Pepperstone Review

Is Pepperstone Safe?

With a long history of responsible behaviour and local and international regulation, we consider Pepperstone to be a safe broker for UK residents to trade with.

Pepperstone is an ECN-only Forex and CFD broker founded in 2010 and is headquartered in Melbourne, Australia. Pepperstone has expanded rapidly since its foundation and has become one of the most respected brands in Forex and CFD trading, with 89’000 traders on its books and satellite offices in London, Dubai, Germany, Cyprus, and Kenya. 

Pepperstone is regulated by the Australian Securities and Investments Commission (ASIC), the UK’s Financial Conduct Authority (FCA), the Cyprus Securities and Exchange Commission (CySEC), the Dubai Financial Services Authority (DFSA), the Capital Markets Authority (CMA) of Kenya, the Securities Commission of the Bahamas (SCB), and the Federal Financial Supervisory Authority (BaFin) of Germany. See below for a list of Pepperstone registered companies:

• Pepperstone Pty Ltd is ASIC regulated with licence number 414530. 
• Pepperstone Ltd is regulated under registration number 684312 by the FCA.
• Pepperstone Markets Limited is licensed and regulated by the Securities Commission of The Bahamas, license number SIA-F217.
• Pepperstone EU Limited is regulated by CySEC, licence number 388/20.
• Pepperstone is regulated by the DFSA under license number F004356.
• Pepperstone is regulated by the CMA Kenya under licence number 128.
• Pepperstone is regulated by BaFin, Germany, under registration number 151148.

British traders will be trading with the UK subsidiary of Pepperstone (Pepperstone Ltd), which is licenced and regulated by the UK Financial Conduct Authority (FCA). 

In 2018, the EU and the UK tightened restrictions on CFD trading to better protect traders. As a result, Pepperstone clients in the UK have a leverage limit of 30:1 for Forex trading and will be provided negative balance protection, meaning that traders can never lose more money than they have in their trading accounts. Pepperstone is also required to be members of the Financial Services Compensation Scheme (FSCS), covering British customer losses up to 85,000 GBP in the event of broker bankruptcy. In addition, FCA regulations ensure that Pepperstone keeps its operational funds segregated from client accounts, but also prevent Pepperstone from offering promotions, bonuses or cryptocurrency CFDs. 

While the additional protection offered by FCA regulation is welcome, some UK traders may find the low leverage levels and lack of crypto trading at Pepperstone restrictive. The only way around these restrictions is to trade with a broker which does not have FCA regulation, which of course then means less protection.

Pepperstone has won many awards in the industry, substantiating its credentials as a safe broker.  Some recent awards include:

• Best Forex Broker 2021 (Daytrading.com)
• Best Tailored Professional Trading Conditions 2019/2020 (Professional Trader)
• Best Trading Performance Tools 2020 (Professional Trader)
• Best Global Forex ECN Broker Award 2019 (Global Forex Awards) 
• Best Forex Trading Support – Europe 2019 (Global Forex Awards).

With over a decade of responsible behaviour to its clients, a large international customer base, regulation from some of the strictest authorities in the world, and a long list of awards, Pepperstone is considered a reliable and safe Forex broker.

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Pepperstone Trading Fees

Pepperstone’s trading fees are low compared to other Forex brokers. 

Unlike other brokers that offer a range of account types with lower spreads linked to higher minimum deposits, Pepperstone offers only two market-execution accounts with no minimum deposit. The Standard Account has the trading costs included in the spread while the Razor Account offers tighter spreads and a small commission per trade. For more detail on Pepperstone’s trading accounts, click here.

Both accounts are available on all three of the major third-party platforms (MT4, MT5 and cTrader), and commissions differ slightly depending on which platform you use. For more on Pepperstone’s trading platforms, click here.

Pepperstone’s fee structure is transparent, and it publishes all the spread and commission costs associated with either account. 

Pepperstone’s accounts were assessed to compare the costs to those of other brokers. The costs were evaluated based on the trading fees on one lot (100 000 USD) on the EUR/USD, including the spread and commission:

Spread x Trade Size + Commission = Total Trading Cost (USD)

As you can see from the table above, the trading costs on the Standard Account are built into the spread and are marginally lower than the costs on the Razor Account, which has a small commission that changes depending on the trading platform you choose to use.

In a further twist, commission costs will also change depending on your account currency on the MT4 and MT5 platforms, and what currency pair you are trading on the cTrader platform. More detail on these changes is provided in the Account Types section.

Active Trader Program

Trading commissions can be further reduced by becoming a member of Pepperstone’s Active Trader Program. The Active Trader Program has a number of advantages for high volume traders, including discounted commissions, a free VPS service and priority customer support. The commission discount with the Active Trader Program features 4 tiers as follows:

For more information about tier 4 of the Active Trader Program, traders should contact Pepperstone customer support.

Pepperstone Swap Rates

The final trading cost to consider at Pepperstone is the swap rate charged on positions held overnight. Unlike many brokers, Pepperstone does not publish its swap rates, but they are available to view from inside the trading platform.

An example of Pepperstone’s swap fees can be found using the following calculation: 

Daily swap charge = (one pip/exchange rate) x (trade size x tom next charge)

So in the case of going long on one lot of EUR/USD with an account base currency in EUR, the following data can be used:

• One pip: 0.00001
• Account base: EUR
• Exchange rate: 1.1290
• Trade size: 1 lot (€100,000)
• Pepperstone’s EUR/USD long swap rate: -11.49, 
• Pepperstone’s EUR/USD short swap rate: +7.02

Swap value to be debited from the account: (0.00001/1.1290) * (100,000 *-11.49) = €-10.18

Using the same data, if you were going short one lot of EUR/USD instead, you would receive €6.22 a day.

Overall, Pepperstone has some of the lowest trading costs in the Forex trading industry. The average cost of trading one lot of EUR/USD is 9 USD at most other large brokers, so whichever Pepperstone account you choose and whichever platform you choose will be lower-cost than most other brokers. In addition, Pepperstone has no minimum deposit requirements, though it does recommend a minimum of 200 USD or equivalent, making it a good choice for both beginner and experienced traders. 

While there is no minimum deposit at Pepperstone, the 200 USD recommended minimum is for good reason. When trading with leverage, brokers will always require a margin to cover the money borrowed from the broker to hold your trading position. With less than 200 USD in your account, it makes it difficult to hold a substantial trading position without getting stopped out and losing the money held in your trading account as a result.

Pepperstone’s Non-trading Fees

Pepperstone has low non-trading fees compared to other brokers

Unlike most brokers, Pepperstone does not charge any administration or inactivity fees. In addition, Pepperstone does not charge any deposit or withdrawal fees, though be aware that Pepperstone will not cover the costs of international bank wires. For more on Pepperstone’s deposit and withdrawal methods and fees, click here.

Opening an Account at Pepperstone

Opening an account at Pepperstone is a fully digital process but does require a suitability assessment that is not carried out by many other brokers

All UK residents are eligible to open a trading account at Pepperstone but will have to follow the fully digital four-step application process. Once the process is complete, Pepperstone aims to approve applications within 4-8 hours.

How to open an account at Pepperstone:

1. Create your login via the Pepperstone website, you will be asked for your email address and asked to choose a password.
2. The second step is to take the Pepperstone suitability test. This short questionnaire is used by Pepperstone customer service to assess whether trading CFDs is appropriate for you. While most brokers don’t include this step in the account-opening process, it is a responsible move in an industry that is often accused of an irresponsible approach to consumer protection.
3. The third step is to confirm your identification. Pepperstone will need two ID documents from you, the easiest way to provide these documents is to take a photo of them with a mobile phone:
   1. A photo ID (passport, driver’s license or national ID card) and; 
   2. A secondary ID (a bank or utility statement with your full name and address dated in the last three months).
   3. Important: Pepperstone will not accept ID documents that are black and white images, scanned copies, blurry or damaged.
4. Once your application is approved, you can log in and fund your account in the base currency of your choosing. For more on Pepperstone’s base currencies, click here.

Compared to other similar brokers, Pepperstone’s account opening process is fast, generally hassle-free and fully digital. The only issue that some traders may have is the suitability assessment test, though this is a responsible move on Pepperstone’s part that protects the funds of those unsuited to high-risk investments. 

Pepperstone Account Types

Pepperstone offers two account types, which is average when compared to other ECN brokers. Both account types are suitable for beginner traders. 

Pepperstone has two simple account types that are both suited to beginners and experienced traders. Beginner traders are inexperienced traders who have never traded before, or who have been trading for less than a year.  Beginner traders often do not want to risk trading large sums of money and generally will not be able to trade full-time during the workweek. 

Accounts with lower minimum deposits and which allow trading in micro-lots are generally more suited to beginner traders. Usually, spreads on these accounts are often wider than those with higher minimum deposits, but that is not the case at Pepperstone – which has no minimum deposit requirements and low spreads on both of its accounts. 

In general, experienced traders tend to prefer accounts with higher minimum deposits and tighter spreads. Again, at Pepperstone this trade-off does not occur as both accounts have excellent trading conditions. 

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Account Types

Min. Deposit

Max. Leverage

Min. Spread

Commission

Razor

USD 200

30:1

0.09

7 USD / lot

Account Details

Standard

USD 200

30:1

0.69

Spread Only

Account Details

Swap-free

USD 200

30:1

1

Spread Only

Account Details

An ECN-only broker, Pepperstone offers two market execution accounts and both accounts are available on MT4, MT5 and cTrader. Maximum leverage is fixed at 30:1 on both accounts for British traders as required by FCA regulation. Hedging, scalping, and algorithmic trading are unlocked on both accounts and, while Pepperstone does offer Islamic accounts, they are not currently available for UK residents.

Accounts can be opened in a range of base currencies, including USD, EUR, GBP, AUD, CHF, JPY, NZD, SGD, HKD, and CAD. For more on Pepperstone’s base currencies, read here.

Pepperstone Standard Account

This commission-free trading account has no minimum deposit requirement, but due to the margins required when making leverage trades, a minimum starting balance of 200 USD is recommended. Fees are included in the institutional-grade spreads, which average at 0.69 pips on the EUR/USD. This account is better suited to beginner traders who do not want to spend time calculating commissions costs. 

Pepperstone Razor Account

The Razor Account is Pepperstone’s raw spread account. Spreads average at 0.09 pips on the EUR/USD – which is the lowest average spread we have found at ANY broker – and a commission is charged per lot traded. As with the Standard Account, the minimum recommended deposit is 200 USD. While Razor Accounts at Pepperstone are not out of reach for beginner traders, there does come the added challenge of integrating commissions when calculating trading costs. 

On the Razor Account, commissions are charged differently depending on which platform you are using, what the base currency of your account is, and your trading volume. See the table below for the commissions in a selection of common base currencies:

MT4 and MT5 Razor Account Commission Structure

As you can see from the table above, higher volumes mean lower commissions and the MT5 Razor Account has a lower USD commission rate than the MT4 Razor Account.

Most UK clients will be trading from a GBP base currency account and will be paying a commission of 4.59 GBP per lot. While this isn’t a huge difference from the USD commission it still comes to about 6.40 USD per lot, representing a small saving compared to accounts using USD as a base currency.

It’s also worth pointing out how cheap the commissions are on both the MT4 and MT5 Razor Accounts with an AUD base currency. Given that (as of June 2021) the USD/AUD is currently at 1.32, the commission cost per lot with an AUD base currency is the equivalent of 5.30 USD – a substantial saving of around 2 USD per lot when compared to an account with a USD base currency. 

cTrader Razor Account Commission Structure

The commission structure for cTrader Razor Accounts is a much simpler affair and is based purely on what currency pair you are trading. The cTrader Razor Account commission is always 0.007% (round turn) of the base currency that’s being traded. So, if you’re trading 100,000 USD/CHF the commission will be 3.50 USD to open the trade and 3.50 USD to close the trade.

Demo Account

Pepperstone offers an unlimited demo account allowing prospective traders to practice trading in real-time.  New traders can also explore the full suite of customisable tools and features that the MT4, MT5, and cTrader platforms offer to enhance trading performance. 

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Broker

Trading Conditions

Base Currencies

EURUSD (Standard)

Trading Cost (Standard)

EURUSD (Best)

GBPUSD (Best)

USDJPY (Best)

Commission

Pepperstone

5/ 5

AUD, USD, JPY, GBP, EUR, CAD, CHF, NZD, SGD, HKD

0.69 pips

USD 6.90

0.09 pips

0.28 pips

0.14 pips

USD 0

IC Markets

4.5/ 5

AUD, USD, EUR, GBP, CAD, SGD, NZD, JPY, CHF, HKD

0.10 pips

USD 8

0.02 pips

0.23 pips

0.14 pips

USD 7

FP Markets

5/ 5

USD, AUD, CAD, CHF, EUR, GBP, HKD, JPY, NZD, SGD

0.10 pips

USD 7

0.10 pips

0.20 pips

0.10 pips

USD 6

Withdrawals can take between 3 – 5 days to reach client accounts.  Pepperstone offers the following withdrawal and deposit methods:

• Bank Wire Transfer
• Visa credit/debit card
• Mastercard credit/debit card
• POLi
• Bank transfer
• BPay
• PayPal
• Neteller
• Skrill

If you live outside of the UK, other methods may be available depending on your country of residence.  But these methods are not available to view (nor the fees involved) until you have opened a live account and logged in. This is unusual and not consumer-friendly, as most brokers publish all their deposit and withdrawal fees on their websites.

While most UK residents will want to have their trading accounts denominated in GBP, some traders may want to have multiple accounts with different base currencies so as not to pay conversion fees when trading. The wide range of base currencies available at Pepperstone allows for traders to do this and is welcomed. 

Pepperstone’s Trading Platforms

With MT4, MT5, and cTrader all available, Pepperstone offers support for more trading platforms than most brokers. 

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Broker

Platform Choice

Copy Trading

Platforms

Pepperstone

5/ 5

Yes

MT4

MT5

cTrader

IC Markets

5/ 5

Yes

MT4

MT5

cTrader

Zulu Trade

FP Markets

4.5/ 5

Yes

MT4

MT5

IRESS

Pepperstone offers traders MetaTrader 4 (MT4), MetaTrader 5 (MT5), and cTrader; each of which offers Expert Advisors, automated trading support, strategy backtesting, customisable charting, indicators, and copy trading functionality.

All platform choices are free to use, all can be downloaded to your PC and all have web versions of the platform. All platforms are also available on mobile Android and iOS devices, for more on Pepperstone’s mobile trading platforms, click here.

Note that cTrader is not available on Apple Mac operating systems.

Traders who want more EAs to use, and don’t mind the dated interface, should consider using one of the MetaTrader products. cTrader is often a favourite for beginner traders as it requires less setup, has a more modern interface, and offers more advanced order types.

All three trading platforms offered are considered among the best in the industry and all three provide access to Autochartist, one of Pepperstone’s range of free trading tools. For more on Pepperstone’s trading tools, click here.

Pepperstone MetaTrader4 (MT4)

The MT4 trading platform is the most widely used Forex trading platform and can also be used to trade other instruments like commodities, cryptocurrency, and indices.  Features of Pepperstone’s MT4 platform include:

• Customisation of the platform to a trader’s style.
• Building and running EAs using MetaQuotes Language 4 (MQL4).
• 85 pre-installed indicators available on the desktop app for greater insight into market trends.
• Access to 50 technical tools, multiple chart types, and 9 timeframes.
• Access to Pepperstone’s Smart Trader Tools suite for MT4 and MT5

Pepperstone MetaTrader 5

The MT5 trading platform is being adopted by more Forex brokers all the time; it has a more modern interface, allows for an unlimited number of charts to be used, shows Depth of Market, and has a built-in Economic Calendar. It also has a larger number of pending order types than MT4 and features an embedded chat system. Additionally, the MQL5 scripting language is more efficient than its precursor, and MT5 has more advanced charting tools than MT4.  Other features of MT5 include:

• Optimised processing speeds
• Share trading
• Built-in economic calendar
• 21 timeframes.
• 38 inbuilt indicators.
• Access to Pepperstone’s Smart Trader Tools suite for MT4 and MT5

Pepperstone provides a selection of user guides and videos on how to set up the various platforms.

Pepperstone cTrader

cTrader is an intuitive and user-friendly trading platform with advanced trading capabilities, such as fast entry and execution and coding customisation.  It also provides plenty of education and analysis materials to help beginner traders make better decisions. Key features of the cTrader platform include:

• Detailed trade analysis, including the analyze tab, which provides an overview of the performance of your account
• Large range of indicators
• Advanced platform customisation with cTrader Automate (formerly cAlgo)
• The ability to add multiple take-profit orders.
• Comprehensive educational videos are available within the platform.

Pepperstone also provides a range of helpful videos to help traders make the most of the cTrader platform.

Overall, Pepperstone’s trading platform support is one of the best in the industry. While it does not have a proprietary platform, which is usually simpler and easier to learn for beginners, the choice of any of the three major platforms will keep most traders satisfied. Beginners will also be interested in the cTrader platform, with its modern interface, integrated educational content, and advanced risk management features.

Autochartist

Free for all Pepperstone clients, Autochartist is an award-winning automated technical analysis tool that plugs into MT4, MT5 and cTrader and scans all available CFD markets for trading opportunities.

Autochartist’s advanced pattern recognition engine identifies the strongest potential trading opportunities and predicts future price movements. Some of Autochartist’s key features are:

• Chart pattern recognition
• Fibonacci pattern recognition
• Key level analysis
• Pattern quality indication

The market scanner provides statistically significant market movements and identifies important price levels that are catalysts for market movements.

API Trading

Pepperstone supports trading via its Application Programming Interface (API).  This technology is ideal for those using trading systems or developing their own custom-built system.  It allows an increased ability to see the depth of market and access to multiple liquidity providers.

Discounted VPS Services

Via two third-party companies (ForexVPS and New York City Servers), Pepperstone offers a discounted VPS (Virtual Private Server) service for traders using the MT4 and MT5 platforms. VPS hosting allows traders to run automated algorithmic strategies, including expert advisors 24 hours a day 7 days a week on a virtual machine. 

Both ForexVPS and New York City Servers have dedicated 24/5 customer support teams that can help new users get set up and install EAs and indicators directly to the virtual machines. VPS services have the advantage of never suffering connectivity issues and have extremely low latency due to their proximity to major international exchanges.

Pepperstone Social Trading

While Pepperstone does not offer a dedicated social trading platform, it offers support for both the Metatrader Signals marketplace and Duplitrade, a popular third-party trading strategy marketplace that allows you to automate your trading by following proven expert traders. 

While MetaTrader Signals can be followed by anyone using the Metatrader platform, the Duplitrade copy trading system is only accessible through Pepperstone with a 5000 AUD (or equivalent) minimum deposit.

Pepperstone’s Financial Instruments

Pepperstone’s range of financial instruments to trade is wider than most other brokers, with a large number of share CFDs and crypto baskets that are hard to find at similar brokers. Share CFDs are only available on the MT5 platform.

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Alongside Forex pairs, Pepperstone offers stocks, commodities, indices, and currency indices. Due to FCA regulations, maximum leverage on all assets is low, though this will be the same for all FCA-regulated brokers, and cryptocurrency trading is banned. Pepperstone generally offers a similar range of instruments as other brokers, but offers a wider range of Forex pairs and cryptocurrencies: 

Forex: Pepperstone offers 60+ currency pairs for trading, including majors (EUR/USD, GBP/USD, and USD/JPY) and minors (NZD/CAD, EUR/JPY, and USD/ZAR), and exotics (NOK/JPY, GBP/TRY and USD/MXN). At Pepperstone, there are more pairs to trade than most other Forex brokers, but ASIC regulations limit Forex leverage to 30:1.

Share CFDs: Pepperstone offers 900+ share CFDs, which is a similar number to other brokers. The selection available includes 600+ US stocks from the NASDAQ and NYSE as well as a selection of UK, German and Australian blue chips.  Note that share CFDs are only available on the MT5 platform. Leverage on share CFDs is up to 5:1.

Commodities: Pepperstone offers 24 commodities, whereas most brokers only offer trading on between 5 – 10 commodities.  These include gold, silver, platinum, petroleum, natural gas, and softs such as coffee, cocoa, and orange juice. Maximum leverage on commodities is 20:1.

Indices: Pepperstone offers trading on 23 indices, which is average compared to other similar brokers, and includes the likes of the NASDAQ, FTSE100, DAX30, Hang Seng, and even the JSE. Leverage is up to 20:1 on indices.

Currency Index CFDs: Currency indices track changes in the value of a currency against a basket of other currencies. This differs from a currency pair in that there must be more than one other currency that the main currency is being measured against. Currency indices available include the USD index, EUR index, and JPY index. Maximum leverage is 5:1.   

Overall, Pepperstone offers a wide range of financial instruments, and currency indices are not usually available at other brokers.  

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Pepperstone’s Education

Pepperstone’s education section is better than most other ECN brokers but falls short of the best education available at some of the large market maker brokers.

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Broker

Beginner Course

Advanced Course

Pepperstone

Yes

Yes

IC Markets

Yes

Yes

FP Markets

Yes

No

Pepperstone has structured education for beginner traders and helpful tips for newcomers trying to understand how trading fits into their lives. While the education section is not as detailed as with other brokers, it is one of the better education sections offered by ECN brokers.

Pepperstone offers various educational resources, including free trading guides, articles on how to trade Forex and CFDs, various courses and videos.  Its guides cater to beginner, intermediate, and advanced traders.  It also hosts regular webinars, and archives of previous webinars are available for free on its website.

Trading guides cover topics such as ‘the Psychology of Placing Your First Trade’, Forex Trading Basics and how Forex trading works, and introductions to various trading strategies.  It also offers MetaTrader4 and Forex trading courses. 

Weekly webinars pick up where the structured education stops, with more detailed strategy sessions led by expert traders. The webinar subjects vary from trading strategies to technical and fundamental analyses.  Note that to access the live webinars, one has to register a Pepperstone account.

Pepperstone’s Market Research and Analysis

Pepperstone’s market analysis is less frequent than many other large international brokers, but the quality is excellent and available in both video and text.

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Broker

Autochartist

Trading Central

Trading View

Pepperstone

Yes

No

No

IC Markets

Yes

Yes

No

FP Markets

Yes

No

No

The in-house Pepperstone research team runs a regular blog covering both fundamental and technical analyses. The research provides information on market-moving events outside of conventional news sources.  The research team also provides a ‘Daily Fix’ – a day-to-day analysis of events affecting the markets. 

Market analysis and trade ideas are available in both video and text form and the quality is invariably high and useful for traders of all experience levels. In addition, Pepperstone has partnered with FX Evolution to deliver fortnightly webinars on a range of topics based on both technical and fundamental analysis.

Pepperstone Customer Support

Pepperstone’s award-winning 24/5 customer service is available to help answer questions, should you need assistance with either technical or account-based queries. 

Customer support is available in 5 different languages including English, Spanish, Portuguese, Vietnamese, and Thai, via email, telephone, and live chat. UK clients have a dedicated toll-free number to call and for the purposes of this review, we found the customer service responsive, polite, and knowledgeable.

Evaluation Method

We value transparency and openness in the way we review the partners. To bring transparency to the forefront, we have published our review process that includes a detailed breakdown of the Pepperstone offering. Central to that process is the evaluation of the reliability of the broker, the platform offering of the broker, and the trading conditions offered to clients, which are summarised in this review. Each one of these is graded, and an overall score is calculated and assigned to the broker.

Pepperstone Risk Statement

Trading Forex is risky, and each broker is required to detail how risky the trading of Forex CFDs is to clients. Pepperstone would like you to know that: CFDs are complex instruments and come with a high risk of losing money rapidly due to leverage. 79.3% of Pepperstone Limited’s retail investor accounts lose money when trading CFDs. You should consider whether you understand how CFDs work and whether you can afford to take the high risk of losing your money.

Overview

Pepperstone is an internationally recognised FCA and ASIC regulated broker with high-speed trading execution, and an offering for beginners that most ECN brokers don’t have.  With all three of the major third-party trading platforms and very low spreads compared to most other brokers, Pepperstone’s clients have both the best available technology and the best available trading conditions that have earned Pepperstone their reputation.  With good education and market analysis sections, and a decent selection of trading tools, Pepperstone should be a top choice for British Forex traders looking for a low-cost and reliable ECN broker.