Pepperstone Review 2023 - Verified Customer Reviews

Regulations and Money Protection

Entity/Regulation

• International customers: Pepperstone Markets Limited will be the counterparty for International customers. This entity, located at Sea Sky Lane, B201, Sandyport, Nassau, New Providence, The Bahamas is registered in the Bahamas, with company number 177174 B. The company is trading as Pepperstone Markets Limited and is regulated by the Securities Commission of The Bahamas with license number SIA-F217. 
  
  
• Australian customers: Pepperstone Group Limited (ACN 147 055 703), located at Level 16, Tower One, 727 Collins Street, Melbourne, VIC 3008, Australia, is licensed by the Australian Securities & Investments Commission (ASIC) with license number ASFL 414530. Pepperstone Group Limited is registered to carry out financial services business in Australia, limited to the financial services covered by its AFSL license.
  
  
• European customers: Pepperstone Limited is a company registered in England and Wales under number 08965105. Registered office: 70 Gracechurch Street, London EC3V 0HR, United Kingdom. Pepperstone Limited is authorised and regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) with registration number 684312.
  
  Pepperstone EU Limited is a company registered as a Cyprus Investment Firm (CIF), and authorized and regulated by the Cyprus Securities and Exchange Commission (CySEC) with licence number 388/20. Pepperstone EU Limited registered office is at 142 Franklin Roosevelt Avenue, Limassol, Cyprus. The CySEC licence allows Pepperstone EU Limited to carry out brokerage activities in Europe, as an intermediary in the financial markets, respecting the MiFID obligations.
  
  
• UAE customers: Pepperstone Financial Services (DIFC) Limited is registered at Al Fattan Currency House, Tower 2, Level 15, Office 1502 A, P. O. Box 482087, DIFC, Dubai, United Arab Emirates and is regulated by the DFSA under license number F004356. Pepperstone Financial Services (DIFC) Limited is a wholly owned subsidiary of Pepperstone Group Limited. The product issuer is Pepperstone Group Limited registered and licensed by Australia's ASIC.

Client Money Protection

• Pepperstone complies with the highest safety standards for client's funds. For this reason, Pepperstone client's funds are kept in top-tier international banks, such as the Barclays Bank and the National Australian Bank (NAB), fully segregated from the company's funds.
  
  
• Pepperstone also complies with the client money handling rules and employs strict policies and procedures regarding the maintenance and operation of these accounts. Pepperstone holds client's money separately to the company funds and does not use these funds for any operational expenses or purposes.

Deposit Compensation Scheme

Negative Balance Protection

• All entities on the Pepperstone group offer Negative Balance Protection. The broker has an automated stop-out policy designed to minimise losses and to take action before the market moves further against open positions. The level at which the automated stop-out occurs depends on the platform used and the policy regarding covering negative balances varies depending on the circumstances.
  
  
• For MT4/5 accounts, the automated stop-out system will begin to close out trades when account equity falls below 20% of the margin requirements (ie. margin level falls below 20%). For cTrader accounts, the automated stop-out system will begin to close out trades when account equity falls below 50% of the margin requirements (ie. margin level falls below 50%. The other Group entity, Pepperstone Markets Limited, does not offer a NBP protection mechanism, meaning that your losses can exceed your account balance.

Accounts, Instruments and Platforms

Account types and currencies

• Pepperstone has two types of trading accounts; Standard and Razor. Pepperstone also offers swap-free accounts for traders of Islamic belief.
  
  
• Pepperstone also allows for social trading, including copy trading, via Myfxbook, Mirror Trader and Duplitrade.
  
  
• Pepperstone does not have any PAMM accounts alternatives for money managers.
  
  
• Pepperstone maximum leverage is 30:1 for accounts opened within Europe and Australia, and 200:1 for accounts opened in other countries around the world.
  
  
• Currently, Pepperstone trading accounts are available in AUD, CHF, EUR, GBP, JPY, NZD, SGD, USD and HKD.

Financial instruments

• FX market - 60+ currency pairs (including Minor and Exotic crosses).
  
  
• Indices - 23 world indices including UK 100, NIKKEI 225 and AUS 200.
  
  
• Stocks - 900+ shares CFDs from several markets, including 600+ shares from the NSYE and NASDAQ of American top companies and banks, such as Amazon, Bank of America, Intel or Facebook. Also available, top equities from the UK's LSE, Germany's XETRA and Australia's ASX.
  
  
• ETFs - 100+ ETFs CFDs of several sectors including mining, energy, technology, bond markets and retail, tracking the overall performance of the equity markets in 35 countries and across 6 continents.
  
  
• Commodities - 32 commodities CFDs available for trading; 12 metals, including Gold, Silver, Platinum and Palladium included, 4 energies including UK Oil, US Oil and Nat Gas and 16 soft, including Coffee, Cotton, Sugar, Cocoa and Orange Juice.
  
  
• Cryptocurrencies - 11 CFDs crosses for trading, including Bitcoin, Doge, Ethereum, Dash and Litecoin. Also available for trading, Uniswap, Crypto 10, Crypto 20 and Crypto 30.

Pricing

Spreads

Rollover Rates

Deposits/Withdrawals and Other Fees

• Deposit fees - Trading accounts can be opened in 9 different currencies and maintained via 9 different funding methods, including cards, bank wires and e-payments such as Neteller, PayPal and FasaPay. Deposited funds are available almost instantly. Pepperstone does not charge any fees for deposits.
  
  
• Withdrawals fees - Same policy applies for withdrawals (processing times are typically 2 working days). Pepperstone does not charge any additional fees for withdrawals. However, there is a $20 fee for bank withdrawals for clients outside the EU and Australia.
  
  
• Inactivity fee - Pepperstone does not charge an inactivity fee or any account maintenance fees.

Popularity

• Trading accounts - The Pepperstone Razor account is a popular choice with traders looking to save on trading costs, with a lower spread and a competitive commission of $7.00 per lot traded. Extra points for Pepperstone's policy of no fees on deposits or withdrawals.
  
  
• Forex education - Pepperstone also gets a few extra popularity points for their range of Forex education materials, available through the Education tab. Pepperstone clients can find market analysis, video tutorials, Forex trading course and webinars.

• Minimum deposit - Opening a trading account with Pepperstone is fast and very easy, all done via the web. The minimum deposit requirement with Pepperstone is 200 AUD. Of course, if your base account currency is not in AUD, then you will need to deposit the equivalent when opening an account.
  
  
• Customer support - Pepperstone loses a couple of points with traders for their customer support service. We found several traders complaining about the support quality. Multi language customer support service is available 24 hours, 5 days a week, in 11 languages. Pepperstone's support is available via phone call, contact form, email and live chat directly from the broker's website.

Broker Profile