Pepperstone Review
Is PEPPERSTONE one of the best Australian Forex Brokers? Recently has been included by Engine Forex among the Best German Brokers, Best UK Brokers, Best CTrader Forex Brokers, Best Islamic Forex, ASIC Forex Broker, FCA Forex Brokers, CFD Brokers, Crypto Brokers.
Founded in 2010 by a team of Forex and IT professionals, Pepperstone is one of the top Australian online Forex and CFD brokers, and it prides itself on truly understanding what traders want. With offices in London, Shanghai, Dallas and Bangkok, its head office is currently located in Melbourne, Australia.
Traders from over 65 countries are currently using Pepperstone Group as their online broker of choice.
Pepperstone is continually aiming to revolutionise the industry of online Forex trading by offering traders better service, lower spreads and faster execution. Its vision is to become the world’s largest provider of online Forex exchange trading.
- Forex Platform: MT4 + cTrader
- Head Office: Melbourne, Australia
- Founded: 2010
- Reviews: 9.1 – 8.6 - 427 reviews Trust Pilot
- ECN Forex Trading: Razor Account
- Spreads: From 0.1 pips
- Leverage: 500:1
- Cryptocurrency: 4 Crypto
- Guaranteed Stops: No
Our Rating: 9
Trading Conditions
| Max Leverage: | 500:1 |
| Platform: |    |
| Min Deposit: | $200 |
| Spread: | From 0.0 Pips |
| Cuts out Dealing Desk: | Yes |
Methods of deposit and offers
| Deposit / Withdraw: |             Broker2Broker |
| Welcome offer: | Qantas Frequent Flyer Points |
| Rebates Engine Forex: | Coming soon! |
SECURITY AT PEPPERSTONE
The company Pepperstone holds an Australian Financial Services License (AFSL).
Licensed and regulated by ASIC (Australian Securities and Investments Commission) and the FCA (Financial Conduct Authority, United Kingdom), Pepperstone focuses on providing traders with very low-cost pricing across Forex, CFDs and commodities. It takes pride in offering a culture of strong compliance and full adherence to all applicable regulatory frameworks, further incorporating trade execution with pricing from 22 top-tier banks and liquidity providers and a 100% automated execution.
The security of client funds is of paramount importance, and Pepperstone has taken many steps to ensure client security at all times. For example, it offers segregated client accounts with AA-rated banks such as the National Australia Bank (Australia) and Barclays (UK).
A variety of risk management tools are available on some of Pepperstone’s trading platforms such as adjustable session times, advanced take profit or stop loss levels and strategy back testing.
Our broker review also reveals that European clients are further protected with negative balance protection.
The company is further audited by the globally renowned accounting firm Ernst & Young.
The security of client funds is of paramount importance, and Pepperstone has taken many steps to ensure client security at all times. Pepperstone offers a culture of strong compliance and full adherence to all applicable regulatory frameworks.
Spreads Comparison
CHARGES AND MARGINS AT PEPPERSTONE
As is the case with all brokers, Pepperstone clients pay a spread on every non-equity CFD and commission on every equity CFD trade.
Pepperstone doesn’t cover the widest range of markets; however, it does offer excellent trading conditions. For example, Pepperstone offers ultra-low spreads, starting from 0.0 on Forex pairs with commission charges as low as AUD 0.035 per 0.01 LOTS on AUD.
Pepperstone clients have access to 13 stock indexes, including Australia 200, Wall Street 30, UK 100, Germany 30 and China 50. The maximum leverage on indices is 200:1 or 100:1 depending on the contract that is traded. The margin per contract starts from 0.5% on the Australia 200.
Available commodities include precious metals, oil, energy products and some soft commodities such as coffee, sugar or cotton. Commodities CFD spreads start at 0.003 per pip with a minimum margin requirement per contract of AUD 0.81 on oil (Brent Crude) and a maximum leverage of 500:1. No commission fees are charged on any commodity pairs at Pepperstone.
TECHNOLOGY
Pepperstone has been recognised and awarded many times over the past years for innovation, technology and offering clients the best possible trading conditions.
Clients can choose from 11 leading online Forex trading platforms, including MetaTrader 4 and MetaTrader 5 (MT4 and MT5) as well as the cTrader platform, and have access to 80+ trading instruments such as FX, cryptocurrencies, metals, oil and indices with institutional grade prices. Further offering up to 500:1 leverage and the ability to trade micro lots on currencies, metals and oil, Pepperstone clients can benefit from spreads as low as 0.0 pip spreads and $1 per point on 11 Major Index CFDs.
Webtrader as well as mobile trading via mobile app is available, enabling every trader to access the markets not only with their desktop computer, but also via web browsers as well as Android and iOS devices.
Pepperstone is committed to offering its clients the best trading conditions; for example, it uses optic fibre from Sydney directly to New York’s Wall Street to guarantee the highest trade execution speeds.
It has also partnered with NASDAQ firm Equinix, one of the world’s best high-performance data centres, which is also conveniently located less than 18 kilometres away from Wall Street, to create the best trading infrastructure.
Under these conditions, execution latency is drastically reduced, which is often one of the biggest challenges for traders outside the major trading hubs such as New York or London, therefore reducing the risk of slippage.
Pepperstone also uses Edge technology, which offers up to 12x improvement in execution speed and a 10x latency reduction.
Overall, the technology on offer to Pepperstone clients is highly competitive, and clients can be confident they have access to continual improvements and advancements as the environment progresses.
Technical analysis and advanced trader tools such as Autochartist or Expert Advisors (EA) are also available.
Pepperstone has been recognised and awarded many times over the past years for innovation, technology and offering clients the best possible trading conditions.
Execution of Speed Comparison
Execution of Speed Comparison
AN OVERVIEW OF PEPPERSTONE's CUSTOMER SERVICE AND CLIENTS
Retail investors that open an account with Pepperstone have access to four distinct trading accounts. These products vary according to what you are looking for as a trader; for example, whether you are new to online trading and want to get started with a live account that features $0 commission, are interested in ultra-low spreads as an active trader from 0.0 pips or are you looking for a Sharia-compliant (Islamic account) option.
Pepperstone account account options overview:
Standard Account (STP): offers Forex trading with an interbank spread from 1.0 pips. No commissions are charged on this account. Minimum deposit requirement is AUD 200.
Razor Account (ECN): spreads from 0.0 pips (for example on the popular EUR/USD or GBP/USD currency pairs), depending on the traded product. Forex trading on this account option is subject to a commission of 3.50 Australian dollars per standard lot traded. The account is ideal for hedging and scalpers.
Swap-free Islamic account: interest free account option. Typical spread for the EUR/USD currency pair averages between 1.0 and 1.2 pips.
Demo account: available for 30 days upon sign-up. Ideal for testing the waters.
High volume or institutional traders are also very welcome and benefit from Pepperstone’s Active Trader Program.
The reason as to why Pepperstone deserves a five-star rating can also be explained by looking at its dedicated customer service presence and team of account managers, which consists of a 24-hour live chat, telephone and email support. This commitment has already translated into numerous awards, and Pepperstone prides itself on continually setting new standards when it comes to customer support and services.
Over the years, Pepperstone has won numerous awards including No.1 in Customer Service and Overall Client Satisfaction. Pepperstone prides itself on offering a highly personalised customer service experience. Its team holds years of knowledge and expertise from the Forex trading industry and clients are well supported to pursue their forex trading goals.
All clients have access to a wealth of educational tools such as webinars, tutorials and more to enhance their trading experience. An economic calendar is also available.
Payment and funding methods include:
- Credit cards / debit cards (VISA and Mastercard)
- PayPal
- Skrill
- Neteller
- Poli
- fasapay
- QIWI
- China Union Pay
- BPay (for Australian clients only)
- Bank transfer
- Broker to broker transfer
Please note that withdrawals to international bank accounts incur an additional withdrawal fee.
FOREX AND OTHER TRADING OPTIONS AT PEPPERSTONE
Pepperstone offers 50+ currency pairs, 5 cryptocurrencies (Bitcoin, Ethereum, Litecoin, Bitcoin Cash and Dash), metals and 13 index CFDs in addition to energies and soft commodities.
Pepperstone offers ultra-low spreads, starting from 0.0 during liquid times on the EUR/USD. Typical spreads on Forex pairs start at 0.1 pips for the Razor account.
With up to 500:1 leverage, clients can get started with minimum deposits of $200.
Trading options on indices include Australia 200, Wall Street, FTSE 100, Germany 30 and many more.
Pepperstone clients can utilise a good variety of commodities, from gold, silver and oil, to other commodities, such as coffee, sugar or cotton.
Over 80 asset classes from around the globe can be accessed.
It should be specifically noted that trading CFDs poses a high risk as they are complex instruments.
SPECIAL FEATURES OF PEPPERSTONE
Created ‘by traders, for traders’, Pepperstone’s revolutionary trading platforms offer liquidity and spreads that have previously only been available to institutional clients such as banks and hedge funds. It offers the fastest execution rate of any Australian Forex broker.
Australian Forex traders can choose from two types of accounts: Standard and Razor. The Standard account has no commission fees whereas the Razor account option offers the lowest spreads but does charge commission.
No commissions are charged on indices CFD trading, and there is no dealing desk getting involved.
Dedicated relationship managers work with high-volume traders or institutional partners as part of the Active Trader Program, which further offers custom solutions and other benefits that can be discussed with Pepperstone’s dedicated team.
One of the great trading tools offered is Pepperstone’s Price Improvement technology (PPI). This feature detects liquidity hot-spots that indicate when a market may move in the trader’s favour then fill the order at the improved level where possible.
Created ‘by traders, for traders’, Pepperstone’s revolutionary trading platforms offer liquidity and spreads that have previously only been available to institutional clients such as banks and hedge funds. It offers the fastest execution rate of any Australian Forex broker.
Max Leverage Comparison
OUR CONCLUSION
Pepperstone is one of Australia’s top Forex brokers offering revolutionary trading platforms and technology, excellent trading conditions and overall a top-notch trading environment. All important aspects, such as leverage, spreads and speed of execution are at a world-class level. Their ultra-competent, award-winning customer support and account management teams are also one of the best in the industry, excelling in every possible way.