Pepperstone
Pros
- Founded in 2010, Pepperstone is regulated in two tier-1 jurisdictions, making it a safe broker (low-risk) for trading forex and CFDs.
- Pepperstone’s dual offering of MetaTrader and cTrader is a great fit for algorithmic traders and copy traders.
- Pepperstone provides multiple platform add-ons that enhance the MetaTrader experience.
- Research at Pepperstone is better than the industry average – though it still trails leaders such as IG or Saxo Bank.
- Pepperstone offers a growing selection of tradeable markets.
- Pricing is competitive for active traders on Pepperstone's Razor accounts, though trading costs for retail traders are just average.
- Multiple social copy trading platforms are available.
Cons
- The range of educational materials at Pepperstone is close to the industry average – but not as good as category leaders.
- Does not provide interactive courses, progress tracking, or educational quizzes.
Overall Summary
Trust Breakdown
Pepperstone is considered low-risk, with an overall Trust Score of 93 out of 99. Pepperstone is not publicly traded, does not operate a bank, and is authorised by two tier-1 regulators (high trust), two tier-2 regulators (average trust), and one tier-3 regulator (low trust). Pepperstone is authorised by the following tier-1 regulators: Australian Securities & Investment Commission (ASIC) and the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA). Learn more about Trust Score.
Offerings
While there are 2,342 symbols shown in Pepperstone’s MetaTrader 5 (MT5) platform, some of these are actually duplicates. That being said, there are more than 1,000 distinct markets available for trading – including forex and CFDs.
Cryptocurrency: Cryptocurrency trading is available at Pepperstone through CFDs, but not available through trading the underlying asset (e.g. buying Bitcoin). Crypto CFDs are not available to retail traders from any broker's U.K. entity, nor to U.K. residents.
The following table summarizes the different investment products available to Pepperstone clients.
Commissions and Fees
Pepperstone is an agency-execution broker that offers excellent pricing on its Razor account when combined with its Active Trader program for high-volume traders. Meanwhile, its Standard account is not as impressive, and features comparably higher spreads.
Razor account: The Razor account can be used with either the MetaTrader (MT4 or MT5) platforms or cTrader platforms, and follows a commission-based pricing structure (in addition to prevailing spreads). Pepperstone listed an average spread of 0.17 pips for the EUR/USD on its Razor account (as of November 2021). When including the commission-equivalent of 0.70 pips, the all-in cost jumps to 0.87 pips – which is slightly higher than the industry average.
Standard account: Pepperstone’s Standard account is commission-free, and has listed an average spread of 0.77 pips on the EUR/USD (as of November 2021). When considering the Razor’s all-in cost of 0.87 pips (including commission), the Standard account stands out as a more affordable option.
Active traders: Pepperstone's Active Trader program will rebate a portion of the spread, depending on your monthly trading volume and the applicable tier.
United Kingdom and EU: Professional clients that trade at least $10 million per month (100 standard lots) can be eligible for the Tier One rebate of 5% per lot. Tier Four rebates can be negotiated for those who do more than 500 lots monthly.
Australia: For Professional clients, a minimum of 100 lots is required (over a three month period) to qualify for the lowest tier in Pepperstone's Active Trader program. Tier One provides a discount of 5% per standard lot, which reduces the effective spread. Tier Three – available to those who trade more than 200 lots monthly – provides a 15% spread reduction.
Other Information
Mobile trading apps
There are multiple third-party platform options for mobile trading at Pepperstone. While these apps provide a reliable trading experience, our testing has found that proprietary apps are a factor that can set the highest-ranked brokers apart from the competition.
Apps overview: Traders have access to the MetaTrader suite of mobile apps (MT4 and MT5), as well as the cTrader mobile app – all of which are available directly from their respective developers on Google Play (for Android) and Apple App Store (for iOS).
Ease of use: While these third-party apps reliably deliver a good trading experience, our testing has found that the highest-ranked brokers offer proprietary mobile apps.
Pepperstone cTrader mobile watchlistzoom_in Pepperstone cTrader mobile chartingzoom_in Pepperstone cTrader mobile order entryzoom_in Pepperstone MetaTrader 5 mobilezoom_in Pepperstone MetaTrader 4 mobile chartingzoom_in
Feature Pepperstone logo
Android App Yes
Apple iOS App Yes
Mobile Alerts - Basic Fields Yes
Watchlists - Total Fields 7
Watchlist Syncing Yes
Charting - Indicators / Studies (Total) 15
Charting - Drawing Tools (Total) 30
Mobile Charting - Draw Trendlines Yes
Charting - Multiple Time Frames No
Forex Calendar Yes
Other trading platforms
Though Pepperstone lacks a proprietary platform, it offers nearly every third-party available on the market. Overall, we were impressed and Pepperstone finished Best in Class for MetaTrader again in 2022.
Platforms overview: Pepperstone offers the full MetaTrader suite (MT4 and MT5) developed by MetaQuotes Software Corporation, as well as the cTrader platform developed by Spotware Systems – both available for desktop and web. cAlgo is available for algorithmic trading, and traders can use both of Pepperstone’s account types (Standard or Razor) with any platform.
Charting: Charts are robust on both cTrader and MetaTrader. Both platforms support algorithmic trading, each with their own strengths and weaknesses. cTrader’s web-based platform has an advantage with its broader range of trading tools, though it requires the standalone cAlgo platform to run in parallel, whereas MetaTrader's desktop version contains the algorithmic trading module.
Trading tools: Pepperstone offers a suite of Smart Trader Tools plugins available as an add-on for MetaTrader accounts. For social copy trading, Pepperstone offers the MirrorTrader and RoboX platforms from Tradency, myFxbook for MetaTrader, and DupliTrade for cTrader (though it requires a $5,000 minimum balance required). Pepperstone finished Best in Class in the Social Copy Trading category for the fourth consecutive year for 2022.
Pepperstone cTrader desktop trading platformzoom_in Pepperstone cTrader desktop trading platform chartszoom_in Pepperstone cTrader desktop trading platform news headlineszoom_in Pepperstone cTrader desktop trading platform order Autochartistzoom_in Pepperstone cTrader desktop trading platform order dialougezoom_in Pepperstone MT5 desktop trading platformzoom_in Pepperstone MT5 desktop trading platform chartszoom_in Pepperstone MT5 desktop trading platform watchlistzoom_in Pepperstone client portalzoom_in
Feature Pepperstone logo
Virtual Trading (Demo) Yes
Proprietary Platform No
Desktop Platform (Windows) Yes
Web Platform Yes
Social Trading / Copy Trading Yes
MetaTrader 4 (MT4) Yes
MetaTrader 5 (MT5) Yes
DupliTrade Yes
ZuluTrade No
Charting - Indicators / Studies (Total) 15
Charting - Drawing Tools (Total) 30
Charting - Trade From Chart Yes
Watchlists - Total Fields 7
Market research
Pepperstone delivers a good balance of research content in both video and written format. The quality of Pepperstone’s research offering is a touch above the industry average, yet it’s not quite as robust as what’s offered by category leaders like IG and Saxo Bank.
Research overview: Pepperstone offers traders a combination of in-house content and access to third-party tools from providers like Autochartist (for pattern recognition and trading signals) and Delkos (for risk management). Pepperstone also provides access to a suite of MetaTrader add-ons called Smart Trader Tools, which is available to clients with an account balance of at least AUD 500, and includes useful features like sentiment indicators.
Market news and analysis: Pepperstone's in-house research consists of multiple daily articles and videos which cover technical and fundamental analysis. Content is synced across Pepperstone’s website and YouTube channel, and streaming news headlines can be found in the cTrader platform.
Pepperstone research daily market analysis articleszoom_in Pepperstone research videos YouTube market analysiszoom_in Pepperstone research videos YouTube channel archived webinars playlistzoom_in
Feature Pepperstone logo
Daily Market Commentary Yes
Forex News (Top-Tier Sources) Yes
Autochartist Yes
Trading Central (Recognia) No
Social Sentiment - Currency Pairs Yes
Education
While Pepperstone has a respectable array of archived webinars and videos, it is light on written content compared to education leaders such as FXCM or CMC Markets.
Learning center: Pepperstone has a "trading guides" category that features 40 articles – though they aren’t organized by experience level. Pepperstone offers roughly a dozen platform tutorials, and conducts a handful of webinars each month that are then added to its catalog of archived webinars on its YouTube channel.
Room for improvement: Though I found Pepperstone’s educational content to be high-quality, the overall offering was in line with the industry average for this category. Adding interactive courses with progress tracking and quizzes, and organizing articles by experience level would be welcome enhancements.
Pepperstone educational articles by experiencezoom_in Pepperstone archived webinars educational videos YouTubezoom_in Pepperstone research videos YouTube channel playlistszoom_in
Feature Pepperstone logo
Has Education - Forex or CFDs Yes
Client Webinars Yes
Client Webinars (Archived) Yes
Videos - Beginner Trading Videos Yes
Videos - Advanced Trading Videos Yes
Investor Dictionary (Glossary) Yes
Final Thoughts
Pepperstone has continued to increase its range of markets for forex and CFD traders (including spread-betting available in the U.K. and Ireland). It offers a rich platform experience for MetaTrader and cTrader – though its lack of a proprietary app holds Pepperstone back from competing with the best forex brokers.
Considering the low minimum deposit requirements, and its robust research and range of support for third-party platforms, Pepperstone is a great option for forex and CFDs traders – regardless of experience level.
What is the minimum deposit for Pepperstone?
Though Pepperstone lists a minimum deposit of $200, you can still begin trading if you deposit less than that recommended amount.
How much does Pepperstone cost?
Your trading costs at Pepperstone will mainly depend on what you trade and which type of account you set up. Using the EUR/USD as an example, after factoring in the per-trade commission of 0.7 pips, the effective spreads on the ECN Razor account were similar to the Standard account at 0.93 pips (using September 2021 data).
However, if you are an active trader, there are liquidity rebates available if you surpass certain monthly trading volume thresholds, which can further reduce your trading costs at Pepperstone.
Is my money safe with Pepperstone?
Pepperstone is a trusted broker thanks to its many years of operation, and its regulatory status in Tier 1 jurisdictions including in the U.K., EU, and Australia, in addition to Tier 2 and Tier 3 licenses.
These factors make Pepperstone a safe broker to hold your money, as it reliably processes more than $9.2 billion in daily trading volume and is trusted by more than 110,000 retail traders globally.
Choosing a broker that is well-capitalized - such as Pepperstone - is also important to reduce your counterparty risk, as any compensation fund may not suffice to cover all client losses in the extraordinary case of insolvency (depending on the size of your account balance).
About Pepperstone
Founded in 2010 in Melbourne, Pepperstone is regulated in Australia, the U.K., Cyprus, Germany, Kenya the UAE, and the Bahamas – locations that are also home to Pepperstone offices. Pepperstone processes, on average, $9.2 billion of trades daily for more than 110,000 retail trading accounts.
2022 Review Methodology
For our 2022 Forex Broker Review we assessed, rated, and ranked 39 international forex brokers over a three-month time period resulting in over 50,000 words of published research.
Each broker was graded on 113 different variables, including our proprietary Trust Score algorithm. This innovative scoring system ranks the level of trustworthiness for each broker based on factors such as licenses, regulation and corporate structure. Read about Trust Score here.
As part of our annual review process, all brokers had the opportunity to provide updates and key milestones and complete an in-depth data profile, which we hand-checked for accuracy.
Ultimately, our rigorous data validation process yields an error rate of less than .1% each year, providing site visitors with quality data they can trust. Learn more about how we test.
Forex Risk Disclaimer
There is a very high degree of risk involved in trading securities. With respect to margin-based foreign exchange trading, off-exchange derivatives, and cryptocurrencies, there is considerable exposure to risk, including but not limited to, leverage, creditworthiness, limited regulatory protection and market volatility that may substantially affect the price, or liquidity of a currency or related instrument. It should not be assumed that the methods, techniques, or indicators presented in these products will be profitable, or that they will not result in losses. Read more on forex trading risks.
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