Pepperstone Review (Australian Forex Broker)

I therefore wanted to include an Australian forex broker review of Pepperstone’s accounts and help illustrate who they may be most suited to.

Pepperstone Review

4.5 Reviewer

Pros

• Low spread foreign exchange broker! Their Razor account has the lowest average ECN Forex spreads out of all FX brokers compared
• Australia's largest online Forex broker by volume
• Excellent execution speed and no dealing desk intervention
• Wide variety of currency pairs & world market indices to trade. UPDATE July 2017: Bitcoin now available (BTC to USD)
• Pepperstone offer two of the world’s most popular online forex platforms, MetaTrader 4 (MT4) & cTrader
• Free Smart Trader Tools package for all accounts funded with $500 or more. Smart Trader Tools provides excellent upgrades to the MetaTrader 4 platform
• Welcome all trading styles, including scalping, expert advisors (EAs), automated trading and hedging in the one account
• Earn Qantas points when opening an account and trading (Terms & Conditions apply)
• 13 different account deposit/funding methods available and Pepperstone do not charge any internal fees for deposits or withdrawals
• No inactivity fees
• Trade all world markets from one account
• Professional Multi Account Manager (MAM) available for money managers
• One click trading available on MT4 via tool developed by Pepperstone
• Excellent, award winning customer service. Includes 24hr phone, live chat and email support
• Pepperstone withdrawal process is easy and fast! Testing by the reviewer in January 2017 confirmed our funds were withdrawn, and credited to our bank account, in the time-frames quoted on the Pepperstone web site.

Cons

• Does not offer CFDs on equities. This will not be an issue for traders if they don't require stock/share CFDs and Pepperstones Range Of Instruments is excellent on the Forex with 58 different currency pairs to trade
• Trading platforms may not be as easy to use as some basic web platforms, however are extremely stable, functional and feature rich.

Summary

Pepperstone is an Australian online broker specialising in ECN Forex trading. Pepperstone Group Limited are one of the largest names in the Australian currency trading market, with daily turnover/trading volume of $5.2 billion (approximately $110 billion per month trade volume). This puts them in the top 10 FX brokers in the world by volume. Pepperstone spreads on their Forex instruments are some of the tightest we have reviewed.

Pepperstone will suit experienced FX traders requiring an extremely fast, reliable low cost ECN trading environment and wide variety of Forex instruments to trade.

Pepperstone Forex broker is also suited to foreign exchange traders who include scalping, Expert Advisor for MetaTrader, automated trading or hedging strategies, as these are all welcomed and available from Pepperstone accounts and trading platform.

Recently Peperstone expanded to include direct access CFDs (in addition to their specialist ECN Forex) and are continually expanding this offering. Our broker review found traders have access to a range of global index and commodity CFDs. However, if equity CFD trading is of importance to you, then please be aware Pepperstone do not currently offer these.

Pepperstone broker is not suited to traders looking for fixed spreads. However, Pepperstone spreads are the lowest average ECN Forex market spreads of all brokers we've compared. If however you want the lowest fixed spread rates, please view our Trade Direct 365 review instead.

Our Pepperstone review has shown they are one of the best forex brokers regulated in Australia. They provide the lowest average ECN Forex spreads of all FX brokers reviewed, combined with MetaTrader & cTrader currency trading platforms, exceptional execution speed and multi award-winning customer service! In addition, eligible Pepperstone Forex traders can now earn Qantas points while they trade!
We highly recommend the Pepperstone razor accounts for anyone wanting to trade Forex with one of the top, multi-award winning, low spread forex brokers in Australia.

Get started now or try the Pepperstone demo trading account.

Pricing4.8

Range Of Instruments3.9

Speed of Execution5

Trading Platform Features5

Ease Of Use3.5

Customer Support5

Review Detail: Pepperstone Australian Forex broker

• Pepperstone is a leading Forex ECN broker focusing heavily on a fast execution experience and low cost trading. They have clearly achieved this as our review and ECN Forex broker comparison tables show.

  This is combined with ultra-low latency, high quality execution via EDGE technology, reliable trading platform infrastructure and award-winning customer support makes for a great trading experience.

• One of the top non dealing desk forex brokers in Australia.
• Pepperstone spreads are extremely tight, especially the razor spreads which is the lowest raw ECN spread Forex account out of the FX brokers we’ve reviewed. Razor account ECN spreads start from 0.0 pips with excellent average spreads (a better indicator of your expected FX trading costs) of 0.2 pips for EURUSD currency pair. Pepperstone’s standard online forex trading account offer forex traders tight, straight through processing (STP) spreads and liquidity from 22 banks and forex market ECN’s, which can also help to reduce slippage. This is great for traders who are ready to move from demo to live trading account.

  Our Pepperstone review confirmed they have lowered FX trading costs with an ECN broker model of obtaining superior top tier liquidity. Foreign Exchange quotes are sourced from as many as 22 Major Banks and Electronic Crossing Networks (ECNs). Cutting edge technology combined with superior liquidity, compared to many ECN brokers, translates into extremely tight ECN spread FX pricing on all Pepperstone forex trading accounts!

  Try a DEMO Account   Learn More About Pepperstone
• Pepperstone Group Limited (ACN: 147 055 703), formerly named Pepperstone Financial Pty Ltd, holds an Australian financial services licence (AFSL) No. 414530 and is regulated by the Australian Securities & Investments Commission (ASIC). They are an Australian online broker with headquarters in Melbourne, Australia and audited by top tier firm Ernst & Young.
• Pepperstone deposits all client funds in Segregated Client Trust Accounts with the National Australia Bank (NAB). Pepperstone cannot use client funds for any business purpose, they are kept on trust for clients and segregated from the business. However, client money can be used to maintain margin that is needed to cover positions opened by clients
• Access to two of the world’s leading platforms for trading FX, MetaTrader 4 (MT4) and cTrader. There are 11 available variations of these products including WebTrader, mobile devices including Forex online platform app for iPhone, iPad & Android, plus MetaTrader 5 and cTrader cAlgo. Users focused on EAs (expert advisor) may prefer MT4 due to its wider availability, more online resources and larger online community. Other traders however may be drawn to cTrader due to the greater ability to make modifications to the interface, and more advanced order options.
• MAM (Multi Account Manager) and PAMM account (Percent Allocation Management Module) available.
• Pepperstone offers Qantas FF Points when clients trade the Forex markets (T&Cs apply). They are currently the only Forex Broker in the world offering this.
  New, eligible clients will earn 10 Qantas Points per $1 on their first deposit, up to a maximum of 10,000 points, and then earn an additional 10 points per lot on FX trades.
  If you don’t already have a Frequent Flyer membership, then by signing up through Pepperstone broker, they will waive the $89.50 joining fee that is usually charged!
  To get started simply follow these three easy steps:
  1. Click to open a new Pepperstone Live Trading account
  2. Link a Qantas Frequent Flyer membership
  3. Make a deposit to earn up to 10,000 bonus points. Then earn an additional 10 points per lot on Forex trades!
• While Pepperstone was originally founded as a specialist Australian Forex broker, in recent years they have expanded to include other products. At the time of updating this review (July 2017) Pepperstone’s range of instruments, for both their Edge Razor account and Edge Standard account include:
  • 58 Currency pairs, including all major pairs and very large selection of exotic currencies such as EUR/PLN (Euro to Polish Zloty) and Nordic-Asian Crosses such as SEK/JPY (Swedish Krona to Japanese Yen);
  • 14 Major Global Stock Index CFDs (including AUS200, EUSTX50, GER30, HK50, JPN225, NAS100, UK100, US30 and the US500);
  • 5 Soft Commodities (Coffee, Sugar, Cocoa, Cotton and Frozen Orange Juice);
  • 7 Metals Commodities (including Gold, Silver, Platinum and Palladium);
  • 3 Energy (West Texas Intermediate Crude Oil, Brent Crude Oil and Natural Gas);
  •   1 Cryptocurrency – Bitcoin is now available for trading against the US Dollar (as BTC/USD).

  All the above instruments are available in both MT4 and the cTrader fx trading platforms, plus on WebTrader and mobile trading apps. These trading apps provide technical analysis traders with a wide variety of charts, technical indicators and trade order options while on mobile devices.

• The Pepperstone withdrawal process is confirmed to be fast and easy! Client withdrawals are easily done by completing an online withdrawal form located in the secure client area. Withdrawal forms received before 21:00 GMT ( 07:00 AEST ) will be processed that day. However, any forms received after this time may not be processed until the following day.
  
  As part of this Pepperstone review we confirmed these withdrawal procedures by submitting a withdrawal request on the 11th January 2017 (at 6:11pm) to verify the procedures and time taken. We are happy to confirm the Pepperstone withdrawal process and time frames are as stated on the Pepperstone broker web site. We received our funds withdrawal confirmation on 13th January 2017 at 7:58am in line with Pepperstone’s withdrawal statement
• Pepperstone have produced a new tool that enables One Click Trading for the MetaTrader4 platform.
• Free Meta Trader 4 Smart Trader Tools, for all accounts opened with $500 minimum or more, confirm Pepperstone’s reputation as one of the top Metatrader brokers. MT4 is still considered the best forex trading platform based on worldwide popularity. Smart Trader Tools enhance the MetaTrader platform even further! The package consists of 10 apps to help you gain an edge, as well as insights into the FX markets. These include advanced trade execution & management; decision assistance via correlation and sentiment trader apps; sophisticated alarms; up-to-date market data and much more.
• Huge variety of account funding options including:
  • Credit card / debit card (Instant Funding 24/7)
  • POLi (Instant Bank Transfers 24/7)
  • Verified by Visa
  • MasterCard SecureCode
  • PayPal
  • Wire Transfer via Bank (Domestic & International)
  • China Union Pay (24/7)
  • BPay
  • Skrill Moneybookers (24/7)
  • Neteller (24/7)
  • Qiwi (Instant Qiwi Deposits 24/7)
  • Fasapay (Instant Deposits 24/7)
  • B2B – Broker to Broker (transfer funds from your existing broker, 2-3 days)

  Pepperstone do not charge any internal fees for deposits or withdrawals. However, please note payments to and/or from international banking institutions may attract transfer fees from either party, which are independent of Pepperstone broker.

• In addition, Pepperstone Group Limited, simply referred to as Pepperstone, has been recognised 20 times for excellence in FX brokerage, customer support and innovative technology. In recent years these awards include:
  • Winner: #1 Overall Client Satisfaction – Investment Trends 2016 Australia Foreign Exchange Report
  • Winner: #1 Customer Service – Investment Trends 2016 Australia Foreign Exchange Report
  • Winner: #1 Value for Money – Investment Trends 2016 Australia Foreign Exchange Report
  • Winner: #1 Overall Client Satisfaction – Investment Trends 2015 Australia FX Report
  • Winner: #1 Customer Support – Investment Trends 2015 Australia FX Report

Pepperstone’s cTrader v MT4 Trading Platform Comparison