Tickmill vs IC Markets
Is Tickmill better than IC Markets? Who offers lower spread, better trading conditions and is safer broker to trade?
We provide answers to all questions in this Tickmill vs IC Markets Comparison Review. For this Review we opened real accounts and deposit over $6,000 in total to compare both offerings, account opening process at Tickmill vs IC Markets, also the fees, trading conditions, platform selection and withdrawal process.
What is Tickmill and IC Markets
Tickmill is a global Forex and CFDs broker, founded in 2014.
IC Markets is an Australian Forex and CFDs broker founded in 2007, headquartered in Sydney, Australia.
Some of the highlights of Tickmill vs IC Markets are:
| Tickmill | IC Markets | |
| 💻 Website | www.tickmill.com | www.icmarkets.com |
| 🛡️ Founded year | 2014 | 2007 |
| 🏦 Headquarter | London | Australia |
| 🗺️ Authorized & Regulated in | The UK, Cyprus, South Africa, Seychelles, Labuan | Australia, Cyprus, Seychelles, Bahamas |
| 🔒 Is Broker safe | Yes | Yes |
| 💰 EUR/USD Spread | 1.63 | 1.02 |
| 💳 Minimum deposit | US$100 | US$200 |
| 💰 Withdrawal fee | US$0 | $0 |
| 🖥️ Trading Platform | MetaTrader 4 | MetaTrader 4, MetaTrader 5, cTrader |
| 📈 Markets offered | Forex, Commodity, Indices & Bonds | Forex, Indices, Stocks, Commodities, Cryptocurrencies |
| 📉 Number of Products | 85 | 559 |
| 🔎 Our Detailed Review | Tickmill Review | IC Markets Review |
Licenses and Regulation
Tickmill vs IC Markets are both safe to trade and are highly reliable, low-risk trading Brokers due to regulations and are not a scam.
Tickmill is regulated by Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) and CySEC.
IC Markets is licensed by Cyprus’ CySEC, Seychelles’ FSA, and the Bahamas’ SCB.
For this review, we opened an account with Tickmill UK Ltd, regulated by FCA and with IC Markets (EU) Limited, licensed by the CySEC.
We recommend that you open your account with the Tickmill UK entity since it provides compensation of up to £85,000 if the broker goes bankrupt and with the IC Markets Australian or Cyprus entities if either is available to you.
| Tickmill | IC Markets | |
| 🔒 Licenses | FCA, CySEC, FSCA FSA | ASIC, CySEC, SCB, FSA |
| Top Tier License | ✔️ | ✔️ |
| Publically Traded | ❌ | ❌ |
| Compensation Scheme | ✔️ (depending on the entity) | ✔️ (depending on the entity) |
Tickmill vs IC Markets Fees
Tickmill vs IC Markets fees are similar, built into a spread basis, and both have commission-based accounts.
Tickmill charges low fees for stock index trades, while forex and commodities fees are average to high.
Most of the account types offered by IC Markets have very low spreads and do not charge a commission. Only the Raw Spread Account charges a commission.
| Tickmill Fees | IC Markets Fees | |
| Fees Based on Spread | ✔️ | ✔️ |
| Floating Spread | ✔️ | ✔️ |
| Fixed Spread | ❌ | ❌ |
| Commission Based Fees | ❌ | ✔️ |
| Inactivity Fee | $0 | $0 |
| Deposit Fee | $0 | $0 |
| Withdrawal Fee | $0 | $0 |
| Active Trader/ VIP Programs | ✔️ | ✔️ |
Spreads Charged in Our Trades
For our test trades on Tickmill vs IC Markets accounts, we chose popular instruments in each market. We placed 3 trades for each instrument to get the average spread and we were able to find both negative and positive sides for each Broker spreads.
Comparing the spreads charged in our trades to industry benchmarks, we found the Tickmill spread on stock indices to be quite low, but the spreads on Forex and commodities were in-line with industry averages or higher.
Through our testing we found that IC Markets spreads were generally low. The fees charged for trading indices, Forex pairs, commodities and cryptocurrencies were much lower than industry averages.
| Markets | Instruments | Tickmill commission | IC Markets commission | Industry avg. spread |
| Indices | FTSE 100 | 1.00 | 1.1 | 1.65 |
| Forex | EUR/USD | 1.63 | 1.0 | 1.16 |
| Commodities | Gold | 3.80 | 2.2 | 3.53 |
| Stocks | AAPL | – | 1.5 | 1.75 |
| Cryptocurrencies | Bitcoin | – | 39.24 | 72.81 |
| ETFs | QQQ | – | – | 0.45 |
Account Types Compared
Tickmill offers 3 account types: the Pro, Classic, and VIP accounts. The broker also offers swap-free forex accounts.
IC Markets offers 4 account types with slightly different features: the Standard account, cTrader raw spread account, the Raw spread account, and the Islamic account.
Tickmill account opening is fast and straightforward. The registration process took about 20 minutes and our account was approved in a day, which was impressive.
IC Markets account opening is quick and seamless. The registration process took exactly 14 minutes, and our account was approved in one working day.
| Tickmill Accounts | IC Markets Accounts | |
| Standard Account | ✔️ | ✔️ |
| ECN / Commission Based Account | ✔️ | ❌ |
| Islamic Account | ✔️ | ✔️ |
| PAMM Account | ❌ | ❌ |
Markets and Products
Tickmill vs IC Markets both offer a large variety of tradable instruments.
At Tickmill, you can trade CFDs on Forex, stock indices, commodities, and German government bonds. Popular asset classes, such as stocks, ETFs, mutual funds, bonds and options are missing.
IC Markets offers a wide variety of tradable instruments in the Forex, indices, stocks, commodities and cryptocurrencies markets.
| Markets | Tickmill Instruments | IC Markets Instruments |
| Indices | 13 | 23 |
| Forex | 62 | 61 |
| Commodities | 6 | 12 |
| Stocks | – | 453 |
| Cryptocurrency | – | 10 |
| ETFs | – | – |
| Bonds | 4 | – |
Trading Conditions
The trading conditions both at Tickmill vs IC Markets are great. Both traders allow high-risk strategies such as hedging and scalping.
| Trading Method | Tickmill | IC Markets |
| Hedging | ✔️ | ✔️ |
| Scalping | ✔️ | ✔️ |
| Change Leverage | ✔️ | ✔️ |
| Copy-trading/ Social trading | ✔️ | ✔️ |
| Beginners Trading | ✔️ | ✔️ |
| Professional Trading | ✔️ | ✔️ |
Deposit and Withdrawal
Tickmill processes client withdrawals quite fast with zero charges on each withdrawal. IC Markets does charge an AUD $20 fee on international bank transfer withdrawals.
Both Tickmill vs IC Markets’ clients can deposit funds into their trading accounts via bank transfers, debit/credit cards, and e-wallets such as Skrill and Neteller. IC Markets also accepts PayPal.
All the deposit methods offered by Tickmill are instant and free, except for bank transfers, which take 1 working day and usually incur a $25 fee charged by the bank.
We have tested the deposit process on IC Markets using multiple payment modes. Both deposit and withdrawal processes on IC Markets are quick and simple.
| Tickmill | IC Markets | |
| 💰 Deposit Fee | ❌ | ❌ |
| 💰 Withdrawal fee | $0 | $0 ($20 for international bank withdrawals) |
| 💳 Minimum deposit | US$100 | US$200 |
| Bank Transfer | ✔️ | ✔️ |
| Debit/ Credit Cards | ✔️ | ✔️ |
| PayPal | ❌ | ✔️ |
| Skrill | ✔️ | ✔️ |
| Neteller | ✔️ | ✔️ |
Trading Platform
Both Tickmill vs IC Markets offer the popular MetaTrader 4 (MT4) platform and do not have proprietary trading platforms. IC Markets also offers MT5 platform to its clients.
The MT4 platform is decent enough and can be customized to a high degree. However, the design is getting old, and we would have loved to see Tickmill offer MT5, too, which is the newer version of the platform.
Algorithmic traders will find a home with IC Markets, which offers fast execution speeds and guarantees no requotes on submitted trades. The broker’s cTrader platform offers the cAlgo app that algorithmic traders can use. The cTrader Copy app allows for social copy trading.
| Tickmill Platform | IC Markets Platform | |
| Proprietary Platform | ❌ | ❌ |
| Web Platform | ✔️ | ✔️ |
| Desktop Platform | ✔️ | ✔️ |
| Mobile App | ✔️ | ✔️ |
| Alternative Platforms | ❌ | ❌ |
| MetaTrader 4 | ✔️ | ✔️ |
| MetaTrader 5 | ❌ | ✔️ |
| Simple to Use Platform | ✔️ | ✔️ |
| Demo Account Trading | ✔️ | ✔️ |
| Execution Agency Model | ✔️ | ❌ |
| Research | ✔️ | ✔️ |
| Advanced Research Tools | ✔️ | ❌ |
Education and Support
Both Tickmill vs IC Markets have a great education offering for beginners.
IC Markets offers a great forex trading course for beginners that covers topics such as technical analysis and trading psychology.
Tickmill does a good job in education offering webinars, seminars, eBooks, video tutorials, etc. Tickmill’s customer support team was helpful and provided relevant answers to our questions.
We found that IC Markets’ education offering lacks depth, and we would like to see the broker add more content on intermediate and advanced topics. The broker’s customer support team was quite responsive and resolved our issues.
| Tickmill Support | IC Markets Support | |
| Trading School for Beginners | ✔️ | ✔️ |
| Tutorials | ✔️ | ✔️ |
| Trading Videos | ✔️ | ✔️ |
| Webinars | ✔️ | ✔️ |
| Daily News and Analysis | ✔️ | ✔️ |
| Economic Calendar | ✔️ | ✔️ |
| Live Chat | ❌ | ✔️ |
| Email Support | ✔️ | ✔️ |
| 24/7 availability | ❌ | ✔️ |
Conclusion on Tickmill vs IC Markets
Comparing Tickmill vs IC Markets side by side we found both brokers reliable and with good standing. Tickmill allows traders to trade with almost any trading strategy including scalping, which is great for day trading and EA trading. IC Markets provides relatively low spreads and breakneck execution speeds.
Overall, we had a smooth experience with Tickmill starting from the account opening, to the deposit, trading and withdrawal processes.
We recommend Tickmill for traders who run EAs, scalping and prefer the MT4 platform, as well as those interested in trading with FCA-regulated brokers.
Overall, our experience with IC Markets was positive. Our experience with customer support was also good.
We recommend IC Markets to all levels of traders from beginners, intermediate and advanced traders who can all benefit from its services.
| Tickmill | IC Markets | |
| Recommended for | ✔️ Beginning Traders ✔️ Experienced traders ✔️ Trading Currency Pairs ✔️ EAs trading ✔️ Scalping trader ✔️ Hedging trader ✔️ Trading through MT4 | ✔️ Beginning Traders ✔️ Trading Currency Pairs ✔️ Cryptocurrency Trading ✔️ Scalping trader ✔️ Hedging trader |
| Might not be fit for | ❌ Commission-based trading ❌ Real Stock / Futures Trading ❌ Prefer other platforms rather than MT4 | ❌ Trading Futures or Real Stocks ❌ Commission-based trading |
Author of this review
By George Rossi
Author of this review
I am a well-rounded financial services professional experienced in fundamental and technical analysis, global macroeconomic research, foreign exchange and commodity markets and an independent trader.
Now I am passionate about reviewing and comparing forex brokers.
Everything you find on BrokerTested is based on reliable data and unbiased information. We combine our 10+ years finance experience with readers feedback. Read more about our methodology