Eightcap vs IC Markets Comparison – 2025

Top Reasons to Choose Eightcap or IC Markets

Based on our assessment, Eightcap is suited to beginners who rely on expert market research and advanced traders seeking a large selection of cryptocurrencies. IC Markets is ideal for short-term and algorithmic traders, from intermediate to advanced levels, who seek low spreads and ultra-fast execution.

Eightcap: Snapshot

Founded in 2009 in Melbourne, Australia, Eightcap operates under licenses from five financial authorities, including three Tier-1 regulators. The broker provides a range of flexible account types, an excellent selection of trading platforms, expert market research videos, and access to over 800 tradable instruments.

Eightcap: Who is it For?

Eightcap is well-suited for novice traders searching for expert market research videos from seasoned analysts and beginners who favor utilizing micro-lot trading accounts for small account balances. The broker also caters to experienced cryptocurrency traders, boasting a selection of over 92 crypto pairs.

What Makes Eightcap Stand Out?

Eightcap distinguishes itself as a broker regulated by three Tier-1 authorities. It provides market research videos by renowned industry experts and offers various account types alongside innovative trading tools like its AI economic calendar. Additionally, Eightcap has an extensive range of cryptocurrency pairs for trading.

IC Markets: Snapshot

Established in 2007, IC Markets was founded in Sydney, Australia. Licensed by three financial authorities, including two Tier-1 regulators, IC Markets provides access to over 2,200 tradable instruments through the MT4, MT5, and cTrader platforms, along with additional research tools.

IC Markets: Who is it For?

IC Markets is ideal for advanced short-term traders due to its competitive ECN-style pricing and ultra-fast trade execution under 40 milliseconds. The broker offers a zero requote policy and no minimum order distance restriction, making it perfect for short-term traders and those who use algorithmic strategies.

What Makes IC Markets Stand Out?

IC Markets stands out as a well-regulated broker, licensed by three financial authorities, including two Tier-1 regulators. It offers access to MT4, MT5, and cTrader platforms, third-party research tools from Autochartist and Trading Central, an above-average range of tradable instruments, and low trading fees.

Trust

Eightcap vs IC Markets Trust and Regulation Comparison

Founded in 2009, Eightcap operates with three entities licensed by Tier-1 regulators: CySEC (Cyprus), FCA (UK), and ASIC (Australia). Additionally, one entity is licensed by a Tier-3 regulator, the SCB (Bahamas), while another entity based in the Seychelles is unregulated. The Tier-1 regulated entities ensure the highest level of investor protection and transparency regarding in trading conditions.

Founded in 2007, IC Markets has two entities licensed by Tier-1 regulators, CySEC (Cyprus) and ASIC (Australia), ensuring top-tier safety and stability. Another entity is licensed by the Tier-3 regulator, FSA (Seychelles), which provides insurance coverage of up to $1 million through Lloyds of London. With over 18 years of experience, the broker maintains a strong commitment to transparency.

Fees

Eightcap vs IC Markets Spreads, Fees, and Commissions Comparison

We assessed that Eightcap offers competitive spreads across most asset classes. Spreads on commodities, shares, indices, and cryptocurrencies are particularly tight. In our live tests of the Standard commission-free account, the spread on Gold averaged just 12 cents, while the spread on Bitcoin was around $15 — half the industry average. Swap fees align with industry standards, and the Australian entity does not charge any inactivity or account maintenance fees.

IC Markets provides highly competitive spreads in both its Standard and ECN accounts. In our tests of the commission-free Standard CFD Account, the spread for EUR/USD averaged 0.8 pips during the London and New York sessions, outperforming the industry average of 1.08 pips. Moreover, the broker does not charge handling fees, account maintenance fees, or inactivity fees.

For more options, you can also check out our list of the best forex brokers with the lowest spreads.

Platforms and Tools

Eightcap vs IC Markets Trading Platforms Comparison

Eightcap provides the MT4 and MT5 trading platforms across desktop, web, and mobile devices. The MT5 web platform, featuring a user-friendly interface, includes real-time quotes, watchlists, 31 technical indicators, 4 analytical objects, 9 timeframes, and 3 chart types, making it ideal for novice traders. Advanced traders may prefer the desktop platform, which offers an expanded range of timeframes, indicators, and algorithmic trading capabilities. Additionally, Eightcap offers the TradingView platform, known for its intuitive design and accessibility, particularly for beginners.

IC Markets offers a comprehensive selection of trading platforms, including MT4, MT5, cTrader, and TradingView. These platforms are ideal for advanced traders, with cTrader specifically designed for high-frequency, short-term trading, offering features like one-click trading and depth of market. Beginners may prefer the mobile apps, which are user-friendly but have limited charting capabilities. TradingView, one of the largest social trading hubs in the industry, is highly intuitive and well-suited for beginners. Additionally, trading signals from Autochartist and market research from Trading Central provide valuable support for new traders.

Tradable Instruments

Eightcap vs IC Markets Instruments Selection Comparison

Eightcap offers a diverse selection of over 800 financial CFD instruments across global asset classes, catering to traders of all proficiency levels. Its extensive offering for cryptocurrency traders, with over 92 cryptocurrency CFDs available, is particularly noteworthy.

IC Markets boasts a vast selection of over 2,200 financial CFD instruments covering global asset classes. While beneficial for a wide range of traders, the broker excels in catering to stock traders, offering more than 2,100 stock CFDs from regions including the U.S., Australia, Amsterdam, Spain, France, Germany, and the UK.

Customer Support

Eightcap vs IC Markets Customer Support Comparison

Eightcap provides customer support from 9:00 AM to midnight (GMT + 2), accessible via phone, live chat, and email seven days a week. During our live test, we observed a mixed experience. While the live chat support was slow, the agents proved helpful and knowledgeable. Emails were responded to within 1 business day.

IC Markets offers 24/7 customer support via email and live chat. Email responses were received within a day, and live chat within two minutes. The responses were thorough and helpful. However, the general support phone number did not work.

Research

Eightcap vs IC Markets Research Tools Comparison

Eightcap delivers expert market analysis through its YouTube channel and dedicated analysts. Their offerings include a Weekly Market Breakdown, summarizing key news and its impact on the markets. The AI Economic Calendar is particularly useful for news-based and fundamental traders, covering over 1,000 economic events across 55 countries, along with historical event analysis and future price range projections. Capitalize.ai enables clients to test and automate trading strategies using plain text instead of code. Additionally, Eightcap features live webinars hosted by seasoned industry experts.

IC Markets offers a diverse range of research tools, blending proprietary insights with third-party resources like Autochartist and Trading Central. Traders can explore detailed technical analysis, market sentiment data, and an intuitive economic calendar. Regular market reviews are available on the broker’s blog and YouTube channel, while a Myfxbook-powered news screener keeps traders updated. The research is well-suited for day and swing traders, with a strong emphasis on technical analysis.

Deposits and Withdrawals

Eightcap vs IC Markets Deposit and Withdrawal Methods Comparison

Eightcap facilitates fee-free deposits and withdrawals through various methods: bank wire transfer (2 – 7 working days), Visa/Mastercard (instant), and Skrill (1 – 5 business days). Withdrawals via Visa, Mastercard, and Skrill require a minimum of 10 EUR/USD/GBP, while bank wire transfers have a minimum of 30 EUR/USD/GBP.

IC Markets offers 15 fee-free deposit and withdrawal methods for more than ten currencies. Most methods, such as debit/credit cards, PayPal, Neteller, and Skrill, offer instant processing times. Bank wire transfers take the longest (2 – 5 working days), and international wires can take up to 14 working days.

Account Types and Terms

Eightcap vs IC Markets Account Types Comparison

Eightcap provides two distinct account types catering to different trading styles. The Standard Account, ideal for beginners, facilitates commission-free and micro lot trading of 0.01 lots. The Raw Account, tailored for advanced and short-term traders, features lower spreads than the Standard Account but entails a commission of USD 3.50 per lot, which aligns with the industry average.

IC Markets offers three account types for different traders. The Standard MetaTrader Account offers zero-commission trading and is suited for beginner traders. The Raw Spread MetaTrader and Raw Spread cTrader accounts charge lower spreads and a commission per trade. The Raw Spread cTrader commission is USD 3.00 per lot, better than the industry average of USD 3.50.

Education

Eightcap vs IC Markets Educational Content Comparison

Eightcap provides a limited selection of educational resources. While it offers articles on fundamentals and trading strategies, there are no platform video tutorials, webinars, or courses available. The materials are primarily geared towards beginner traders seeking introductory information.

IC Markets offers an extensive range of educational resources, including articles, tutorial videos, and live webinars. The content library caters to both beginner and advanced traders, covering topics such as algorithmic trading.

Our Methodology

Since 2011, FX Empire has developed a detailed methodology for evaluating CFD brokers, involving over 250 variables across nine crucial categories. Our team of experts, with deep industry knowledge, conducts live testing and research by interacting with the brokers directly. We check regulations, open accounts, test spreads, account costs, platform functionality, instrument variety, customer support reliability, and the quality of research and educational content. This granular analysis helps us identify each broker’s strengths and weaknesses, keeping our comparisons current with market trends and ensuring our guides meet traders’ needs.

We strive to evaluate each broker objectively, considering how their offerings align with the diverse trading goals and preferences of our readers. Our focus is on providing a balanced overview of each broker’s strengths and weaknesses. This method ensures that our readers receive clear, insightful comparisons to aid in making well-informed trading decisions.

We employ a comprehensive rating system across nine key categories:

• Trust
• Fees
• Platforms and Tools
• Tradable Instruments
• Customer Support
• Research
• Deposits and Withdrawals
• Account Types and Terms
• Education

In each category, we conduct an in-depth analysis for both brokers, outlining features, advantages, and disadvantages and determining their suitability for different trader profiles. By blending insights from our extensive reviews with first-hand experiences and observations, we ensure each comparison is balanced, informative, and tailored to the trader’s unique needs. You can read more about our review process here.

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