Is AvaTrade better than IC Markets? Which of them has a lower spread, better trading conditions, and is a safer broker to trade?
We provide answers to all questions in this AvaTrade vs IC Markets Comparison Review. For this Review, we opened real accounts and deposited over US $9,000 in total to compare both offerings, the account opening process at AvaTrade and IC Markets, also, we checked fees, trading conditions, platform selection, and withdrawal process.
What is AvaTrade and IC Markets?
AvaTrade is a large and popular broker that offers trading with forex, indices, commodities, bonds, cryptocurrencies, stocks, and ETFs.
IC Markets is an Australian Forex and CFDs broker with hundreds of tradable market instruments in such categories as forex pairs, indices, commodities, and cryptocurrencies.
Some of the highlights of AvaTrade vs IC Markets are:
| AvaTrade | IC Markets | |
| 💻 Website | www.avatrade.com | www.icmarkets.com |
| 🛡️Founded year | 2006 | 2007 |
| 🏦 Headquarter | Dublin, Ireland | Sydney, Australia |
| 🗺️ Authorized & Regulated in | Ireland, Japan, Australia, UAE, South Africa, British Virgin Islands | Australia, Cyprus, Seychelles, Bahamas |
| 🔒 Is Broker safe | Yes | Yes |
| 💰 EUR/USD Spread | 0.87 | 1.02 |
| 💳 Minimum deposit | US$100 | US$200 |
| 💰 Withdrawal fee | US$0 | US$0 |
| 🖥️ Trading Platform | MT4, MT5, AvaTradeGO, AvaOptions, WebTrader | MT4, MT5, cTrader |
| 📈 Markets offered | Forex, Indices, Commodities, Bonds, Cryptocurrencies, Stocks, ETFs | Forex, Stocks, Indices, Commodities, Cryptocurrencies |
| 📉 Number of Products | 796 | 559 |
| 🔎 Our Detailed Review | AvaTrade Review | IC Markets Review |
Licenses and Regulation
Both Brokers are safe to trade and are considered reliable, they both provide a low-risk trading environment and are not a scam.
AvaTrade has gained 7 regulatory licenses from some of the top regulators, including Australia, Ireland, Abu Dhabi, and Japan.
IC Markets is licensed by 4 regulators worldwide including the top-tier Australian Securities and Investments Commission (ASIC), the Cyprus Securities and Exchange Commission (CySEC), Seychelles’ Financial Services Authority (FSA), and The Securities Commission of The Bahamas (SCB).
For this review, we opened an account with AvaTrade EU Ltd which is regulated by the Central Bank of Ireland, and a standard MT5 account with IC Markets (EU) Limited, licensed by the Cyprus Securities and Exchange Commission (CySEC).
We recommend that you register your AvaTrade account with the Irish, Australian, or Abu Dhabi entity and IC Markets account with the Australian or Cyprus entity if available in your jurisdiction.
| AvaTrade | IC Markets | |
| 🔒 Licenses | ASIC, CySEC, DFSA FCA, FSC | AFSL, CySEC, FSA, SCB |
| Top Tier License | ✔️ | ✔️ |
| Publically Traded | ❌ | ❌ |
| Compensation Scheme | ✔️ (depending on the entity) | ✔️ (depending on the entity) |
AvaTrade vs IC Markets Fees
AvaTrade vs IC Markets fees are built into spreads with no commission-based fees, IC Markets charges low fees trading most of the instruments on offer. The fees charged for trading forex pairs, indices, commodities, and cryptocurrencies are lower than the industry average. From all account types, only Raw Spread Account charges commissions.
As for additional fees, AvaTrade charges an inactivity fee of $50 or €50 or £50 every quarter after 3 months of account inactivity, also administration fees of $100, €100, £100 after a year of inacticity, while IC Markets does not charge any non-trading fees.
| AvaTrade | IC Markets | |
| Fees based on the spread | ✔️ | ✔️ |
| Floating Spread | ✔️ | ✔️ |
| Fixed Spread | ❌ | ❌ |
| Commission-based fees | ❌ | ❌ |
| Inactivity Fee | $50, €50, £50 | $0 |
| Deposit fee | $0 | $0 |
| Withdrawal fee | $0 | $0 |
| Active trader/ VIP Programs | ❌ | ✔️ |
Spreads Charged in Our Trades
For our test trades on AvaTrade vs IC Markets accounts, we chose popular instruments in each market. We placed 3 trades for each instrument and listed the average actual spread charged on the live trades done through a funded account. Forex traders may prefer AvaTrade more since it offers lower spreads than IC Markets, whereas, for indices, stocks, commodities, and cryptocurrencies traders IC Markets wins the offering.
AvaTrade’s spreads for forex are much below the industry standards. The offered spreads on indices and commodities are also below the average industry benchmark, while for stock and cryptocurrencies are above the industry average.
A deeper look at the IC Markets spreads charged shows that they were mostly below the industry average except dor the stock spreads that were aligned with the industry average
| Markets | Instruments | AvaTrade Avg. spread | IC Markets Avg. spread | Industry avg. spread |
| Indices | FTSE 100 | 1.17 | 1.0 | 1.65 |
| Forex | EUR/USD | 0.87 | 1.0 | 1.16 |
| Commodities | Gold | 3.67 | 2.2 | 3.53 |
| Stocks | AAPL | 2.1 | 1.5 | 1.75 |
| Cryptocurrencies | Bitcoin | 57.93 | 39.24 | 72.81 |
| Bonds | GVD/EUR Bonds | 0.04 | – | – |
| ETFs | VXXB | 0.13 | – | – |
Account Types Compared
IC Markets gives traders a choice to pick different accounts since it offers 4 account types with slightly different functionality. Those types are the Standard account, cTrader raw Spread account, the Raw Spread account, and Islamic account. AvaTrade account range is limited to 2 account types: Standard and Islamic accounts.
With AvaTrade our account opening experience was quick and smooth. The registration process took merely 15 minutes. Our account was verified after 1 business day.
Account Opening with IC Markets for our test was smooth, the registration process took exactly 14 minutes. The account was approved in 1 business day.
| AvaTrade Accounts | IC Markets Accounts | |
| Standard Account | ✔️ | ✔️ |
| ECN / Commission Based Account | ❌ | ❌ |
| Islamic Account | ✔️ | ✔️ |
| PAMM Account | ❌ | ❌ |
Markets and Products
Both AvaTrade and IC Markets offer a similar and very wide range of instruments with a slight difference across all the markets. Both brokers offer all instruments on a CFD basis. However, ETFs and Bonds traders should use Avatrade since IC Markets does not offer instruments in those markets.
| Markets | AvaTrade Instruments | IC Markets Instruments |
| Indices | 23 | 23 |
| Forex | 55 | 61 |
| Commodities | 29 | 12 |
| Stocks | 614 | 453 |
| Cryptocurrency | 14 | 10 |
| ETFs | 59 | – |
| Bonds | 2 | – |
Trading Conditions
The brokers provide excellent trading conditions to their clients offering high-risk trading strategies like scalping and hedging, they are a good fit for social and copy traders. Both AvaTrade and IC Markets are suitable for beginners and experts.
The only difference is that, unlike Avatrade, IC Markets does allow changing leverage.
| Trading Method | AvaTrade | IC Markets |
| Hedging | ✔️ | ✔️ |
| Scalping | ✔️ | ✔️ |
| Change Leverage | ❌ | ✔️ |
| Copy trading/ Social trading | ✔️ | ✔️ |
| Beginners Trading | ✔️ | ✔️ |
| Professional Trading | ✔️ | ✔️ |
Deposit and Withdrawal
The Avatrade vs IC Markets review shows that deposit processes on AvaTrade and IC Markets are quick and simple.
Our experience with withdrawal on Avatrade was mixed. We faced some issues with our initial withdrawal request, but it was resolved as soon as possible, also deposit via debit card was not instant. It showed “pending” for 3 hours.
We didn’t face any challenges during the deposit and withdrawal processes with IC Markets.
AvaTrade allows clients to deposit through wire transfers, credit cards, and popular e-wallets like Skrill, Neteller, and Paypal.
IC Markets’ clients can deposit funds into their trading accounts via bank transfers, debit/credit cards, and e-wallets such as Skrill, PayPal, and Neteller.
Important to mention, that IC Markets charges an AUD $20 fee for international bank transfers withdrawal.
| AvaTrade | IC Markets | |
| 💰 Deposit Fee | ❌ | ❌ |
| 💰 Withdrawal fee | ❌ | ❌(with an exception) |
| 💳 Minimum deposit | US$100 | US$200 |
| Bank Transfer | ✔️ | ✔️ |
| Debit/ Credit Cards | ✔️ | ✔️ |
| PayPal | ✔️ | ✔️ |
| Skrill | ✔️ | ✔️ |
Trading Platform
Both AvaTrade and IC Markets offer their clients popular MetaTrader4 and MetaTrader5 platforms, traders can get access those platforms via desktop, mobile, or web. IC Markets also offers the cTrader platform as well as copy-trading systems attached to each platform.
In contrary to IC Markets, AvaTrade offers its clients a proprietary web-based platform WebTrader, also AvaTradeGo for mobile trading, and AvaOptions for forex vanilla options.
AvaTrade’s own web trading platform and its mobile trading platform are also very clean and easy to use for the traders. For our tests, however, we placed the orders on the MetaTrader 4 mobile 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 to social/copy trade.
| AvaTrade Platform | IC Markets Platform | |
| 🖥️ Proprietary Platform | ✔️ | ❌ |
| Web Platform | ✔️ | ✔️ |
| Desktop Platform | ✔️ | ✔️ |
| Mobile App | ✔️ | ✔️ |
| Alternative Platforms | ✔️ | ✔️ |
| MetaTrader4 | ✔️ | ✔️ |
| Simple to use platform | ✔️ | ✔️ |
| Demo Account Trading | ✔️ | ✔️ |
| Execution Agency Model | ❌ | ❌ |
| Research | ✔️ | ✔️ |
| Advanced Research tools | ✔️ | ✔️ |
Education and Support
Both AvaTrade and IC Markets offer excellent trading educational materials for new traders. The customer service team was quite helpful and gave us direct but sometimes inaccurate answers to our questions.
AvaTrade offers tutorial videos on trading and platform-tools, eBooks and web-based guides on trading, as well as webinars. The broker also offers a demo account for novice traders.
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.
| AvaTrade 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 AvaTrade vs IC Markets
Summing up our AvaTrade vs IC Markets review, we came to the point that both brokers are safe to trade and highly reliable.
Both brokers provide excellent trading conditions to their clients with a wide range of instruments, with a slight difference that AvaTrade does not allow change leverage. However, bonds and ETFs traders have to choose AvaTrade since IC Markets does not provide trading with these markets.
In contrast to IC Markets, AvaTrade fees are mostly built into spreads with no commission fee, only Raw Spread Account charges commissions. However, AvaTrade charges an inactivity fee, while IC Markets does not have non-trading fees.
We didn’t face any deposit and withdrawal issues with IC Markets, but there’s was an issue on AvaTrade with our initial withdrawal which was quickly resolved by the excellent customer support after all.
Overall experience with AvaTrade was smooth, we liked the broker’s educational materials, which were quite impessive. Our experience with customer support was also good. We recommend AvaTrade to traders who focus on trading currencies and traders who would like to run hedging or scalping as their trading strategies.
Overall, our experience with IC Markets was good. We recommend IC Markets to all levels of traders from beginners, intermediate and advanced traders who can all benefit from its services.
| AvaTrade | IC Markets | |
| Recommended for | ✔️Trading currency pairs or CFD stocks ✔️ Beginning Traders ✔️ Experienced traders ✔️ Scalping trader ✔️ Hedging trader ✔️ EA trader ✔️ Trading through MT4/MT5 platform | ✔️ Beginning Traders ✔️ Trading Currency Pairs ✔️ Cryptocurrency Trading ✔️ Scalping trader ✔️ Hedging trader ✔️ Trading through MT4/MT5 platform |
| Might not be fit for | ❌ Commission-based trading ❌ Real Stock/Futures Trading | ❌ Trading Futures or Real Stocks ❌ Commission-based trading |