CMC Markets UK

CMC Markets UK Broker Overview

CMC Markets UK is the British arm of the CMC Markets group, operated by CMC Markets UK plc, a company incorporated on 1 December 1989 and registered in England and Wales under number 02448409 at 133 Houndsditch, London EC3A 7BX. The firm offers spread betting, CFD trading, OTC options, share dealing and a commission based forex account called FX Active. Clients trade on the firm's own web platform and mobile app, on MetaTrader 4, or through a TradingView link, with retail leverage capped at 30:1 and access to more than 21,000 instruments including 300 forex pairs.

CMC Markets UK Regulation and License

The site states that CMC Markets UK plc is authorised and regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority in the United Kingdom under firm reference number 173730, and that a second group company, CMC Markets Investments Limited, is authorised under reference 948126. Both disclosures appear in the site footer and are repeated on the firm's regulations page. Two further permissions sit with separate group companies: reference 170627 in the name of CMC Spreadbet plc, whose recorded effective period ends on 5 February 2026 and which the UK site does not quote, and licence 10154814 in Germany in the name of CMC Markets Germany GmbH, covering reception and transmission of orders rather than dealing on own account.

These are the firm's own published statements. WIKILIX confirmed the corporate side of them on the UK register of companies but did not check the licence entries against the authority's own register during this research, so the regulatory claim is recorded as stated by the firm rather than independently confirmed.

Is CMC Markets UK Regulated?

CMC Markets UK plc states that it is FCA regulated under reference 173730, and every supporting detail WIKILIX could test held up. The operating company, its parent CMC Markets plc and the other named group companies are all active on the UK register of companies at the same London address, and the firm publishes the client money and compensation arrangements that a UK authorised investment firm is required to maintain. What has not been done here is a check of reference 173730 against the authority's own public register, so the claim should be read as consistent and well supported rather than formally verified.

Is CMC Markets UK Safe?

The protections CMC Markets UK describes are the strong ones, and the firm sets them out in unusual detail. Retail client money is stated to be held in segregated bank accounts with NatWest, Barclays and Lloyds under the FCA client assets regime, reconciled daily, never placed with hedging counterparties as margin, and audited annually by PricewaterhouseCoopers with the results reported to the regulator. Eligible deposits are covered by the Financial Services Compensation Scheme up to GBP 85,000, and retail clients get negative balance protection.

Two things temper that. Regulation is not the same as profitability: the firm's own risk warning states that 68% of retail investor accounts lose money when spread betting or trading CFDs with it. And professional clients who agree a title transfer collateral arrangement are treated as general creditors in a liquidation rather than having segregated money returned, which the firm says plainly.

CMC Markets UK Account Types

Five live account routes are published:

• Spread betting, tax efficient for UK clients, 21,000 plus instruments, priced in pounds per point, available on the web platform, the app and MT4.
• CFD trading, the same instrument range in units or notional value, with a TradingView link available and account currencies in GBP, EUR, USD, AUD, CAD, NOK, NZD, PLN, SEK and SGD.
• FX Active, aimed at higher volume forex traders, with minimum spreads from 0.0 pips on six major pairs and a fixed commission instead.
• Equities trading, buying and owning 16,000 plus shares and ETFs with no commission and no platform fee.
• Options trading and a corporate account for businesses, the latter being a CFD account in a company name.

All spread betting, CFD and FX Active holders join the tiered volume discount scheme Price+, and eligible holders can join the Alpha membership. A demo account with GBP 10,000 of virtual funds is available on every route.

CMC Markets UK Spreads, Commissions and Fees

Forex minimum spreads start at 0.5 pips on spread betting and standard CFD accounts, with no forex commission. FX Active brings that to 0.0 pips on EUR/USD, GBP/USD, AUD/USD, NZD/USD, USD/CAD and USD/JPY, charging 0.0025% per transaction instead, which the firm expresses as US$2.50 per US$100,000 of notional value per side, and gives a 25% spread discount on the remaining forex pairs.

Share and ETF CFDs are commission based and vary by market: 0% in the UK and most of Europe, 0.45% with a EUR 20 minimum in Greece, USD 0.02 per unit with a USD 10 minimum in the United States and CAD 0.02 per unit with a CAD 10 minimum in Canada. Positions held overnight attract a holding cost charged at 10pm UK time, with forex priced off the tom next rate plus a 0.0027% charge. A GBP 10 monthly inactivity charge applies to funded accounts after a year without trading, refundable for up to three months if trading resumes. Guaranteed stop loss orders carry a premium that is refunded in full if the order is not triggered. Market data subscriptions may apply for share CFD prices.

CMC Markets UK Leverage

Maximum leverage for retail clients is 30:1 across spread betting, CFD trading and FX Active, the UK regulatory cap. Equities investing is unleveraged.

CMC Markets UK Trading Platforms

The firm's own web platform and iOS and Android apps are the primary route and carry the full instrument range. MetaTrader 4 is offered as a separate account covering over 175 forex pairs plus indices and commodities, with premium indicators and Expert Advisors, but no shares, ETFs, rates or bonds, and no TradingView link. A CFD account can instead be linked to TradingView to trade the firm's prices through TradingView charts. MT4 is downloadable from the firm's MT4 page and on the App Store and Google Play.

CMC Markets UK Deposits and Withdrawals

Three funding routes are published: debit and credit card, online banking through the open banking partner TrueLayer, and ordinary bank transfer. UK clients pay no deposit fee and no withdrawal fee on any of them. Card deposits are capped at GBP 50,000 per transaction; the firm sets no limit on online banking, though the client's bank may.

Card withdrawals take 3 to 5 working days and bank transfers 2 to 3, and a withdrawal requested before 11am can leave the same day where bank details are already verified. American Express and Diners Club are not accepted, cash and cheques are not accepted, and payments from or to third parties are rejected, so the funding and payout accounts must be in the client's own name.

CMC Markets UK Support

Telephone support on +44 (0)20 7170 8200 runs whenever the markets are open, from Sunday night through to Friday night, and email goes to clientmanagement@cmcmarkets.co.uk. A Live Help channel sits inside the trading platform under the Support menu. A separate payments team is reachable on +44 (0)20 3003 8588 from 9am to 6pm UK time on weekdays. The London head office at 133 Houndsditch is published alongside offices in Frankfurt, Sydney, Singapore, Toronto, Auckland, Oslo, Warsaw, Madrid, Hamilton and Dubai.

CMC Markets UK Pros and Cons

• Strong, clearly documented client money protection: segregated accounts under the UK client assets regime, daily reconciliation, annual external audit and FSCS cover up to GBP 85,000.
• A long and verifiable corporate record, with the operating company incorporated in 1989 and active on the UK register of companies.
• Genuinely competitive forex pricing for active traders, from 0.0 pips with a fixed US$2.50 per US$100,000 commission.
• Wide instrument range at 21,000 plus, with 300 forex pairs, and no deposit or withdrawal fees for UK clients.
• Retail leverage is capped at 30:1, which is lower than offshore venues offer.
• The group runs several licensed companies and quotes four different reference numbers across them, so a client should confirm which entity holds their account.
• A GBP 10 monthly inactivity charge applies after a year, and the firm's own figures show 68% of retail accounts lose money.

CMC Markets UK Review and Assessment

CMC Markets UK presents as a long established, onshore British broker with a documented corporate history, a listed parent and the client money and compensation arrangements expected of a UK authorised investment firm. Its pricing is competitive for active forex traders and its platform range is broad, with the one real restriction being that MetaTrader 4 carries a narrower instrument set than the firm's own platform. The most important thing to settle before funding an account is which group company the account is opened with, because the licences named across the group sit with four different entities and only 173730 and 948126 are quoted on the UK site.