A Forex Broker with CFD Options
Pepperstone is one of the young and aspiring forex brokers of the last decade. It is a Melbourne based Forex broker firms founded in 2010. Pepperstone’s expertise offerings are in the FOREX market with additional markets such as CFDs, Cryptocurrency, and Commodities.
Pepperstone is still a privately held firm with Pepperstone Group Limited name. It is regulated by Australia by the Australian Securities and Investment Commission (ASIC) and FCA in the UK. It is also regulated in UAE, Kenya, and Bahamas.
The FOREX market is considered the world’s largest financial market with over 6 Trillion dollars in trade per day globally. We at Broker Finder have compiled a review of Pepperstone for our clients to better understand the risks and rewards associated with online broker platforms.
We at Brokers-finder.com have analyzed the top industry online brokers for you. Here is our review for Pepperstone to guide you through.
Quick Wrap up
Pepperstone does not offer a built-in trading platform. Rather it offers one of the industry-standard platforms MT4, MT5, and cTrader. It’s more suitable for customers looking for FOREX trading with good spreads and commission structure. Although it offers few of the top share CFDs and Index CFD to its clients.
Overview
Pepperstone is a young online broker with a working history of just under a decade. It doesn’t have a dedicated trade platform of its own. It offers online brokerage services to global clients through its online and mobile applications. It mainly offers three industry-leading platforms:
- MetaTrader 4
- MetaTrader 5
- cTrader.
Although Pepperstone’s best-offered market is FOREX, you can find other markets and products in Share CFDs, Indices, Cryptocurrency, and Commodities too.
Let us take a glance at its platform's capabilities, pricing, and other features.
Account opening and availability
Account opening with Pepperstone is easier with the online account opening process. There are two types of trade accounts that customers can open:
- “standard”
- “razor”
Both accounts come with different pricing and charges.
As an exceptional offer, Pepperstone has exclusive Benefits such as Premium Rebates, Advanced Market insights, and premium customer support to its premium account holders.
Pepperstone offers broker services to its customers globally through out their website and performing mobile applications. Clients from most parts of the world can open a trade account with Pepperstone. Customers will need to provide 2 photo ID’s (Primary or secondary) documents while opening an online account opening. However, due to local regulatory requirements, it does not offer services to some countries. The most notable absences from Pepperstone's list of countries are the US, Canada and Japan.
It is possible to try out Pepperstone as it offers the option of a Demo account before you get registered for a Live trading account.
Products and markets
Pepperstone’s major broker services offer FOREX trading. One of the major benefits of FOREX trading is its 24/7 availability across the world markets. Pepperstone offers more than 60 currency pairs categorized in majors, minors, and Crosses and Exotics.
Here is the list of Markets and products offered with Pepperstone.
- FOREX
- Share CFDs
- Index CFDs
- Dividends for Index CFDs (Limited options subject to availability)
- Commodity CFDs
- Cryptocurrency
- Currency Index CFDs
Pepperstone has a selective range of Share CFDs, but the tactfully selected options include industry exclusives.
Some of the top Share CFD options with Pepperstone include:
- Alphabet Inc. (Google)
- Amazon
- AbbVie Inc.
- Alibaba Group
- Apple
- AT&T
- ExxonMobil
- IBM Inc.
- The Coca-Cola Company
- Walmart
- or Wells Fargo and Co.
Whereas their major FOREX Currency pairs include:
- EUR/USD
- GBP/USD
- AUD/USD
- USD/CAD
- USD/CHF
- or USD/JPY.
Pepperstone's crypto products include top 06 derivative products such as:
- Bitcoin
- Bitcoin Cash
- Ethereum
- Dash
- Ripple
- or Litecoin.
Fees structure
The total trading costs with online brokerage firms may consist of several sub-categories. Pepperstone also charges clients on a Spreads, Swaps, and Commission basis. The rates and charges slabs differ with the Standard and Razor account. As described below, the charges may also slightly vary by the platform type you chose.
| Features | Standard | Razor |
|---|---|---|
| Average Spread (EUR/USD) | 1.0 – 1.3 Pips | 0.0 – 0.3 Pips |
| Commission | $0 | $7 (starting) |
| Leverage | Starting with 500:1 | |
| Minimum Lot Size | 0.01 lot trading size | |
| Maximum Lot Size | 100 lots of trading size | |
FOREX Spreads
Below, you will find Pepperstone’s FOREX spread costs for the MT4 and MT5 platform users:
| Currency Pair | Razor Minimum | Razor Average | Standard Minimum | Standard Average |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| EUR/USD | 0 | 0.16 | 1 | 1.16 |
| USD/JPY | 0 | 0.16 | 1 | 1.16 |
| GBP/USD | 0 | 0.40 | 1 | 1.40 |
| USD/CHF | 0 | 0.36 | 1 | 1.36 |
| AUD/USD | 0 | 0.27 | 1 | 1.27 |
Pepperstone’s Spreads for Cryptocurrency and other commodities are also charged on a similar minimum and average basis. For example, it’s Average Spreads for Bitcoin and Ethereum are respectively 10.70 and 3.25.
Pepperstone commissions
Find below their commissions:
| Trading account currency | The commission per 0.01 lots (1000 base currency) | The commission per 1 lot (100,000 base currency) |
|---|---|---|
| USD | USD 0.04 (USD 0.08 round turn) | USD 3.50 (USD 7 round turn) |
| EUR | EUR 0.03 (EUR 0.06 round turn) | EUR 2.61 (EUR 5.23 round turn) |
| GBP | GBP 0.02 (GBP 0.05 round turn) | GBP 2.29 (GBP 4.59 round turn) |
| CHF | CHF 0.03 (CHF 0.06 round turn) | CHF 3.30 (CHF 6.60 round turn) |
| AUD | AUD 0.04 (AUD 0.08 round turn) | AUD 3.50 (AUD 7 round turn) |
| JPY | JPY 3 (JPY 6 round turn) | JPY 303 (JPY 607 round turn) |
| NZD | NZD 0.04 (NZD 0.09 round turn) | NZD 4.75 (NZD 9.50 round turn) |
| SGD | SGD 0.05 (SGD 0.1 round turn) | SGD 4.55 (SGD 9.10 round turn) |
| HKD | HKD 0.28 (HKD 0.56 round turn) | HKD 28.17 (HKD 56.34 round turn) |
| CAD | CAD 0.04 (CAD 0.8 round turn) | CAD 3.5 (CAD 7 round turn) |
Pepperstone has two commission types for its three different platforms: the Commission per lot size and the other is overnight commission - its overnight Commission for all three platforms is charged at 2.5%. Whereas the Commission per lot for cTrader customers is charged at 0.0035% of the base currency.
Pepperstone does not charge deposit or withdrawal fees with Credit and Debit Card transactions. Its Bank transfer and withdrawals for Australian and EU clients are free too. However, for international account holders, the bank withdrawal charges are $ 20 per transaction.
Security and regulations
Although Pepperstone is a privately held company as of now, it is regulated by different regulatory authorities.
Pepperstone’s regulatory compliance is as:
- In the UK with FCA
- CYSEC in Europe
- DFSA in the UAE
- ASIC in Australia
- BaFin in Germany and Austria
- Capital Markets Authority (CMA) in Kenya
- The securities commission of Bahamas (SCB) in the Bahamas (International clients)
What Happens to your deposited Funds with Pepperstone?
Pepperstone does not offer a guaranteed stop loss or negative balance protection to its clients. However, UK traders may avail of the £ 85,000 maximum protection under the Financial Services Compensation Scheme Protection (FSCS) option. The stop-loss options for clients with MT4 and MT5 platforms trigger automatically when the margin falls below 20% and below 50% for their cTrader clients.
Trading platforms
Pepperstone does not have a dedicated built-in trading platform yet. It offers cTrader, MetaTrader4, and MetaTrader 5 platforms to its clients.
You can access the Pepperstone account from a browser, a desktop, or through their mobile apps. It supports both IOS and Android apps along with Windows and Mac OS.
MT4 and MT5 are the most widely used broker platforms across the world. MT4 in particular is a popular option. Pepperstone also provides some distinctive features with MT4 to its clients such as:
- 85 preinstalled indicators with the desktop version
- The choice for Automated Trading
- Access to 28 indictors with Pepperstone’s Smart Trader Tool
- Customization options with MQL 4
- Customization with additional Market trading tools and plug-ins
- Flexibility with multiple order type options
MT5 and cTrader platforms also offer similar features with Pepperstone accounts. Here is a brief comparison of supported features for all three options.
| Features | MetaTrader 4 | MetaTrader 5 | cTrader |
|---|---|---|---|
| Desktop platforms | Windows, Mac OS | Windows, Mac OS | Windows |
| Browser version | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Android/IOS support | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| 150 trading instruments available | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Expert advisors/automated trading support | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Strategy backtesting | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Customizable charting and indicators | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Adjustable session times | No | No | Yes |
| Depth of market functionality | No | Yes | Yes |
| Advanced take-profit/stop-loss levels | No | No | Yes |
| Access to historical data | Yes | Yes | No |
| Detachable charts for multiple monitors | No | No | Yes |
| Social/copy trading functionality | Yes | Yes | Yes |
Languages supported
Both MT4 and MT5 have extensive language support for 40+ international languages. Some of the options include Arabic, Bulgarian, Chinese, Dutch, English, German, French, Italian, Spanish, Swedish, and Turkish.
The cTrader platform has limited international language support for 15 international languages only.
Deposit and withdrawal
Pepperstone allows all major forms of funds deposit and withdrawal options for its clients. You can deposit funds in your live account through credit cards, wire transfers, or debit cards. The fees with debit and credit card transactions are waived off, while with bank transfers it starts with $20 per transaction.
Some of the widely used methods for funds transfers available include. However, note that those method will vary based on your location.
- VISA
- MasterCard
- PayPal
- Neteller
- Skrill
- Union Pay
- Bank Transfers
Usually, the fund's withdrawal option will be the same as you used for the deposit transaction. The Fees for withdrawal with debit/credit cards are zero, while with wired transfers it's $ 20.
All international currency transactions may also incur currency conversion fees too. Pepperstone currently supports 09 major currencies as base transaction currencies.
Customer support
Pepperstone offers regular customer support through online, call, chat, and email as most of the platforms do. Its direct call and customer support are available on 5 working days of the week for 24 hours. International clients can contact the company through email or phone with a dedicated international hotline. Below are the list of channels available to you:
- Live Chat on the web
- Call
Education material
Pepperstone provides useful educational material and market analysis too. They have an industry-standard form of educational material like Expert analysis, Newsfeeds, webinars, and live sessions. Clients are definitely not left alone.
Some of the trade tools offered under the Pepperstone platform are:
- Smart Data tools for MT4,5 users with 28 trading apps
- cTrader automate and cTrader automate API for trade automation and embedded customization options
- Autochartist; offering tools like technical indicators, volatility analysis, daily market reports, and risk management tool
- Social Trading tool that offers Myfxbook, MetaTrader Signals, and Duplitrade
Pepperstone also offers an API for customization and automated trading strategies to its customers.
For learners and beginners, you can get hands-on experience with a Demo account first. Your additional trading learning tools and guides under the Market and Analysis section include:
- Market analysis
- Market Newsfeeds
- Webinars and live sessions
- Trading and learning guides on FOREX and CFDs
- Video and blog tutorials
Things we like
Pepperstone is a growing and promising online broker platform. It has a working history of just under a decade since its inception in 2010. Since then, it has promised a lot. Some of its features are lively and offer value for money for its clients. Within the short span of experience in the brokerage industry, these are a few of the features that we liked the most in Pepperstone.
- Regulated with top regulatory authorities like FCA in the UK and ASIC in Australia
- Easy account opening through online registration with a DEMO account option
- Major account funds deposits and withdrawal options
- Lower spreads and other fees with free withdrawals and account inactivity charges
- A fairly good collection of educational material and trading tool guides on the website
Things we wish to see
We can list a whole lot of features and options to see from Pepperstone. However, it’s pertinent to mention that it’s still a young and promising platform. Pepperstone is yet a privately held company, which may also limit its expansion plans.
Some of the key features and tools that we wish to see from Pepperstone sooner:
- A dedicated Built-in Trading platform along with the options of third-party platforms
- Direct account opening options for clients in major countries like the US, Canada, and Japan
- Guaranteed stop loss and negative balance protection for customers outside the UK and Australia too
- Investors money protection option for clients outside of the UK regulatory authority
- Additional products and markets under stock CFDs and other sections
- Additional account security tools such as two-factor authentication
We can expect Pepperstone’s international expansion to more regulatory regions than the current five options. We can also expect additional share CFDs and lower spreads with volatile trade instruments like Bitcoin (currently at 10.70).