Broker comparison – Who is the best? In this article we introduce the broker Pepperstone.
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About Pepperstone
Pepperstone is an Australian online broker specializing in foreign exchange trading. The online broker is headquartered in Melbourne, Australia. Pepperstone offers more than 72 currency pairs, metals, commodities and cryptocurrency CFDs. The online broker was founded in 2010 by Owen Kerr and Joe Davenport.
The history and vision of the online broker
The financial company named “Pepperstone Group” was founded as the parent company of “Pepperstone Limited” in 2010 with the goal of making the “world of online trading” better. The motivation for this was past frustration with delays in order execution as well as unfavorable trading conditions and unsatisfactory customer service. The founders wanted to counteract these factors with superior technology, fair prices and helpful customer service, and thus reposition themselves on the market.
In 2014 the company, with sales of 60 million USD and growth of 66%, was ranked number one on the “BRW Fast Starters” list.
The amount of money processed per day averages 12.5 billion USD in trades, making Pepperstone one of the largest forex brokers in the world. The online broker has a customer base of more than 73,000 traders in over 150 different countries.
What awards has Pepperstone received?
In recent years, the online broker Pepperstone has received numerous awards from renowned analysts.
In 2018, for example, the company was ranked #1 in spreads in the Australian “Investment Trends Report.”
The Investment Trends Report examines and analyzes the best forex providers worldwide and evaluates them based on certain criteria such as customer experience.
The award by the Global Forex Awards in 2019 is even more recent and named Pepperstone one of the “most powerful Forex brands on a global and regional level.” In this context, Pepperstone received the “Best Global Forex ECN Broker“ award and the “Best Forex Trading Support – Europe“ award.
In addition, Pepperstone has received several renowned awards, which are listed on the company’s website and can be seen at any time if you are interested.
Regulation and deposit insurance at Pepperstone
When it comes to choosing the right online broker, deposit insurance and regulation by the relevant authorities always play an important role. Pepperstone is regulated by the British Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) and the Australian Securities and Investments Commission (ASIC).
Another important factor is that Pepperstone strictly separates customer capital and company funds. This means that customers are insured against major losses even in the unlikely event that the company goes bankrupt. The deposit insurance applies up to a monetary value of 50,000 British pounds.
What instruments can be traded at Pepperstone?
The online broker offers its customers a wide range of tradable instruments. Traders can choose from over 150 different trading instruments, including forex, indices and shares, and also, for example, digital cryptocurrencies. The trading instruments available are briefly outlined below.
Forex
Pepperstone customers can trade more than 61 different currency pairs. Characteristic for Forex trading, the liquidity is very high, with a daily trading volume of more than 1.5 trillion USD. Traders can trade with the classic major currencies, but also with numerous minor and exotic currency pairs. Both the commissions and the spreads are kept comparatively very low, as we will see later.
Apart from that, the online broker also attaches great importance to the high-quality execution of orders paired with a low latency and no dealing desk.
Index CFDs
Index CFDs can also be traded at Pepperstone, which allows customers to further diversify their own portfolios. Pepperstone is one of the few brokers that offer its customers extended trading hours with numerous different time zones. As a result, a total of 14 well-known stock markets worldwide are available, through which the market movements can be followed in real time.
There are no hidden fees associated with the index CFDs; they have no requotes and are also advantageous due to their low latency.
There commentaries from experts at Pepperstone, who provide helpful market analyzes that can help you make informed trading decisions are also a useful feature.
Share CFDs
At the online broker Pepperstone you can also trade over 60 different share CFDs with low commissions starting at $0.02 per share. Trading share CFDs allows you to hedge other positions in your portfolio.
With a leverage of 5:1, the capital intensity is also manageable. The shares offered are high quality and include well-known large companies such as Facebook, Apple, Boeing, IBM and Exxon.
Commodities
There are also various commodities that can be traded on the trading platform. This includes, for example, commodities such as cotton, coffee and sugar, but also precious metals such as gold, platinum and palladium. There are no commissions; the spreads are fair. Commodities are also suitable for further diversifying your own portfolio, which secures it.
The required minimum trading volume for the commodities offered on Pepperstone is 10 cents per pip; flexible leverage of up to 30:1 is not associated with any commissions. The margin for trading in commodities generally ranges from 5 to 10 percent.
Cryptocurrencies
Trading with the most popular digital currencies is also possible with Pepperstone. The online broker offers its customers CFD trading with five well-known cryptocurrencies. Bitcoin, Bitcoin Cash, Ethereum, Dash and Litecoin can be traded here. The leverage here is set at a factor of 5:1.
What is special about the cryptocurrency market is that they have a very high volatility, which traders can use to their advantage. And even when trading cryptocurrencies, customers do not have to pay a commission fee.
Currency index CFDs
Last but not least, trading with currency index CFDs is also possible with the online broker Pepperstone. These differ from ordinary foreign exchange trading in that the change in a particular currency can be compared with that of several other currencies at the same time.
Here, the USDX serves as the yardstick which measures six majors against the US dollar. Customers can trade with leverage of up to 5:1.
Deposits and withdrawals at Pepperstone
At this point, the different options for depositing and withdrawing at Pepperstone will be briefly presented. The online broker offers several methods of deposit, for which generally no fees are charged.
The online broker accepts Visa, Mastercard and bank transfers. Withdrawals by bank transfer usually take three to five days.
Spreads and commissions at Pepperstone
When choosing the right online broker, factors such as spreads and commissions play an important role.
In general, the spreads on the MetaTrader 4 and MetaTrader 5 platforms are variable. Via the Razor account, the spread can even sometimes drop to 0 pips for the currency pair EUR/USD. Of course, the spreads differ depending on the trading instrument and also on the account type. If you are interested, the individual spreads are available on the website.
In terms of commission, the minimal fees start at 3.50 AUD each way and 0.02 USD per share. Pepperstone offers standard as well as mini and micro contract sizes to meet customers’ different needs and requirements.
Since the conditions are primarily dependent on the selected account type, we will take a brief look at these below.
The account types at Pepperstone
As previously mentioned, Pepperstone offers its customers two different account types. The conditions depend on the account type you select.
There are a number of advantages, which are always available regardless of the selected account type. These advantages are listed as follows:
- Maximum trade size of 100 lots possible
- When opening an account, the minimum balance is €200
- The minimum trade size is 0.01 lots
- Leverage up to 30:1
- Available base currencies: GBP, USD, EUR, CHF
- Scalping, hedging, expert advisors allowed
- No dealing desk
Then we will look at the individual features of the account types Standard and Razor in more detail.
Standard
Let’s take a look at the standard account type first. This type of account is comparatively clear and uncomplicated, since all the fees are included in the spread.
- Average spread EUR/USD: 1.0–1.3 pips
- Commission: $0
- Rollover swaps: According to the market prices, listed in the respective trading platform
- Recommended for: trading beginners
Razor
Now the conditions of the Razor account type will be examined in more detail. This account is particularly suitable for customers who rely on special trading styles and already have a certain amount of experience. When this is the case, this type of account can be the more efficient one. The conditions for this type of account are as follows:
- Average spread EUR/USD: 0.0–0.3 pips
- Commission: from €5.23 round turn per standard lot
- Rollover swaps: According to the market prices, listed in the respective trading platform
- Recommended for: scalpers and traders who work with algorithms
What trading platforms are offered at Pepperstone?
Next, the trading platforms on which customers can trade at Pepperstone will be examined in greater detail. The online broker uses the platforms MetaTrader 4, MetaTrader 5 and cTrader. It is advantageous that each of these trading platforms is available free of charge on smartphones as well as on tablets and computers.
MetaTrader 4
The trading platform MetaTrader 4 is one of the most well known on the market. The platform is suitable for both beginners and advanced traders. The software is characterized by its easy-to-use user interface, which offers numerous functions in an individually adaptable trading environment. The advantages and features of MetaTrader 4 include the following:
- Helpful analysis tools for decision-making support
- 85 pre-installed indicators for a better overview of market trends
- Flexible order types, which are adapted to the selected strategy
- 28 additional Smart Trader Tools
- Autonomous trading
- Backtesting function for Expert Advisors
- Display of numerous charts for quick and effective control of your own positions
MetaTrader 5
The MetaTrader 5 platform, on the other hand, is particularly recommended for customers who require advanced trading functions and analysis tools. This trading platform, with its uncomplicated user interface that is easy to control, is also a great choice. Compared to MetaTrader 4, this platform has the following additional functions and advantages:
- Faster processing speed
- Position hedging is possible
- Integrated economic calendar
- 38 indicators available
- Maximum of 500 orders
- 21 time frames
- Advanced pending orders
cTrader
The trading platform cTrader is a user-friendly software also equipped with a multitude of useful functions and tools. The main goal of cTrader is to offer both simple tools as well as more complex functions in order to have something for beginners and advanced traders. The advantages of cTrader can be summarized as follows:
- Detailed trading analyses for traders to see their own strengths and weaknesses
- Wide range of indicators to choose from
- Detailed order tickets, including base currency value in US dollars or pip distance
- Multiple take profit orders can be placed
- Variety of helpful learning videos
What tools are available at Pepperstone?
In order to be able to trade successfully, you generally need the appropriate useful tools with which you can control your own trading processes more efficiently. The online broker Pepperstone offers a whole range of different helpful tools that customers can use. The various tool groups offered by Pepperstone will be briefly discussed below.
Smart Trader Tools
First of all, we want to highlight the Smart Trader Tools. This means expert advisor tools that help to improve trade execution and control. With the help of these tools, trading strategies can be optimized and risks minimized. The Smart Trader Tools include a total of 28 trading apps. A detailed report on all of these tools would go beyond the scope of this article, but, if you are interested, you can get information on them at any time on the Pepperstone website. In this article, we will briefly discuss three essential Smart Trader Tools:
- Mini-Terminal and Smart-Lines: These risk management tools support traders in reducing existing risks as much as possible.
- Trade Terminal: All trades can be easily made from a single terminal.
- Correlation matrix: negatively correlating currency pairs can be traded.
cTrader Automate
This tool allows traders to test and perfect strategies they themselves have developed. This is achieved via trading robots and personalized indicators using the well-known C# programming language and the cTrader API. This API includes a variety of helpful tools and enables traders to do the following:
- Provides essential market information
- Trading history
- All order types and position modification settings
- Data on symbols, accounts, connectivity and error messages to generate automatic strategies with precise information
Autochartist
A fundamental challenge in trading is recognizing which market movements are important. The Autochartist tool hides irrelevant market data and highlights those currency pairs, market data and technical indicators that indicate large market movements. Thus, Autochartist is an important tool to identify relevant movements in the markets, so that traders can benefit from them at the right time.
In addition, Autochartist provides automated notifications as soon as emerging and complete chart patterns such as “triangles, wedges, tops and bottoms“ are recognized.
API trading
As previously mentioned, the online broker Pepperstone supports automated trading via their API (Application Programming Interface trading). With the help of this technology, users can develop their own, individually adapted systems. The advantages can be summed up as follows:
- Customers have the opportunity to gain a deeper insight into the market
- A separate customer account provides security for the capital invested
- Access to several liquidity providers so that the optimal price can be recognized
Demo account at Pepperstone
Before deciding on a live account with Pepperstone, there is the option to first test the online broker using a demo account. To start with a demo account, you can register without obligation using an email address and a password and then download the platform. You can then trade on the Pepperstone demo account for 30 days and try out various trading strategies.
The demo account is equipped with a virtual credit of 50,000 euros; the market prices are real and appear in real time.
Educational opportunities
For interested traders, Pepperstone also offers a number of educational opportunities on its website. This includes, for example, numerous online resources as well as trading guides and expert webinars.
Furthermore, the online broker also provides anyone who is interested with some helpful articles on the subject of trading, which mainly cover the basics and are therefore recommended for beginners.
Customer service at Pepperstone
The online broker also has a support section on its website if questions arise. The main part of this support section is a clearly structured list of FAQs, which briefly and concisely answer the most frequently asked questions. In addition, there is also the possibility to contact the online broker directly. An email address as well as a British phone number are given as contact methods.
Experience with Pepperstone
And last but not least, we will also briefly review the previous experience of customers with Pepperstone. On the internet, the reviews are mostly positive. The online broker has a particular strength with its wide range of tradable instruments and its fair trading conditions. In addition, Pepperstone is strictly regulated by recognized authorities and is therefore subject to strict conditions. The only obstacle for some, may be the initial investment of 200 euros. The bottom line, however, is that the Australian broker is a good choice for trading.
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