The safety dossier

Safety first

Pepperstone review

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

Last checked

If Pepperstone failed, we cannot tell you what would happen to your money, and that is the finding. There is no compensation scheme behind an account here and limited obligation on the firm to keep your funds apart from its own. Regulated by ASIC (AFSL 414530); FCA (FRN 684312); CySEC (388/20); DFSA (F004356); BaFin; CMA Kenya; SCB Bahamas, offering MetaTrader 4, MetaTrader 5, cTrader, TradingView, Pepperstone Web 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
ASIC (AFSL 414530); FCA (FRN 684312); CySEC (388/20); DFSA (F004356); BaFin; CMA Kenya; SCB Bahamas
Regulator tier
Tier 1
Register entry
ASIC Professional Registers, AFSL 414530
Client money segregated
Yes
Held at
Major regulated banks; entity-dependent
Negative balance protection
Yes for eligible retail clients; entity-dependent
Compensation scheme
FSCS for eligible UK clients; ICF for eligible Cyprus clients; jurisdiction-dependent elsewhere
Audited by
Independent external/statutory auditors
Not available to
United States and other jurisdictions where Pepperstone cannot legally provide services

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

Pepperstone holds tier-one authorisations from ASIC, FCA, CySEC and BaFin. 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 (SCB). Which one you are onboarded to depends on where you live, and the two carry very different protections - worth confirming before you deposit.

ASIC caps retail leverage at 1:30, requires negative balance protection, and obliges the broker to hold client money in a separate trust account.

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.

Check the licence yourself: ASIC Connect, the FCA Register, the CySEC register of investment firms, the DFSA public register.

The company behind the brand

Legal entity
Pepperstone Group Limited
Company number
ACN 147 055 703
Headquarters
Melbourne, Victoria, Australia
Founded
2010
Publicly listed
No
Parent company
Pepperstone Group
Employees
500+
Also trades as
Pepperstone

What it costs to trade

Spread from
0.0 pips
EUR/USD spread
0.1 pips Razor / 1.1 pips Standard
GBP/USD spread
0.2 pips Razor / 1.2 pips Standard
Commission
$3.50 per side / $7 round turn on MT4/MT5 Razor
All-in cost, EUR/USD
Approx. 0.8 pips Razor
Spread type
Variable
Overnight swap
Both: overnight funding may be charged or credited
Withdrawal fee
None internally
Currency conversion
Applicable where conversion is required

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.

Pepperstone lists a minimum deposit of $10. 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, cTrader, TradingView, Pepperstone Web Platform
Own platform
Yes
Mobile app
Pepperstone App plus MT4/MT5/cTrader
Browser trading
Yes
Automated trading
Yes
Copy trading
Yes
Indicators
Extensive MT4, MT5, cTrader and TradingView libraries
Third-party tools
TradingView, MT4, MT5, cTrader
API access
Yes, including cTrader/API and institutional connectivity

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.

cTrader shows depth of market and level II pricing, and is usually paired with raw-spread accounts rather than fixed-spread ones.

TradingView integration lets you trade from charts you may already use, removing the need to run a second platform for analysis.

Markets and execution

Markets
Forex, Shares, Indices, Commodities, Metals, ETFs, Cryptocurrencies
Currency pairs
93
Total instruments
1,350+
Crypto CFDs
Yes, jurisdiction-dependent
Maximum leverage
1:500
Execution model
No dealing-desk intervention / liquidity-provider pricing
Execution speed
From 50ms
Order types
Market, limit, stop, stop-loss, take-profit, trailing stop and platform-specific orders
Servers
Global low-latency trading infrastructure

Leverage up to 1:500 is available on this entity. High leverage does not increase your expected return - it increases position size for the same deposit, and shortens the move needed to close you out.

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

Funding options: visa/mastercard, bank transfer, paypal and supported regional 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
$10
Account types
Standard, Razor, Swap-Free, Professional, Demo
Account currencies
AUD, USD, EUR, GBP, SGD, HKD
Islamic account
Yes
Demo account
Yes
Professional account
Yes
Minimum trade size
Typically 0.01 lots
Time to open
Typically a few minutes, subject to verification

Deposits and withdrawals

Deposit methods
Visa/Mastercard, bank transfer, PayPal and supported regional payment methods
Withdrawal methods
Bank transfer, cards and supported electronic methods
Deposit time
Many electronic methods instant; bank transfer takes longer
Withdrawal time
Method-dependent
Local payment methods
Country/entity-dependent

Support and education

Support hours
24/5 plus 18 hours over the weekend
Contact channels
Live chat, email, phone, Help Centre
Languages
Multilingual
Telephone
N/A
Email
support@pepperstone.com
Live chat response
Typically within minutes
Education
Extensive: trading guides, webinars, platform education and educational content
Research
Market analysis, trading insights, technical/fundamental commentary and platform tools

Information is regularly updated. Last compiled from Pepperstone's own website on 26 August 2026.

Questions people ask about Pepperstone

What happens to my money if Pepperstone goes bust?

Pepperstone sits behind FSCS for eligible UK clients; ICF for eligible Cyprus clients; jurisdiction-dependent elsewhere. 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 Pepperstone?

Pepperstone holds client money with Major regulated banks; entity-dependent, 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 Pepperstone?

Pepperstone provides negative balance protection, recorded as yes for eligible retail clients; entity-dependent. So it exists and it does not reach every client, and which entity you were onboarded to decides whether it reaches you.