| BROKER | Pepperstone |
| MINIMUM DEPOSIT | 200 (£/$/€) |
| REGULATION | FCA, ASIC, DFSA, BaFin, SCB, CMA, CySEC |
| TRADING ASSETS | FOREX, CFDs, INDICES, SPREAD BETTING, COMMODITIES, SOCIAL TRADING |
| OVERALL RATING | 4.6 |
| COSTS TO TRADE | 4.9 |
| TRADING PLATFORM | 4.6 |
| TRADING APP | 4.2 |
| PAYMENT METHODS | 5.0 |
| DEMO ACCOUNT | 3.8 |
| ACCOUNT TYPES | 4.4 |
| BONUS/OFFERS | Active Trader Program |
| CUSTOMER SUPPORT | 4.8 |
Pepperstone Group Review Scorecard
Pepperstone Review – How safe is to trade with the various global offices of Pepperstone Group?
Before we can start to complete our Pepperstone review, we need to dig into the regulation and the safety side of this online broker. Do Pepperstone exceed our minimum requirements for inclusion, and what are the differences when trading with Pepperstone UK, Pepperstone Australia or Pepperstone Group?
Pepperstone Group Ltd – the starting point to the global brand began in Australia
The Pepperstone brand first came to attention in 2010 in Melbourne (more history here), Australia under the company Pepperstone Group Limited (holder of ASIC regulation AFSL No.414530). There have been some great strides made by Pepperstone over the past 10 years to become a more global brand.
To be global in trading requires more entities, and regulations to onboard International based traders as in the world of international forex trading, one size does not fit all.
Acquisition of the FCA regulation (Pepperstone Limited holder of FCA regulation number -684312) has now given Pepperstone a presence in the UK and European markets, and it seems like they are not stopping there with new licence applications in process in various other jurisdictions.
One of the next regulations Pepperstone have formally achieved is coming from the UAE, and the Dubai Financial Services Authority (Pepperstone Financial Services DIFC Ltd, holder of DFSA number F004356). This being one of the main regulators in the Middle East will give Pepperstone users in the local market a strong show of commitment to the region.
There have been more additions as we head into the updated review for Pepperstone in 2022. as CMA (Pepperstone Markets Kenya), CySEC (Pepperstone EU, Cyprus), and BaFin (Pepperstone GmbH, Germany) regulations have been confirmed. This is a clear show of intent from Pepperstone to bring the best broker regulation variance in Europe and Africa to local forex traders.
Tier 1 Regulation in spades for Pepperstone
From a safety and regulatory standpoint, Pepperstone are doing everything right to be considered a trusted broker. It seems that they have a prevalence for Tier 1 regulators, which is no bad sign to start. These are deemed as the more secure and strict amongst the various forex regulators.
Obtaining just one of these ‘Tier 1’ regulations can be a stringent enough exercise for most forex brokers. Pepperstone have made some real efforts and head into 2022 with three different Tier 1 licenses. These are FCA, ASIC, and BaFin.
It can take considerably more time and effort to obtain Tier1 regulation than some of the so-called lesser regulations available. It is usually a show of real commitment towards a particular market when a broker is determined to regulate itself amongst the best.
If you are trading with Pepperstone as a UK resident, you will have access to the FSCS compensation scheme (up to £85k per investor). This is only provided by FCA regulated entities and is nice piece of mind compared to some alternately regulated brands.
When you are trading with any of the various regulated Pepperstone entities (which one you engage with is usually determined by your country of origin), you can be confident that you are in safe hands. You will have with Pepperstone Group a broker that has a commitment to regulation, a strong track-record of client satisfaction, and numerous award wins over the past 10 years.
Trusting Pepperstone is easy, the success of your trading account then is up to you.
Pepperstone Fees review, the costs to trade explored
Trading fees with Pepperstone vary depending on which of the accounts offered you are using, Standard or Razor. We will look into the other differences between the Pepperstone group accounts during the separate section of this review. A good start for Pepperstone on the value for money front is the fact they have won ‘Number 1 for Spreads’ in the Investment Trends Australia Awards 2017 and 2018. Let’s dig more into the specifics of the costs to trade with Pepperstone.
Pepperstone Spreads
Spreads with Pepperstone across the group are ultra-competitive and start from 0.0 for major pairs on the Razor account. When trading on standard accounts you will have the same pairs matching with a spread of around 1.0. When it comes to pure spreads as you will see below, there are almost no contemporaries who can match Pepperstone on the majors. Some of the more minor currencies as you would expect jump a bit in spreads, but this will be well known to you already if you are actively trading minors or exotic pairs.
| Pair | Razor Min. | Standard Min. |
| AUD/JPY | 0 | 1 |
| EUR/GBP | 0 | 1 |
| GBP/JPY | 0.4 | 1.4 |
| GBP/USD | 0 | 1 |
| EUR/USD | 0 | 1 |
| AUD/USD | 0 | 1 |
| AUD/NZD | 0.2 | 1.2 |
| EUR/CHF | 0 | 1 |
| GBP/CHF | 0.8 | 1.8 |
| GBP/AUD | 0.8 | 1.8 |
| EUR/ZAR | 2 | 3 |
| ZAR/JPY | 1 | 2 |
| USD/ZAR | 10 | 11 |
Commissions
Here is where you have a bit of a role reversal on the account types. If you are trading with Standard account commissions are 0, whereas with the Razor account are around $3.50 per lot traded on MT5 each side of the transaction (so $7 total for round turn 1 lot trade) or $3.76 ($7.53 round turn lot traded) on MT4 Razor account.
When you add the commission together with the spread, trading 1 lot in a major pair on Razor (at 0.0) would equate to 0.7 pips if taking the commission as a spread average. This compared to 1.0 as minimum on a standard account. When looking at things in totality, the overall cost to trade is still lower then on the Razor account then you will find on Standard.
Pepperstone No Dealing Desk ECN
As part of the fees review, we would be amiss if we didn’t mention that as a no-dealing-desk broker, Pepperstone across the group offer straight through processing which gives you ECN pricing. This is also a great equaliser when it comes to any potential conflicts of interest that some brokers have when it comes to execution (when they are effectively trading against you when there is not sufficient liquidity). This greatly reduces counterparty risk.
Any Other Fees
The overnight fee to hold a position is only applicable for share CFDs, index CFDs and commodities. The cost is 2.5% as a fixed cost from Pepperstone plus the benchmark rate for the product. If you are trading forex, this doesn’t apply.
Pepperstone Fees Review Summary
The complete fee package from Pepperstone is as good as any in the industry. There are no deposit or withdrawal fees, no inactivity fees and a trading cost structure that is award winning both on Standard and Razor accounts. If you are planning to trade stocks or other instruments as CFDs, Pepperstone is still competitive but will not win as many awards based on the product range.
When it comes to forex, we can confidently say that if you are looking for a broker with strong regulation that keeps fees low, Pepperstone group will serve you well.
Pepperstone Fees Rating – 4.9
Pepperstone Review MT4, MT5 & cTrader, Adding Trading View To The Platforms
When making a comparison between Pepperstone group platforms and other brokers for the purpose of this review, it is clear to see that this broker has gone down the route of providing massive options from the well established platforms. Whilst the only thing missing from the Pepperstone offering is a custom proprietary platform, the option for established traders to comfortably continue with either MT4, MT5 or cTrader is a huge positive.
Each of the platforms that Pepperstone provide are also available on either desktop, mobile (app) and for those that do not want to download anything, WebTrader. The range of options then is great, but is there anything in the review that sets the Pepperstone group platforms apart from the rest?
Pepperstone MT4 and MT5 Smart Trader Tools
You will find 51 total complimentary tools and indicators to choose from the Smart Trader Tools section and indicators of Pepperstone MetaTrader platforms. When trading on desktop, you can use each of the platforms on Windows or Mac OS and all at great execution speeds (most orders would be executed in less than 30ms).
Autochartist is also provided as standard which really makes trading opportunity spotting a hell of a lot easier. If you haven’t tried this before, we can highly recommend taking out the Pepperstone demo account and testing this out for yourself.
Pepperstone MetaTrader platforms differ in a few key ways. Firstly, MT5 is the only platform Pepperstone group provide that does not support in browser use. Apart from that, MT5 has all the features you can expect of MT4 but with some added functionality:
- Advanced Customisation
- Inbuilt Indicators and a faster processing speed
- Depth of market functionality
- MQL5
If you require a little more detail on the Ppepperstone MT4 platform, they have kindly created a custom user guide which you can find here.
Pepperstone MT4 Signals and Social Trading Partners
As far as social trading goes, Pepperstone has not really been known for this at all but the functionality is definitely there via a host of third parties for you to trade in this way amost moreso than via the single source traditional social trading brokers.
The standard CopyTrading function of MT4 signals and cTrader aside, Pepperstone have taken on a variety of global partners to help you with social trading. You will find support from RoboX, MirrorTrader, Zulutrade and DupliTrade to give you real scope in terms of choice.
The Pepperstone review of social trading partners, alongside the full complement of offerings in our dedicated social trading platform review is performed separately, so if you are interested to delve deeper into this topic, feel free to check it out here.
Pepperstone Markets To Trade, could be due for review
The first bump in the road of this review for Pepperstone as the array of options is a little thin. For those of us looking to trade forex, Pepperstone offers 61 pairs and great conditions. The fact that Pepperstone are handling a daily volume of around $9.2bn per day goes some towards giving you an idea at how successful they have been in gaining ground in the forex market.
If you are venturing into a lot of other asset classes including stocks, indices, cryptocurrencies and other CFD based products, you will find your range of options limited compared to some of the other brokers in the market. All in all, there are 90+ instruments to trade with Pepperstone across the group. If you review what is on offer on demo before setting off for real, you can be sure that there is all you need.
Pepperstone are the perfect example of the differences between some generalist or specialist brokers. This broker is clearly aiming their crosshairs on perfecting all they do for the forex market and potentially expanding out from there in the future. Other brokers that try to do a little of everything but do not particularly do anything well, generally serve little to no purpose for our trading.
Spread Betting for Pepperstone UK customers
The above product breakdown notwithstanding, Pepperstone UK have recently launched a Spread Betting range to allow UK users to trade without any CGT liabilities. This is a clear sign to us that if there is local demand for a particular product in Pepperstone core territories then they are prepared to make amendments to the product range to support this.
We see a lot of questions from people regarding the difference of spread betting vs CFD trading so have a dedicated article for that purpose. The core difference for the purpose of this Pepperstone Group review is they way that trading profits are treated from a tax perspective. One thing to bear in mind if you are a non-UK resident is that spread betting will not be an option available to you unfortunately.
Pepperstone Platforms Summary
The global range of third party support offered by Pepperstone we have uncovered during this review is pretty excellent. There are plenty of options for platforms both for hands on trading and social trading functionality. As you would expect, all devices and operating systems are supported across the range and at execution speeds that allow you to extract the most value from your opportunities.
The limited factor to Pepperstone is moreso on the product range side rather than purely from a platform perspective but this is relative depending on what assets you would be considering trading. Pepperstone for us is all about the forex offering.
Whilst we would like to have everything, we would also rather have a trading account with a couple of different brokers to cover each specialism we are trading than a single account that comes with conditions that are unsavoury. This will differ between you depending on the amount you are depositing and trading with as having to operate multiple accounts means tying up minimum balances with each broker.
You will find a solid range of charts, indicators and supplementary tools, thrown into the mix to give Pepperstone a successful overall outcome when we tally up the platform score.
Since originally conducting this Pepperstone Review, the broker has continued to develop its’ client offering in a positive way. We have recently seen the introduction of support for live trading within the TradingView platform, which is a platform that has traditionally been used by many for its’ excellent charting. It is clear that this online broker is one that wants to ensure that you can conduct as much of your trading activity in one place.
There are certain brokers out there (not naming them here), that provide a very basic level of charting and functionality on their own platform, and as a trader we would have to switch between multiple platforms for charts and analysis versus executing trades. This is not ideal and something which Pepperstone seem to have taken under review to offer the best variety of trading platforms on the market.
Pepperstone Platform Rating – 4.6*
Pepperstone Minimum Deposit
The Pepperstone minimum deposit is set at $200, regardless of where in the world you find yourself. If you are opening your account in alternative currency, the Pepperstone minimum deposit is equivalent to $200 in the currency of your choosing.
Whilst you may be able to open and operate an account with the Pepperstone minimum deposit, you will likely want to have a little more in the balance in order to ensure that your account drawdown is within a reasonable risk profile considering that you will be trading with Pepperstone leverage. As covered in other sections, the leverage depending on the underlying instrument will range form 1:5 for leveraged equities, up to 1:30 for forex pairs.
If you are interested to start your trading experience under $200, it is possible to do so here with a Pepperstone demo account, or otherwise you may need to seek some of the best trading platform alternatives that could have lower initial entry requirements.
Mobile Trading on Pepperstone MT4, MT5 or cTrader App
When trading on mobile with Peppestone, you will be doing so on MT4, MT5 or cTrader apps directly. Essentially you download the standard version of the app offered by each of the developers and once you log in to your trading account with Pepperstone you will gain functionality.
Whilst there is nothing wrong with the apps offered from these platforms, the mobile trading functionality of Pepperstone is a little trimmed down compared to some of the proprietary apps that competitors are running.
The main things you will miss are a few of the charts and indicators, alongside the forex calendar function but if you have been trading on either of these platforms before, the upside is you will have instant familiarity as there is almost a negligible difference between those offered between brokers.
Overall, the app range offered is as solid as the trading platforms and having three options instead of the usual one is a victory for choice. However, this is an area that Pepperstone can certainly make some inroads on in the future if they want to be considered an industry leader.
Pepperstone App Rating – 4.2*
Pepperstone Payment Methods Come Out Shining In This Review
There can be some differences when looking at the different supported deposit and withdrawal methods depending on whether you are engaging with Pepperstone group, Pepperstone limited or Pepperstone financial services ltd.
The main options you will have available cover almost all of the major methods such as Visa, Mastercard, and Bank Transfer, alongside a range of great supporting digital methods. These include Paypal, Skrill, Neteller, BPay and Union Pay.
Pepperstone Group do not charge for deposits or withdrawals unless there are international charges deducted by their bank (usually during inter-currency bank transfers than on any card or digital transaction).
In summation then, a really strong range of deposit options from Pepperstone and with processing usually managed same day, or at worst, following day. A plus here.
Pepperstone Payment Methods Rating – 5*
Pepperstone Demo Account
The Pepperstone demo account is limited in a few ways that other brokers have eliminated in the more recent past. Most noticeably, you will find a 30 day window on which to trade without risk, and a $50,000 balance on which to trade with.
The functionality of the demo account is great, and it will give you a really good feel for what you will get when trading with the Pepperstone live account, but in all our broker reviews we like to see traders given the functionality to trade on demo without limitations. Unlimited demo accounts give traders a lot more flexibility to continue to test and hone their skills on an ongoing basis rather than just for a period before you begin real trading.
On the upside, it is a great advantage that you can test-run each of the trading platforms Pepperstone offer (MT4, MT5, cTrader) to get to grips with the nuances of each one. We would certainly suggest if you are new to any of the platforms, have a play with them on Pepperstone for 30 days and if you still need more time to perfect something, reach their customer support and see if they will extend your access.
Pepperstone Demo Account Rating – 3.8*
Minor Differences In Pepperstone Account Types
There are two main account types on offer from Pepperstone, the Razor Account, and the Standard Account. Both account types operate using the EDGE infrastructure to help with execution speeds and liquidity (pricing).
It is largely the case across the board where the two accounts are similar apart from one key point, pricing structure.
As we have already touched on this group in our Costs To Trade section of this Pepperstone review, we are going to skim through. Both are very good offerings, you just need to decide If you would rather trade with commissions or higher spreads.
Pepperstone Account Types Rating – 4.4*
Pepperstone Bonus/Offers
You will find Pepperstone operate an ‘Active Traders’ program not too dis-similar to some other brokers to entice heavy volume traders to their platform. It is a really nice reward which is only available to Razor Accounts that are trading through a minimum of 100 lots.
Effectively, you would receive between 10-15% per standard lot as a rebate on your trading commissions which at those sorts of volumes, is not to be sniffed at. Typical monthly rebate per 100 lots would equate to around $70 at 10% rebate or $100 per 100 lots at 15%.
Pepperstone Review The Bonus To Refer A Friend
You can also take advantage of the refer a friend program, rewarding you with $100 for every user you refer who deposits a minimum of $1000 USD and trades a minimum of 5 lots.
To qualify, your friend just needs to enter your email in the ‘how did you hear of us?’ section when making their account application, or you can enter their details in the Rewards tab of your client area.
Pepperstone Customer Support
The customer support of Pepperstone is as professional as it is quick. If you are speaking to the Pepperstone team on call, they are eager to help and knowledgable. Due to the International nature of the broker, and the relative timezones of some of their core users (Australia and Europe), they are operating around the clock 24 hours a day, 5 days per week.
For added convenience, there is a freephone number to the Pepperstone Group Australia and Pepperstone UK offices. You can also get in touch on email to [email protected] or live from site. Email responses you can expect usually within about 24 hours.
There is also a nice selection of FAQs covering all the typical simple queries that you might want to Google but not make a specific call for during busy periods.
Pepperstone Customer Support Rating – 4.8*
Pepperstone Review Summary
Overall, Pepperstone have fared really well across the group during this review with a couple of notable outliers. The product range of CFDs is limited compared to some other brokers, put that aside and look at Pepperstone for what they are, a no dealing desk forex broker.
Whilst we haven’t delved into the Pepperstone leverage options, the broker will provide you up to 1:30 for EU based non professional users, up to 1:500 for Pepperstone Group users residing elsewhere in the world.
The total proposition from regulation standards, ease of deposit, range of platforms and ongoing customer support leaves us feeling very positive about Pepperstone moving forward. From a pure forex perspective, you will find it very difficult to get a similar cost profile with the execution speeds and professionalism of the Pepperstone team.
Pepperstone Group Rating – 4.6*
CFDs are complex instruments and come with a high risk of losing money rapidly due to leverage. Between 74-89 % of retail investor accounts lose money when trading CFDs. You should consider whether you understand how CFDs work and whether you can afford to take the high risk of losing your money
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