Meridian FX
✭✭✭✭✭
2,314 trader reviews
92
$50
2011
Director of Online Broker Research
Managing Editor
Managing Partner
Quick verdict
Meridian FX suits traders who want tight, transparent spreads on major pairs and the flexibility of three serious platforms — without giving up multi-jurisdiction regulatory oversight. Newer traders get a genuinely useful academy; active traders get raw-spread accounts and API access. Where it loses points is a fee structure that only truly rewards higher account tiers, and phone support hours that lag its chat and email response times.
- Spreads from 0.0 pips on the Raw account
- Segregated client funds across four regulators
- MT4, MT5, cTrader and a proprietary web terminal
- $10/month inactivity fee after 12 months
- No 24/7 phone support on weekends
- Standard account spreads are average, not exceptional
Table of Contents
Available investment products
CFDs: The CFD lineup is among the largest I’ve encountered, with roughly 17,000 contracts spanning indices, single stocks, commodities, bonds, and rates. Availability varies by IG entity, and U.K. retail clients face additional product restrictions; the broker’s account dashboard surfaces what’s available for your jurisdiction before you fund. Thematic indices are also offered as CFDs alongside the standard headline indices.
Cryptocurrency: IG offers 30 crypto CFDs and a custom Crypto 10 Index, plus a separate underlying crypto exchange launched in 2025 that covers 55 coins on a 24/7 schedule at a 1.49% spread with no other trading fees. Position limits on the CFD side run up to $5 million in notional value per client, which is unusually generous for a leveraged crypto offering. Crypto CFDs are not available to retail clients of IG’s U.K. entity (see our guide to crypto brokers for context).
Options and exotic products: This is one of the more distinctive corners of the IG product range. The dedicated options account supports vanilla and barrier options across indices, popular single stocks, forex, and commodities. Complex multi-leg strategies are not supported, but barrier options (knockouts) can be used to deliver equivalent payoffs in many cases. The Turbo24 product line is being retired in June 2026.
Exchange-traded shares and futures: IG Invest delivers over 12,000 shares and ETFs alongside the CFD book, across a wide range of global exchanges. U.S. clients access listed derivatives (futures and equity options) through IG’s tastytrade subsidiary rather than the main IG entity.
Score breakdown
Available investment products
CFDs: The CFD lineup is among the largest I’ve encountered, with roughly 17,000 contracts spanning indices, single stocks, commodities, bonds, and rates. Availability varies by IG entity, and U.K. retail clients face additional product restrictions; the broker’s account dashboard surfaces what’s available for your jurisdiction before you fund. Thematic indices are also offered as CFDs alongside the standard headline indices.
Cryptocurrency: IG offers 30 crypto CFDs and a custom Crypto 10 Index, plus a separate underlying crypto exchange launched in 2025 that covers 55 coins on a 24/7 schedule at a 1.49% spread with no other trading fees. Position limits on the CFD side run up to $5 million in notional value per client, which is unusually generous for a leveraged crypto offering. Crypto CFDs are not available to retail clients of IG’s U.K. entity (see our guide to crypto brokers for context).
Options and exotic products: This is one of the more distinctive corners of the IG product range. The dedicated options account supports vanilla and barrier options across indices, popular single stocks, forex, and commodities. Complex multi-leg strategies are not supported, but barrier options (knockouts) can be used to deliver equivalent payoffs in many cases. The Turbo24 product line is being retired in June 2026.
Exchange-traded shares and futures: IG Invest delivers over 12,000 shares and ETFs alongside the CFD book, across a wide range of global exchanges. U.S. clients access listed derivatives (futures and equity options) through IG’s tastytrade subsidiary rather than the main IG entity.
Trust & regulation
Segregated funds
Client deposits are held in segregated accounts at tier-1 banks, separate from company operating capital.
Negative balance protection
Retail clients cannot lose more than their account balance, even in extreme volatility events.
Investor compensation
Eligible clients are covered by FSCS or ICF schemes depending on the onboarding entity.
13 years operating
Founded in 2011, with no record of regulatory sanctions in its four licensing jurisdictions.
Pros & cons
Pros
- Raw spreads from 0.0 pips plus a transparent commission schedule
- Four-jurisdiction regulation with segregated client funds
- Choice of MT4, MT5, cTrader and a proprietary WebTrader
- Free VPS hosting for accounts trading 5+ lots per month
- Genuinely structured academy with graded course levels
Cons
- $10/month inactivity fee applies after 12 idle months
- Phone support unavailable on weekends
- Standard account spreads sit at the industry average
- Professional account requires proof of trading experience
- No fractional shares on the ETF offering
Tickmill fees
Tickmill competes hard on price, and for cost-focused traders that is the main reason to put it on a shortlist. The structure is refreshingly simple: two retail accounts, the Classic and the Raw, each with a low $100 minimum deposit. The difference between them is entirely about how you pay to trade.
The Classic account is spread-only. It charges no commission, so your whole cost sits in the spread, which averaged 1.7 pips on EUR/USD during testing, higher than the tightest pricing I see elsewhere. The Raw account flips the model: spreads track far closer to the underlying market, and you pay a transparent $3 per side, or $6 per round turn, per standard lot. For anyone trading with any regularity, the Raw account works out cheaper once spread and commission are totaled together.
TradingView pricing: A dedicated TradingView Raw account is available for traders who prefer to work inside the TradingView platform. Its pricing mirrors the standard Raw account, with a slightly higher commission of $3.50 per side, or $7 per round turn, per standard lot.
The discontinued VIP tier: The VIP account is gone. It previously required a $50,000 deposit and brought commissions down to $1 per side. I was disappointed to see it retired. The broker remains competitively priced, but its very highest-volume traders have lost their best tier.
Non-trading costs: Non-trading fees are light. There is no inactivity fee and no charge on inbound international wires. Tickmill also offers an Islamic, swap-free account for traders who need a Sharia-compliant setup, and a professional account, which is more of a regulatory classification: it removes regional leverage caps in exchange for giving up retail trader protections.
Compare to Top Competitors
Spreads as low as 0.0 pips.
(73% of retail CFD accounts lose money)
Ultra-low spreads from 0.0 pips
(74% of retail CFD accounts lose money when trading CFDs)
Commission-free trading
(76% of retail investor accounts lose money when trading CFDs)
Trading fees
| Fee type | Standard | Raw |
|---|---|---|
| Spread (EUR/USD avg.) | 1.0 pips | 0.1 pips |
| Commission | $0 | $7 / lot round-turn |
| Swap (long / short, EUR/USD) | -6.2 / 1.4 pts | -6.2 / 1.4 pts |
| Inactivity fee | $10/month after 12 months | |
| Withdrawal fee | Free (bank transfer & cards); crypto network fee applies | |
| Deposit fee | Free on all methods | |
Tickmill competes hard on price, and for cost-focused traders that is the main reason to put it on a shortlist. The structure is refreshingly simple: two retail accounts, the Classic and the Raw, each with a low $100 minimum deposit. The difference between them is entirely about how you pay to trade.
The Classic account is spread-only. It charges no commission, so your whole cost sits in the spread, which averaged 1.7 pips on EUR/USD during testing, higher than the tightest pricing I see elsewhere. The Raw account flips the model: spreads track far closer to the underlying market, and you pay a transparent $3 per side, or $6 per round turn, per standard lot. For anyone trading with any regularity, the Raw account works out cheaper once spread and commission are totaled together.
TradingView pricing: A dedicated TradingView Raw account is available for traders who prefer to work inside the TradingView platform. Its pricing mirrors the standard Raw account, with a slightly higher commission of $3.50 per side, or $7 per round turn, per standard lot.
The discontinued VIP tier: The VIP account is gone. It previously required a $50,000 deposit and brought commissions down to $1 per side. I was disappointed to see it retired. The broker remains competitively priced, but its very highest-volume traders have lost their best tier.
Non-trading costs: Non-trading fees are light. There is no inactivity fee and no charge on inbound international wires. Tickmill also offers an Islamic, swap-free account for traders who need a Sharia-compliant setup, and a professional account, which is more of a regulatory classification: it removes regional leverage caps in exchange for giving up retail trader protections.
Mobile app
Biometric login
Face and fingerprint sign-in with session-level encryption.
Push price alerts
Set thresholds on any instrument and get notified instantly.
One-tap close
Close full or partial positions without opening the order panel.
Offline watchlists
Cached quotes so your watchlist stays useful without signal.
I spent considerable time in the IG Trading app, and the charts are what I keep coming back to. The four-tab bottom rail (Markets, Trades, Explore, Account) is as minimalist as you can make a trading app without losing functionality, and from the Markets tab I can execute a trade in three taps: buy or sell, set contract size, confirm.
Charting: This is the category where IG’s mobile app outperforms most peers I review. There are 33 indicators, 19 drawing tools, and 17 timeframes, including 1-second candles and a true tick chart, which most mobile builds drop. Chart templates sync across devices: any indicator set saved on the web shows up on mobile when I open the same asset (trend lines do not yet sync, which is the one notable gap). The drag-to-modify implementation is the standout: once dealing on charts is enabled, you tap an open position and drag the stop or take-profit to the new price level in a single motion.
I spent considerable time in the IG Trading app, and the charts are what I keep coming back to. The four-tab bottom rail (Markets, Trades, Explore, Account) is as minimalist as you can make a trading app without losing functionality, and from the Markets tab I can execute a trade in three taps: buy or sell, set contract size, confirm.
Charting: This is the category where IG’s mobile app outperforms most peers I review. There are 33 indicators, 19 drawing tools, and 17 timeframes, including 1-second candles and a true tick chart, which most mobile builds drop. Chart templates sync across devices: any indicator set saved on the web shows up on mobile when I open the same asset (trend lines do not yet sync, which is the one notable gap). The drag-to-modify implementation is the standout: once dealing on charts is enabled, you tap an open position and drag the stop or take-profit to the new price level in a single motion.
Trading platforms
IG offers five platforms in active use: its proprietary web app, the MetaTrader 4 and MetaTrader 5 suite, TradingView, the L2 Dealer DMA platform, and ProRealTime for advanced charting. For this review I focused my testing on the IG web platform, which is where the broker’s design choices come through most clearly, with the specialty platforms as supporting venues for specific use cases.
IG web platform: Workspaces are modular and saveable, with a persistent left rail that you can collapse and a right-hand panel that toggles between Notifications, Posts, and curated headlines from Bloomberg and Reuters. The platform ships without a default workspace, so the first session is spent building one. The integrated interactive in-app tutorial is a useful onboarding aid I rarely see done well at this level.
I spent considerable time in the IG Trading app, and the charts are what I keep coming back to. The four-tab bottom rail (Markets, Trades, Explore, Account) is as minimalist as you can make a trading app without losing functionality, and from the Markets tab I can execute a trade in three taps: buy or sell, set contract size, confirm.
Charting: This is the category where IG’s mobile app outperforms most peers I review. There are 33 indicators, 19 drawing tools, and 17 timeframes, including 1-second candles and a true tick chart, which most mobile builds drop. Chart templates sync across devices: any indicator set saved on the web shows up on mobile when I open the same asset (trend lines do not yet sync, which is the one notable gap). The drag-to-modify implementation is the standout: once dealing on charts is enabled, you tap an open position and drag the stop or take-profit to the new price level in a single motion.
I spent considerable time in the IG Trading app, and the charts are what I keep coming back to. The four-tab bottom rail (Markets, Trades, Explore, Account) is as minimalist as you can make a trading app without losing functionality, and from the Markets tab I can execute a trade in three taps: buy or sell, set contract size, confirm.
Charting: This is the category where IG’s mobile app outperforms most peers I review. There are 33 indicators, 19 drawing tools, and 17 timeframes, including 1-second candles and a true tick chart, which most mobile builds drop. Chart templates sync across devices: any indicator set saved on the web shows up on mobile when I open the same asset (trend lines do not yet sync, which is the one notable gap). The drag-to-modify implementation is the standout: once dealing on charts is enabled, you tap an open position and drag the stop or take-profit to the new price level in a single motion.
Research
Research at Tickmill is a story of strong tools paired with thin in-house content. The proprietary Tickmill Trader platform carries no news headlines, which puts it behind the MetaTrader and TradingView options, but the broker makes up ground with a solid set of third-party tools and calendars.
Calendars and data: The economic calendar, powered by Acuity, is one of the better ones I have used, with impact severity, forecast-versus-actual figures, country flags, and filtering. The same engine drives a corporate calendar covering earnings, dividends, stock splits, IPOs, and M&A, complete with earnings history and surprise data. Macro reports and financial statement data, however, are not available.
Market analysis: Tickmill’s analysts publish daily commentary on the blog, and there is a weekly market video hosted by Patrick Munnelly. The Institutional Insights series, which draws on outlooks from banks like Goldman Sachs, adds a perspective I rarely see from a broker, though some articles rendered as raw markdown rather than clean text. The video analysis is competent but plain, and is mostly a screen-share with no presenter overlay.
I spent considerable time in the IG Trading app, and the charts are what I keep coming back to. The four-tab bottom rail (Markets, Trades, Explore, Account) is as minimalist as you can make a trading app without losing functionality, and from the Markets tab I can execute a trade in three taps: buy or sell, set contract size, confirm.
Charting: This is the category where IG’s mobile app outperforms most peers I review. There are 33 indicators, 19 drawing tools, and 17 timeframes, including 1-second candles and a true tick chart, which most mobile builds drop. Chart templates sync across devices: any indicator set saved on the web shows up on mobile when I open the same asset (trend lines do not yet sync, which is the one notable gap). The drag-to-modify implementation is the standout: once dealing on charts is enabled, you tap an open position and drag the stop or take-profit to the new price level in a single motion.
I spent considerable time in the IG Trading app, and the charts are what I keep coming back to. The four-tab bottom rail (Markets, Trades, Explore, Account) is as minimalist as you can make a trading app without losing functionality, and from the Markets tab I can execute a trade in three taps: buy or sell, set contract size, confirm.
Charting: This is the category where IG’s mobile app outperforms most peers I review. There are 33 indicators, 19 drawing tools, and 17 timeframes, including 1-second candles and a true tick chart, which most mobile builds drop. Chart templates sync across devices: any indicator set saved on the web shows up on mobile when I open the same asset (trend lines do not yet sync, which is the one notable gap). The drag-to-modify implementation is the standout: once dealing on charts is enabled, you tap an open position and drag the stop or take-profit to the new price level in a single motion.
Available research tools
| Research Feature | Available |
|---|---|
| Forex News (Top-Tier Sources) | No |
| Daily Market Commentary (Articles) | Yes |
| Daily Market Commentary (Videos) | No |
| Economic Calendar | Yes |
| Research - Earnings Calendar | Yes |
| Acuity Trading | Yes |
| Autochartist | No |
| TipRanks | No |
| Trading Central | No |
| Mobile Research - News | No |
| Mobile Research - Economic Calendar | No |
| Mobile Research - Market Movers | No |
Final thoughts
Tickmill makes the most sense for one kind of trader: the cost-focused, active forex and CFD trader who lives in MetaTrader. If that is you, the Raw account’s low all-in pricing, the full MT4 and MT5 toolkit, FX Blue add-ons, and discounted VPS hosting add up to a strong package. For these reasons, Tickmill placed among our top brokers for MetaTrader and algorithmic trading in our 2026 Annual Awards.
What keeps it out of the top tier is reach. The range of investments is modest, with no real way to own stocks or ETFs. Additionally, research leans on third-party tools while its own content has thinned. Education, though improving, is scattered. If low costs and a serious algo setup are your priorities, Tickmill earns a close look. But if you want a broad multi-asset menu, polished research, or a structured learning path, I would compare its offering to our list of the best brokers before committing.
| Rating Category | Score |
|---|---|
| Overall Rating |
★★★★☆
|
| Trust Score | 85/100 |
| Range of Investments |
★★★☆☆
|
| Trading Fees |
★★★★★
|
| Trading Platforms |
★★★★☆
|
| Research |
★★★★☆
|
| Mobile Trading |
★★★★☆
|
| Education |
★★★★☆
|
FAQs
Yes. It operates under the FCA (UK), ASIC (Australia), CySEC (EU) and FSCA (South Africa), depending on the entity you're onboarded with.
$50 for the Standard account and $200 for the Raw account. The Professional account requires $10,000 and proof of trading experience.
Yes — $10 per month after 12 consecutive months without a trade, deposit or withdrawal.
MT4, MT5, cTrader, a proprietary WebTrader, and native iOS/Android apps, plus TradingView chart integration.
Yes, unlimited demo accounts are available on every platform with no expiry.
Up to 1:30 for EU/UK retail clients under regulatory caps, and up to 1:500 for clients onboarded through the Global or Professional entities.
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About the Editorial Team
Steven Hatzakis is the Global Director of Online Broker Research for ForexBrokers.com. Steven previously served as an Editor for Finance Magnates, where he authored over 1,000 published articles about the online finance industry. A forex industry expert and an active fintech and crypto researcher, Steven advises blockchain companies at the board level and holds a Series III license in the U.S. as a Commodity Trading Advisor (CTA).
John Bringans is the Managing Editor at ForexBrokers.com. An experienced media professional, John has a decade of editorial experience with a background that includes key leadership roles at global newsroom outlets. He holds a Bachelor’s Degree in English Literature from San Francisco State University, and conducts research on forex and the financial services industry while assisting in the production of content.
Blain Reinkensmeyer has 20 years of trading experience with over 2,500 trades placed during that time. He heads research for all U.S.-based brokerages on StockBrokers.com and is respected by executives as the leading expert covering the online broker industry. Blain’s insights have been featured in the New York Times, Wall Street Journal, Forbes, and the Chicago Tribune, among other media outlets.