CMC Markets Review Australia 2026

Verdict

CMC Markets earns a top-five ranking on this site for Australian traders for three reasons: an outstanding proprietary platform (Next Generation), one of the broadest product ranges available to retail clients in Australia (12,000+ CFDs plus an integrated stockbroking account), and a regulatory profile as strong as anything on offer in this country. The negatives are smaller and well-known: forex spreads on the Standard account are wider than the lowest-cost RAW brokers; share CFD financing rates are above-average; and the FX Active commission account, while solid, isn’t quite at the level of IC Markets or Pepperstone for raw-spread purists.

If you want a single platform that covers forex, indices, commodities, share CFDs, treasuries, ETFs and ASX-listed equities under one login with ASIC oversight, CMC is hard to beat. If you’re a high-frequency forex scalper chasing the absolute tightest spread, look at Pepperstone or IC Markets first.

Quick facts

Trading costs and fees

Standard (no-commission) spreads on AUD/USD and majors

The CMC Standard account charges no commission. You pay through the spread. Our most recent measurement of CMC’s published average spreads shows the broker sitting in the middle of the AU pack: tighter than easyMarkets, AvaTrade, and Mitrade, but wider than the RAW accounts at IC Markets, Pepperstone, FP Markets and Fusion Markets.

FX Active (commission) account

The FX Active commission account adds a $2.50 per side per 100k traded ($5 round-turn per standard lot) and reduces the spread closer to the underlying market. On EUR/USD, FX Active typically prices at around 0.5 pips plus the $5 round-turn commission. Total cost equates to approximately 1.0 pip equivalent at AUDUSD 0.65, competitive but not the cheapest in our 30-broker set.

Other fees AU traders should know about

• Overnight holding cost applies to CFD positions held past 5 PM New York. Direction-dependent; can be a credit on certain pairs.
• Guaranteed stop-loss premium is charged only if your GSLO is triggered. The premium is refunded if the stop never fires.
• Inactivity fee of AUD 15 per month after 12 months of no trading activity. Applied until the account hits zero or you reactivate.
• Currency conversion fee of 0.30% if you trade an instrument in a currency other than your account base. Hold an AUD account if you primarily trade AUD pairs.
• Stockbroking commission (CMC Stockbroking) has a separate fee schedule. International shares from $11 or 0.10%; ASX shares from AUD 11 per trade.
• Market data fees apply to advanced data on certain markets. Most retail traders won’t trigger these.

Trading platforms

Next Generation platform

Next Generation is CMC’s flagship proprietary platform and the reason most professional CFD traders rate CMC ahead of MT4/MT5 brokers. It runs on the web, desktop (Windows and macOS) and mobile (iOS, Android). Strengths over MetaTrader:

• 115+ technical indicators built in
• Pattern recognition scanner that flags chart patterns automatically
• Client sentiment data showing position bias on each instrument
• 70 chart patterns and 12 chart types out of the box
• Multi-screen layout templates (the five-minute layout is widely copied)
• Native guaranteed stop-loss orders
• Module-based interface lets you split forex, indices, commodities, equities into separate workspaces

The trade-off is that Next Generation does not run third-party expert advisors. If you want to run automated strategies, you stick with MT4 or look at brokers that offer MT5 (CMC retired MT5 access for AU clients in 2022).

MetaTrader 4

MT4 is available with CMC’s full execution stack, including ECN-style pricing on the FX Active account. It’s the right choice if you run EAs or have an existing MT4 strategy. The CMC MT4 build does not include the full 12,000-instrument range; you get forex, key indices, gold, silver and oil.

Mobile apps

Both Next Generation and MT4 mobile apps work well. The Next Generation iOS app includes Touch ID and Face ID authentication. The Android app does not yet have biometric login (verified at time of publish, check current spec). The mobile platform was awarded “Best Mobile Trading App” in our 2026 Best Brokers for Beginners review.

Trust and safety

Trust score: 9/10. Built from three components: regulation, operating history, and public-record reputation.

Regulation

CMC Markets Asia Pacific Pty Ltd holds AFSL 238054 with the Australian Securities and Investments Commission. This is a tier-1 regulator and the most relevant credential for an Australian retail trader. The AFSL has been continuously held since 2002. There have been no public ASIC enforcement actions or licence conditions imposed in the last 36 months.

Globally, the parent CMC Markets plc is regulated by:

• Financial Conduct Authority, UK (Tier 1)
• BaFin, Germany (Tier 1)
• Monetary Authority of Singapore (Tier 1)
• Canadian Investment Regulatory Organization (Tier 1)
• DFSA, UAE (Tier 2)
• FMA, New Zealand (Tier 2)
• Bermuda Monetary Authority (Tier 3)

This breadth of regulation matters because it means CMC operates under multiple sets of disclosure rules and capital requirements simultaneously. Regulatory arbitrage is not part of the business model.

Reputation and history

Founded in London in 1989 by Peter Cruddas. Listed on the London Stock Exchange (CMCX) since 2016 with a market cap around £700 million as of late 2024. The Australian entity has been the largest contributor to group revenue across multiple recent annual reports.

Australian context that matters:

• ASX-listed CMC Markets Stockbroking is the white-label provider behind ANZ Share Investing, established corporate trust signal
• Featured in Australian Financial Review broker coverage
• Member of AFCA for retail dispute resolution
• Segregated client funds held with an Approved Australian Bank

TrustPilot and public reviews

CMC carries a TrustPilot score of 4.3/5 from over 3,000 reviews globally. AU-specific reviews skew slightly higher. Common positives mentioned: platform stability, breadth of products, support quality. Common negatives: support hours, share CFD financing rates.

Account types and minimum deposit

Account options for AU clients

The Pro/Corporate account requires you to meet the Corporations Act wholesale client criteria. If you qualify (broadly: AUD 500k+ net financial assets, or AUD 250k+ income for two consecutive years, certified by an accountant), you can request higher leverage and tighter pricing. This is not a retail product.

Minimum deposit

CMC requires no minimum deposit to open an account. You’ll need to fund the account before placing trades. Most active traders we surveyed start with AUD 500 to 2,000. The platform will let you trade fractional positions at smaller balances, but margin requirements still apply.

Funding and withdrawals

Deposit methods (AU clients)

Withdrawals

$0 fee on all standard withdrawal methods. CMC requires withdrawals to use the same method as deposit where possible (anti-money-laundering compliance). Processing time is 1 to 2 business days for bank transfers; same-day for card refunds.

Account opening

Account opening is fully online and AUSTRAC-compliant, requiring one form of ID (driver’s licence or passport) and a second proof of address (utility bill, bank statement). Most AU applications are approved within 24 hours. Our test team rated CMC’s onboarding 8/15, solid but slightly more documentation requested than the lightest-touch onboarding flows (Plus500, eToro).

Product range

CMC’s strength. Over 12,000 CFDs across:

• Forex: 330+ pairs including 6 AUD crosses (AUD/USD, AUD/JPY, AUD/NZD, AUD/CAD, AUD/CHF, AUD/SGD). Full set of EUR, GBP, USD, JPY crosses.
• Indices: ASX 200, S&P/ASX SPI 200, plus all major global indices (S&P 500, NASDAQ, FTSE 100, DAX, Nikkei, Hang Seng).
• Shares CFDs: 10,000+ across ASX, NYSE, NASDAQ, LSE, EU exchanges. ASX coverage is among the deepest of any AU broker.
• Commodities: 100+ including gold (XAU/USD), silver, WTI and Brent crude, natural gas, agricultural softs.
• Cryptocurrencies: 39 crypto CFDs including BTC, ETH, XRP, ADA, SOL. Note ASIC’s 2:1 leverage cap on crypto CFDs.
• Treasuries / bonds: Australian 10-year bond, US T-Notes, German Bund, UK Gilts.
• ETFs: 1,000+ as CFDs.

For AU traders interested in direct ASX share investing alongside CFDs, CMC Stockbroking is offered as a separate but linked account. The same login. International share investing is also available.

Customer service

Phone, live chat and email. Hours: 24 hours, Monday to Friday Sydney time (closes Saturday morning AEDT, reopens Monday morning AEDT). Average live chat response in our testing: under 90 seconds. Knowledge of platform features: strong. Knowledge of tax treatment: agents correctly defer to “speak to your accountant” rather than guess.

Support languages: English, Mandarin, German, French, Italian, Polish, Swedish, Norwegian, Spanish.

The closed-weekend support window is the main customer service negative. Pepperstone, IG and Plus500 all offer some form of weekend support. If you trade weekend crypto markets and want live phone support, CMC isn’t the right fit.

Research and education

Education content

• Beginner course covering forex, CFDs, technical analysis basics
• Intermediate webinar series with in-house analysts
• Glossary of trading terms
• Trading guides for each platform
• YouTube channel with regular market analysis

Market research

Integrated into Next Generation:

• Morningstar fundamental research
• Reuters news feed
• CMC TV (in-house technical analysis videos)
• Economic calendar
• Client sentiment data

This research stack is one of the strongest for any AU broker, especially valuable if you trade equities and indices alongside forex.

How CMC compares to alternatives

Bottom line

CMC Markets is one of two or three brokers we’d recommend without hesitation to an Australian trader who values regulatory safety alongside a deep product offering. The Next Generation platform earns its reputation. The FX Active account is competitive without being category-leading. ASX integration, ASIC oversight since 2002, and an ASX-listed parent make trust signals about as strong as they get for a CFD broker.

Where to start: open the demo, spend 30 minutes inside the Next Generation platform’s pattern recognition scanner and client sentiment module, and decide if the proprietary tooling justifies running CMC alongside or instead of an MT4-focused broker. If you spend most of your trading time inside MT4 with EAs, run a side-by-side test against IC Markets or Pepperstone before committing.

Open a CMC Markets demo → (affiliate link, see our advertiser disclosure)