

HFM supports both the MT4 and MT5 platforms – but unlike most other brokers does not offer its own web-based platform – and has several excellent trading tools to further assist traders. Unfortunately, access to better trading tools like Autochartist, which other brokers offer as a free service, requires an account balance of 500 USD – well above the required minimum deposit.

HFM does not charge any withdrawal or deposit fees, allows hedging, scalping, and copy trading, and offers an excellent selection of educational and market analysis materials to get new traders started.

Our overall Verdict on FP Markets

FP Markets is a well-regulated Forex broker with an excellent stock trading platform designed for more experienced stock pickers. 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. We found that the fees on its MT4 and MT5 trading accounts matched most of its ECN competitors. FP Markets makes it easy for beginners to get started, with 100 AUD (or equivalent) minimum deposits and unlimited demo accounts.

We are also impressed that in addition to MT4 and MT5, cTrader and Trading View are also available. FP Markets is now one of a handful of brokers that has such a good platform offering. 

FP Markets also stands out for its support for active and professional stock traders. FP Markets is one of few brokers offering the IRESS suite of trading platforms. These Direct Market Access platforms provide access to 10,000+ international stocks, but the basic IRESS account requires a minimum deposit of 1000 USD and commissions are charged on most trades.

Which broker has the highest overall rating?

HFM has an overall rating of 4.53 and FP Markets has an overall rating of 4.40. For more detail please read our reviews of HFM and FP Markets.