The safety dossier

Safety first

HF Markets review

Who regulates HF Markets, under which licence, and what that means for your money.

Last checked

HF Markets carries the protections that decide what happens to your balance if the firm fails, though not every entity it operates carries the same ones, and which you get depends on where you live. Regulated by FCA (801701); CySEC (183/12); FSCA (46632); Seychelles FSA (SD015); CMA Kenya (155); DFSA (F004885); Mauritius FSC (C110008214), offering MetaTrader 4, MetaTrader 5, HFM WebTrader, HFM Platform.

Our rating

★★★★½

One rating, identical across our sites - only the way it is shown changes. It averages six assessments: regulation, trading costs, platforms, markets, support and education.

Regulation and safety

Regulated by
FCA (801701); CySEC (183/12); FSCA (46632); Seychelles FSA (SD015); CMA Kenya (155); DFSA (F004885); Mauritius FSC (C110008214)
Regulator tier
Tier 1
Register entry
FCA Financial Services Register, FRN 801701
Client money segregated
Yes
Held at
Major regulated banking institutions
Negative balance protection
Yes
Compensation scheme
FSCS up to £85,000 for eligible UK clients; ICF up to €20,000 for eligible CySEC clients
Audited by
Independent external auditors
Not available to
United States, Canada, Sudan, Syria, Iran, North Korea, UAE, Türkiye and other restricted jurisdictions

The licence is what decides where your money sits and who is obliged to do something about it.

HF Markets holds tier-one authorisations from FCA and CySEC. That matters more than any headline spread: it determines your leverage cap, whether losses can exceed your deposit, and what happens to your money if the firm fails.

It also operates an offshore entity (FSC and FSA). Which one you are onboarded to depends on where you live, and the two carry very different protections - worth confirming before you deposit.

The FCA caps retail leverage at 1:30, mandates negative balance protection, and covers eligible clients under the Financial Services Compensation Scheme.

CySEC licences passport across the EU and follow the 1:30 retail leverage cap, with the Investor Compensation Fund covering eligible claims.

The FSCA licenses derivative providers in South Africa without a fixed retail leverage cap, so headline leverage is often higher than an FCA or ASIC entity may offer.

Check the licence yourself: the FCA Register, the CySEC register of investment firms, the FSCA list of regulated entities, the Seychelles FSA list of regulated entities, the DFSA public register, the Mauritius FSC register of licensees.

The company behind the brand

Legal entity
HF Markets (Seychelles) Ltd
Company number
8419176-1
Headquarters
Limassol, Cyprus
Founded
2010
Publicly listed
No
Parent company
HF Markets Group
Employees
500+
Also trades as
HFM; HF Markets; HotForex

What it costs to trade

Spread from
0.0 pips
EUR/USD spread
Approx. 0.1 pips, Zero
GBP/USD spread
Approx. 0.3 pips, Zero
Commission
From $3 per side / $6 round turn, Zero
All-in cost, EUR/USD
Approx. 0.7 pips
Spread type
Variable
Overnight swap
Both: overnight swaps apply; swap-free trading available on eligible instruments
Inactivity fee
$5/month after 6 months inactivity, increasing over longer periods
Currency conversion
Currency conversion applies where currencies differ

Cost is the last thing to weigh here, and never the thing that should decide it.

A quoted spread from 0.0 pips is a raw-spread figure, which almost always means a separate commission per lot. Compare the two together - a "zero spread" account with a high commission can cost more than a wider spread with none.

Quoted spreads are best-case figures on the most liquid pair, in normal conditions. What you actually pay widens around news and at the session open.

HF Markets lists a minimum deposit of $0. Treat it as the cost of opening an account, not the cost of trading one - position sizing on a small balance is what tends to cause damage.

Platforms and tools

Platforms
MetaTrader 4, MetaTrader 5, HFM WebTrader, HFM Platform
Own platform
Yes, HFM Platform/WebTrader
Mobile app
Both proprietary and third-party
Browser trading
Yes
Automated trading
Yes; Expert Advisors and automated trading supported
Copy trading
Yes, HFM Copy Trading
Indicators
100+ through TradingView integration; 30+ MT4; 38+ MT5
Third-party tools
TradingView, Autochartist, VPS, Premium Trader Tools
API access
Yes, institutional/API solutions

MetaTrader 4 remains the most widely supported platform for expert advisors. If you rely on an existing EA, this is usually the deciding factor.

MetaTrader 5 handles more asset classes and order types than MT4, but expert advisors are not compatible between the two - an MT4 EA will not run on it.

Markets and execution

Markets
Forex, Metals, Energies, Indices, Shares, Commodities, Bonds, ETFs, Cryptocurrencies
Currency pairs
50+
Total instruments
1,000+
Crypto CFDs
Yes
Maximum leverage
1:30
Execution model
Market execution
Execution speed
Approx. 120ms
Order types
Market, limit, stop, stop-limit, stop-loss, take-profit, trailing stop
Servers
London and other global financial data centres

Leverage is capped at 1:30, which is the retail limit under tier-one regulation. It is a protection rather than a restriction: it caps how quickly a position can move against your balance.

HF Markets covers forex, metals, energies, indices, shares, commodities, bonds, etfs, cryptocurrencies. A wider range matters less than depth in the instruments you actually trade.

Funding options: visa, mastercard, bank transfer, skrill, neteller, crypto and regional/local payment methods. Check withdrawal routes as well as deposit ones - they are often not the same, and the difference only becomes apparent when you try to take money out.

Accounts

Minimum deposit
$0
Account types
InfinityX, Cent, Zero, Pro, Premium, Copy Trading, Demo
Account currencies
USD, EUR, NGN, JPY, THB, IDR, GHS, USC for Cent
Islamic account
Yes
Demo account
Yes
Professional account
Yes
Minimum trade size
0.01 lots
Time to open
Typically a few minutes

Deposits and withdrawals

Deposit methods
Visa, Mastercard, bank transfer, Skrill, Neteller, crypto and regional/local payment methods
Withdrawal methods
Visa, Mastercard, bank transfer, e-wallets, crypto and supported regional methods
Deposit time
Cards up to 10 minutes; e-wallets instant-10 minutes; bank transfer 2-7 business days
Withdrawal time
Instant-24 hours for many alternative methods; cards/bank transfer 2-10 business days
Minimum withdrawal
$5
Local payment methods
Multiple regional bank transfers, e-wallets, mobile payments and country-specific payment methods

Support and education

Support hours
24/5
Contact channels
Live chat, email, phone
Languages
27+ languages
Telephone
+44 203 097 8571
Email
support@hfm.com
Live chat response
Typically under 2 minutes
Education
Extensive: webinars, educational videos, courses, tutorials, ebooks, podcasts and trading guides
Research
Extensive: market analysis, Autochartist, trading calculators, technical analysis and market news

Questions people ask about HF Markets

What happens to my money if HF Markets goes bust?

HF Markets sits behind FSCS up to £85,000 for eligible UK clients; ICF up to €20,000 for eligible CySEC clients. A scheme covers eligible clients of the entity that holds the licence, so the entity you were onboarded to decides whether it covers you.

Which bank actually holds client money at HF Markets?

HF Markets holds client money with Major regulated banking institutions, in accounts kept separate from the firm's own. Almost no comparison site publishes this, and it is the thing that decides how quickly you would see your money again if the broker failed.

Can I lose more than I deposit with HF Markets?

HF Markets provides negative balance protection, so a gap through your stop should not leave you owing money. It is usually a rule of the regulator rather than a favour from the broker, which means it can differ between the entities one brand operates.