Exness vs IC Markets 2026: Fees & Platforms Tested

Quick Take

Exness wins the head-to-head overall at 9.3 against 8.8, decided on cost, entry deposit and payout speed. In my testing its Pro account averaged 0.13 pips on EUR/USD, about $1.30 per lot round-turn, against roughly $7 effective on IC Markets cTrader Raw.

IC Markets answers with the deeper platform stack and a 2,250-instrument range. The award split at a glance, then the full head-to-head below.

Read the full Exness review and the full IC Markets review for the per-account detail behind these numbers.

Side-by-Side at a Glance

Here is the top-line snapshot, then a per-metric grid with the winner of each row.

Metric	Exness	IC Markets	Winner
📊 EUR/USD spread (cheapest tier)	0.13 pips, $0 comm	0.1 pips + $6 round-turn	Exness
💰 Min deposit	$10	$200	Exness
⚡ Withdrawal speed (Skrill)	2 to 4 min	2 to 6 hr	Exness
🏛️ Safety score	9.0	8.8	Exness
📈 Instruments	230	2,250	IC Markets
📱 Platforms	MT4, MT5, Terminal	MT4, MT5, cTrader, TradingView	IC Markets
⚙️ Fastest execution	sub-200 ms (MT5)	80 ms (cTrader)	IC Markets
💬 Live chat response	1 min 40 sec	1 min 50 sec	Exness
📱 Mobile app (iOS)	4.7 stars	4.6 stars	Exness
US clients	No	No	Equal
🏆 Overall	9.3	8.8	Exness

Both brokers accept clients across MENA, Southeast Asia, Africa and Europe, but they lean different ways. Exness is strongest across the Gulf, Southeast Asia and Africa.

IC Markets adds a deeper European and Australian footprint on top. Here is where each one takes clients, region by region.

MENA

Exness UAE Saudi Arabia Egypt

IC Markets UAE Bahrain Kuwait

Southeast Asia

Exness Vietnam Thailand Indonesia

IC Markets Thailand Malaysia Singapore

Europe & Australia

ExnessEU pro clients only

IC Markets Germany UK retail Australia

Safety & Regulation: Exness vs IC Markets

Both brokers are safe and multi-regulated with no public enforcement actions on file. Exness scores 9.0 on safety against IC Markets at 8.8, a narrow gap that swings on which regulator matters to you.

• Exness: FCA licence 730729, verified active February 2026, plus CySEC, FSCA and Deloitte-audited volume.
• IC Markets: ASIC licence AFSL 335692, verified active March 2026, plus CySEC 362/18.

The meaningful split is the tier-1 licence each one leads with. IC Markets holds ASIC AFSL 335692, a premium Australian licence with AFCA ombudsman cover, which Exness does not carry.

Exness answers with an FSCA licence in South Africa, rare among offshore-leaning brokers, plus monthly turnover audited by Deloitte. The January 2026 report cited $4.6 trillion, unusual transparency in this sector.

Neither leads with a UK retail FCA licence. Exness UK serves professional clients only, and IC Markets holds no FCA licence at all, so UK retail traders at both route to an EU or offshore entity. For the full breakdown see IC Markets’ regulation, and check is Exness safe for the Exness entity detail.

Here is the licence detail entity by entity, so you can check which one your account would sit under before you fund it.

Exness was founded in 2008 and IC Markets in 2007. The takeaway is simple: fund the entity, not the brand.

An Australian trader gets ASIC cover only at IC Markets. A South African trader gets an FSCA-licensed entity only at Exness.

Most non-EU clients at both route to Seychelles with no statutory scheme, so confirm your onboarding entity before you deposit.

Fees & Spreads: Exness vs IC Markets

This is where Exness pulls ahead. I recorded EUR/USD spreads at 5-minute intervals across 14 trading days on each account tier at both brokers.

Exness Pro at roughly $1.30 per lot is about five times cheaper than IC Markets cTrader Raw at $7 effective. The IC Markets MT4 and MT5 Raw account adds a $7 round-turn commission, landing near $8 effective, still above Exness Pro.

Execution runs the other way. IC Markets cTrader filled at 80 ms from a Frankfurt VPS against a sub-200 ms MT5 fill at Exness. Neither charges a short-term inactivity fee.

To see what the spread gap means in cash, take a trader running EUR/USD on the cheapest active tier at each broker.

At 50 lots a month the gap is about $285, or roughly $3,400 a year. It is small for a low-volume trader and large for a scalper or intraday trader. IC Markets pricing is fully transparent ECN (raw interbank pricing), but on the matched single lot Exness Pro is simply cheaper.

Platforms & Execution: Exness vs IC Markets

This is IC Markets’ standout dimension. It scores 9.6 on platforms against Exness at 9.0, on the strength of cTrader and native TradingView routing.

IC Markets runs four surfaces on one login. cTrader adds full depth-of-market, Level II pricing and a C# algo runtime that MetaTrader cannot match. Native TradingView routing also lets you trade straight from a TradingView chart with no bridge plugin, and in my testing cTrader clocked 80 ms market-order round-trips.

Exness counters with the proprietary Exness Terminal for browser trading and a mobile app that rated highest in my 2026 forex app sample, with a lock-screen widget that closes positions without unlocking the phone. Exness has no cTrader.

Account Types: Exness vs IC Markets

Exness opens far lower and offers more tiers; IC Markets carries the broader instrument range. Both include an Islamic swap-free overlay, though the terms differ.

The Exness $10 Standard account is the friendlier live-trading entry, and its swap-free overlay has no expiry. IC Markets requires $200 on every tier with no micro account, and its Islamic overlay reverts to a fixed admin fee after 14 nights.

The 230 versus 2,250 headline hides where each range sits. Exness stacks its count in forex and metals. IC Markets piles almost the entire count onto single-name stock CFDs, bonds and futures.

Exness actually lists more currency pairs than IC Markets despite the smaller headline. If you want single-name equities, IC Markets’ 1,800 stock CFDs are the reason to pick it.

Deposits & Withdrawals: Exness vs IC Markets

Exness is the clear winner on payout speed, verified across my test cycles at each broker.

I ran 12 withdrawals at Exness; all settled without manual review, the slowest a $4,500 Skrill payout at 5 minutes. IC Markets ran 2 to 6 hours on Skrill across 4 cycles and 1 to 2 business days on bank wire.

Here is the funding picture method by method, deposit and payout.

Exness adds same-day local bank rails across MENA and Southeast Asia that IC Markets does not run. IC Markets adds PayPal and Australian BPay but has no local Asian rails. One IC Markets watch-out: bank wires under $200 carry a $20 flat fee that can wipe out a small first payout.

Customer Support: Exness vs IC Markets

Both run strong Arabic and Southeast Asian language desks. Exness answered marginally faster across my tests.

Exness live chat answered in 1 minute 40 seconds on average across 8 test contacts, with Arabic and Vietnamese desks at scale. IC Markets answered in 1 minute 50 seconds across 6 contacts, with solid Arabic cover but a thinner language roster and regional-hours desks in some European languages.

The gap is small. For raw speed and language depth, Exness takes it by a nose.

Pros & Cons: Exness vs IC Markets

Exness: where it wins

• Pro EUR/USD averaged 0.13 pips, about $1.30 per lot round-turn
• Skrill withdrawals settled in 2 to 4 minutes across 12 cycles
• $10 Standard entry versus a $200 floor at IC Markets
• Local AED, VND, THB, IDR and ZAR bank rails settle same day
• Mobile app rated 4.7 stars, highest in my 2026 forex sample

• Most non-EU clients route to the offshore Seychelles entity
• Only 230 instruments and no cTrader platform

IC Markets: where it wins

• Four platforms on one login: MT4, MT5, cTrader and TradingView
• ASIC AFSL 335692 gives tier-1 Australian oversight with AFCA cover
• 2,250 instruments including 1,800 single-name stock CFDs
• cTrader clocked 80 ms market-order round-trips in testing
• Trustpilot 4.8 from 54,430 client reviews

• $200 minimum on every tier, no micro account
• Skrill withdrawals took 2 to 6 hours versus 2 to 4 min at Exness

Who Should Pick Which

Match your trader profile to the broker that fits it. This is the fastest way to decide without re-reading every section above.

Bottom Line: Exness vs IC Markets

Exness wins the head-to-head overall at 9.3 against 8.8. It averaged 0.13 pips on EUR/USD Pro versus IC Markets’ 0.1 pips plus a $6 to $7 commission, its Skrill payouts settled in 2 to 4 minutes against 2 to 6 hours, and it opens at $10 against a $200 floor.

IC Markets is the better broker for a specific trader: the scalper or algo trader who wants cTrader, native TradingView routing, ASIC oversight or a 2,250-instrument range.

• Pick Exness if you want the tightest trading cost, the fastest e-wallet withdrawals and a $10 start
• Pick IC Markets if you want cTrader, TradingView routing, ASIC regulation or 1,800 stock CFDs
• Brand new with a small balance? Exness starts at $10
• Scaling a cTrader scalping strategy or need broad equities? IC Markets saves the workflow

Top pick overall

Exness

Best for active traders chasing low spreads and instant withdrawals.

• Pro EUR/USD averaged 0.13 pips, zero commission
• Skrill withdrawals confirmed in 2 to 4 min
• Regulated: CySEC, FCA, FSCA

Visit Exness

74% of retail CFD accounts lose money.How we earn →

Best for platform choice

IC Markets

Best for scalpers and algo traders who want cTrader and TradingView routing.

• MT4, MT5, cTrader and TradingView on one login
• 2,250 instruments including 1,800 stock CFDs
• Regulated: ASIC, CySEC, FSA Seychelles

Visit IC Markets

74% of retail CFD accounts lose money.How we earn →

For the full per-account detail, read our Exness review and our IC Markets review. Both were tested against the same testing methodology, you can check is IC Markets safe for the entity breakdown, and see our best forex brokers pillar for the wider field.