What Does This Broker Have to Offer?
The financial markets offer a wealth of lucrative trading opportunities and investors worldwide take advantage of these daily in order to earn profits. To be able to take part in online trading, you have to partner with a broker as they provide access to the trading platform. If you do a search online, you won’t be spoilt for choice when it comes to brokers. There are many choices, yet not all will offer an all-inclusive service that includes an intuitive trading platform, effective trading tools, secure banking options, educational resources, responsive and professional customer service.
Today, we will review Pepperstone and we will take an in-depth look as to what this broker has to offer.
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In 2010, Pepperstone Group Limited was established in Australia as an online forex and CFDs broker. Their headquarters are based in Melbourne, Australia yet, in 2016, they launched Pepperstone Limited in London to service their UK and European clients. They also have offices located in Dallas and Bangkok. Pepperstone was initially created with the goal of providing global traders with a trading experience that was simple enough for new traders, yet also advanced and cutting-edge for professional traders.
Pepperstone’s vision has always been to make online trading accessible to individual retail investors worldwide. They are driven to provide their clients with lower spreads, faster execution and superior service and to become one of the world’s largest providers of online forex and CFD trading.
Let us review the Pepperstone broker in more detail and establish if they really live up to their vision.
Pepperstone Reviews – What Features Are Important to Look Out for in a Broker?
The fact is, every trader is unique and they have different trading needs and preferences. This means that when you select a broker, you need to ensure that the broker provides the elements that are important to you, which could include a choice of assets to trade, mobile trading, responsive customer support and much more. There are, however, other elements you should consider before signing up, so let us review these in more detail.
Pepperstone Regulation
Regulation has become an important feature of any broker. It ensures that the broker is operating within the guidelines as laid out by the regulator and that they are offering a secure trading environment. This also often means that the broker holds clients’ funds in segregated bank accounts and that all transactions are secured by the latest technology.
To put your mind at ease, Pepperstone is authorized and regulated by the Australian Securities and Investment Commission (ASIC) under the registration AFSL #414530 as well as by the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) in the UK under the registration number FRN: 684312. The ASIC and the FCA are well-known in the industry for the strict enforcement of their regulatory requirements and they work aggressively to protect clients in the financial industry. For those traders based in Australia, Pepperstone insures their funds with Lloyds of London and these funds are held in leading banks in Australia including the National Australia Bank. For Pepperstone clients that are based in the United Kingdom and the EEA (European Economic Area), their funds are insured with Lloyds of London and are held in Tier 1 banks, such as Barclays Bank PLC.
This regulation gives Pepperstone the first green tick from us as this is one of the most important features required in order to be able to trade effectively and to ensure your trading capital is safe.
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Recognition and Reliability
With regulation in the bag, we will now look at the broker’s recognition and reliability. Does the broker consistently offer good service, new and advanced tools and do they upgrade their platforms as technology advances? Are they recognized in the industry as a leading, successful broker? Since they opened their doors in 2010, Pepperstone has won numerous awards in recognition of the top-quality services they provide their clients.
Forex.com.cn recognized Pepperstone as the Best ECN broker in China in 2012, and one year later, this broker was recognized by BRW Magazine and Deloitte as one of the fastest growing companies in Australia. In 2014, Pepperstone also won the Governor of Victoria Export Award.
The consistent recognition is as a result of Pepperstone’s quality service, their top trading conditions and wide choice of trading tools and this earns them a green tick in our books.
Pepperstone Trading Platforms
At the heart of all online trading is the trading platform and Pepperstone does not disappoint here either. The broker offers 11 trading platforms including MetaTrader and cTrader. They also offer mobile trading, which is an excellent feature for traders who want to continue trading even while on the go; this offers convenience and flexibility.
So, let’s look at the different trading platforms in more detail:
MetaTrader
The MetaTrader platform is the most popular and widely used platform in the industry today. It offers an intuitive and user-friendly interface and it is also highly customizable, thereby catering to a wide range of traders. As a result of the MetaTrader’s charting functionality, its indicators and its order management tools, traders are able to easily control their trading positions. The MQL language also allows traders to program indicators easily as well as Expert Advisors (EAs), which are automated trading strategies that will trade the markets without any user intervention. MetaTrader 4 is available on the Pepperstone website as a free download and the broker also offers a free demo account which is a great feature, especially for new traders. The platform is also available in a variety of languages including Bulgarian, Czech, Russian and many more.
Pepperstone also now offers the latest MetaTrader 5 platform, which offers a variety of additional features. If you visit the Pepperstone website, they offer an excellent comparison table of the different platforms on offer as well as their features. This is a really great way to assist traders in selecting the right platform for their trading needs.
There is also a cloud-based WebTrader platform available at Pepperstone and this provides traders with free and direct access to their MetaTrader account from the web, with no downloads or installations required. The WebTrader platform also offers a large choice of indicators and charting options, enabling traders to analyze the markets with ease and to customize their trading experience. Another great feature is the one-click trading functionality which is built into the WebTrader, and this enables a trader to quickly enter and exit market positions with a single click of a button.
cTrader Platform
Pepperstone’s cTrader platform is an innovative, advanced and revolutionary trading platform, which provides traders with direct access into the interbank market depth as well as to algorithmic-based trading systems. The cTrader platform can easily be customized and with its enhanced charting abilities and order management systems, traders can easily manage their trading positions in the fast-moving markets.
One of the great features of cTrader is that it enables traders to easily access Pepperstone’s full range of liquidity from its providers. In this way, traders are able to access the lowest spreads and best prices available in the market. Other effective features include Level II pricing, detachable charts, extensive back testing facilities as well as automated trading.
There is also a cTrader WebTrader version available on the broker’s site and this provides traders with direct access to their cTrader account from any web-browser. Pepperstone also offers cTrader cAlgo and with its intuitive built-in back-testing functionality, a trader is able to select from a wide range of C# resources in order to help them write their own algorithms.
Pepperstone Mobile Trading
In order to take advantage of the many available trading opportunities in the markets, it is vital to be able to react quickly, and mobile trading offers the convenience and flexibility to trade at any time and from anywhere. Traders can access the Pepperstone MT4 and cTrader trading platforms on their mobile devices and these apps can be downloaded from the Google Play Store and the Apple App Store. Pepperstone mobile trading allows for fast one-tap execution, access to real-time data, and the use of multiple screens and customized views. The mobile trading that is available at Pepperstone works seamlessly on Android, iPhone as well as iPad tablets.
When it comes to trading platforms, Pepperstone gets another green tick from us as they offer a wide range of leading platforms that can easily be used by new traders, while professional traders can easily access the advanced features that are available on these platforms.
What Assets Can You Trade?
Pepperstone is committed to providing its clients with an overall trading experience and therefore, you can trade a wide range of assets with this broker. This includes forex pairs; major, minor and exotic pairs as well as cryptocurrencies including Bitcoin, Bitcoin Cash, Ethereum, Dash and more. The spreads start from 0.0 pips on the major pairs, such as EURUSD, USDJPY, AUDUSD, GBPUSD and the broker also places a lot of emphasis on high-quality execution, low latency, as well as up to 500:1 leverage for their Professional Clients and up to 30:1 for their Retail Clients.
You can also access a choice of indices from 14 major global stock indices as well as a choice of commodities and energy markets. You can also trade the major oil markets with Pepperstone which includes the West Texas Intermediate crude oil and Brent crude oil. The energy trading instruments available on the Pepperstone trading platforms have minimum trade sizes from 10c per pip, as well as up to 500:1 leverage for Professional Clients, and up to 30:1 for Retail Clients, with no commissions.
Precious metals can also be traded including gold, silver, platinum and more. The broker also offers access to share CFDs including 50+ US stocks. Pepperstone traders can short and long stock CFDs with leverage up to 10:1 and some of the available shares include Amazon, Apple, IBM and more. A full list of the available shares can be easily access on the broker’s site.
So, another green tick for Pepperstone for their wide choice of assets that caters to the different preferences of global traders.
Account Types
To provide traders with tailored features and services, Pepperstone offers a choice of different account types. Each account offers direct access to interbank pricing, deep liquidity, cutting-edge technology, and fast execution speeds. All account types are set up in line with retail trading leverage limits and margin requirements, however, Professional Clients can trade with higher leverage.
There are 4 different account types available at Pepperstone and these include as follows:
Standard Account
This account type offers commission-free trading with Pepperstone interbank rates. The spreads also start from as low as 1.0 pips and trade execution occurs by way of STP with liquidity from 22 different banks. The standard account from Pepperstone also comes with automated risk management, negative balance protection and no commissions.
Razor Account
This account type offers a variety of features including raw spreads with the minimum spreads starting from as low as 0 pips. The minimum deposit requirement is AUD $200 or the equivalent in other currencies and the commission is fixed at AUD $3.5 per 100K units traded. The maximum leverage offered is 500:1. Hedging, scalping and EAs are allowed.
Swap Free/Islamic Account
This account type caters to traders who cannot receive or pay swaps. You will also need a minimum deposit of AUD$200 to open this type of account and no commissions are charged.
Active Trader Account
This account caters to high volume traders and its main features include access to a dedicated account manager, VPS Hosting, advanced reporting and custom solutions. Traders who open an Active Trader account can also earn Qantas Points through the Qantas Frequent Flyer program and there are thousands of other rewards to choose from.
Once again, Pepperstone gets a thumbs up from us with reference to their choice of account types. Since no two traders are the same, being able to select an account type that caters to your trading needs, is a big benefit.
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Educational Resources & Customer Support
It is evident that Pepperstone takes care of its clients and as a result, they offer access to a wide choice of educational resources, which assist in boosting trading success and profitability. If you are new to the online trading world, you can access the ‘Learn to Trade Forex’ section which provides access to important concepts including technical analysis, trend lines, basic terminology and much more.
Traders can also access the webinars which also cover important topics including trading basics, trading strategies and trade management. Another great feature are the trading guides which are available on the Pepperstone website and these also cover important trading topics, such as what moves the forex market, building a trading plan, 5 tips for forex trading with a full-time job and much more. The broker also offers an extensive FAQs, support and glossary sections, historical tick data and of course, excellent customer service.
The broker can be contacted via Live Chat, email and telephone and they offer support 24 hours a day. We contacted the Pepperstone support desk on a few occasions and were really impressed with their professionalism and responsiveness. The Pepperstone website is also available in English, Spanish, Italian, French, German and Polish, catering to traders worldwide.
Banking – Deposits and Withdrawals
Being able to deposit and withdraw funds to and from your trading account is an important aspect of trading successfully. Pepperstone offers a choice of safe and secure banking options to deposit funds into one’s trading account. You can make a deposit in the following base currencies: United States dollar (USD), British pound sterling (GBP), euro (EUR), and the Swiss franc (CHF). You can also make a deposit using a credit card (Visa, MasterCard), a debit card, Neteller and Skrill. They also offer a broker to broker deposit option where your funds from another broker will be transferred to your Pepperstone account within 2 to 3 days.
Pepperstone also offers a seamless withdrawal process. It is important to note that your funds can only be returned to a bank account that is in the same name as your Pepperstone trading account. This is as a result of the regulations as laid out by the regulators.
Pepperstone does not charge any fees for deposits or withdrawals but the banking institutions may charge fees, so it is best to check this directly with your bank.
We had no difficulties depositing money into our Pepperstone account using a credit card, and once we requested a withdrawal and completed the verification process, we received our funds within 48 hours. Impressive!
IC Markets vs Pepperstone – Which Should Be Your First Choice?
As we have said, there are many available brokers in the industry, each with their own pros and cons. If we compare Pepperstone to another broker, such as IC Markets, it may be difficult to really see the differences on the surface. That is, both brokers offer a choice of trading platforms, a variety of assets to trade and educational resources. We found the sign-up process with Pepperstone to be much smoother and within minutes of making a deposit, we were able to start trading. We also found the customer support team to be a lot better at Pepperstone, compared to IC Markets, and we were able to get answers to our questions
instantly.
Now, we are not saying that Pepperstone is the right choice because at the end of the day, everyone’s trading needs are different. Take the time to fully understand what type of trader you are, which assets do you want to trade, which is your preferred trading platform, how much assistance do you require, which banking option do you prefer and do you need access to mobile trading.
While reviewing Pepperstone, we were really impressed with all the different elements of this professional broker and we found that it met, and even exceeded, our trading needs and preferences.
Is There a Pepperstone Scam? – Bottom Line
There is no doubt that Pepperstone a legitimate, professional and outstanding broker that is also regulated by two leading, international regulatory bodies. They offer quality services, tools and features that meet the needs of all types of traders, from beginners to advanced. We liked the wide choice of secure banking options and were really impressed by how hassle-free the withdrawal process was. Another great feature was the access to mobile trading and this allowed us to trade even while we were on the go.
As a regular trader, I liked the fact that Pepperstone offered access to a wide choice trading guides and I was even able to learn a lot of new things, such as improving the performance of my Expert Advisor (EA) and the psychology of forex trading.
All in all, Pepperstone gets top marks from us and we highly recommend this leading broker.
Overall Rating: 10/10