Pepperstone review 2023

Our opinion of Pepperstone

Pepperstone is one of the best online trading platforms for retail traders of all experience levels. It offers tools and features for everyone including social trading, webinars, and expert market analysis. It’s also regulated in multiple countries and jurisdictions so you can be sure you’ll be trading with a trusted broker. 

Our expert traders thoroughly tested the platform and in this Pepperstone review, you can find out if the broker is a good fit for you. 

Pepperstone highlights

Investing options

4.6

What can I do with Pepperstone?

Pepperstone allows users the ability to trade a wide variety of assets and commodities. In addition to offering access to all major forex pairs, Pepperstone also offers CFD trading on stocks, commodities, ETFs, indices, and 28 cryptocurrencies.

It has multiple trading platforms for intermediate and pro traders alike, as well as automated trading robots and API trading. On top of this, Pepperstone’s platform also offers social trading through its account mirroring tool, allowing you to copy trades from the most successful forex traders on the platform.

What accounts does Pepperstone offer?

Pepperstone is a CFD and spreadbetting brokerage platform. There are different accounts types available including a Razor and Standard account. Each has its own benefits such as lower spreads on Razor or zero commission on Standard. 

Products, markets & assets

4.5

What products and assets can you trade on Pepperstone?

Pepperstone enables you to trade over 1200 different instruments, including over 61 currency pairs such as EUR/USD, CHF/EUR, CAD/USD, as well as equity, commodity, and cryptocurrency CFDs. Here’s a breakdown of all the CFDs you can trade with Pepperstone:

What leverage trading options are there?

Pepperstone currently offers five levels of leverage covering all major assets such as currencies, commodities, and even cryptocurrencies (something which not all retail trading platforms offer).

While leverage enables traders to take positions many times their investment, this leverage can work both in your favour as well as to your detriment, as losses can easily exceed your original investment amount.

What are the spreads?

Pepperstone offers spreads from 0.0 pips in its ‘Razor’ account, but otherwise spreads vary by account type. Most of its spreads are variable and are used to advertise ‘commission free’ trades- which is in line with other retail trading platforms.

Here’s a summary of the average spreads you’ll find.

Pepperstone trade sizes and limits

Pepperstone offers standard 0.01 minimum trade lots up to 100 lots per trade. This is the case for both Standard and Razor Accounts. Here’s a full breakdown of the trade limits on Pepperstone:

Stocks

Which stocks are available on Pepperstone?

Pepperstone offers a total of 600+ stocks from the US, UK, Germany, and Australia. It also offers over 600 stocks from the United States. Here’s a look at how many stocks you can trade from a range of global exchanges. 

What are the fees for buying and selling stocks?

You must pay a commission when you buy and sell stocks on Pepperstone. The amount you’ll pay depends on the shares you trading and what country it’s located in. Below is the minimum commission payable from each category. (commissions are charged per side). 

• Australia. 0.07%
• Germany. 0.10%
• Hong Kong. 0.20%
• United Kingdom. 0.10%
• United States. 0.02

Crypto

What cryptocurrency pairs can be traded on Pepperstone?

You can trade a select number of cryptocurrency CFDs on Pepperstone. This means you can trade crypto without the need for a wallet or using a cryptocurrency exchange. Leverage is available up to 2:1 and weekend trading is open for 18 hours. Below are a few of the coins available on Pepperstone. 

What are the fees for buying and selling cryptocurrencies?

Pepperstone charges a spread, which is the difference between the bid and ask prices. The spread is typically around 1-2 pips for major cryptocurrencies, but it can be wider for less liquid cryptocurrencies.

Pepperstone also charges swap fees for holding positions overnight. The swap fees are typically around 0.01%-0.02% per day, but they can vary depending on the cryptocurrency.

Does Pepperstone offer staking and rewards?

No, Pepperstone is CFD broker and does not offer any crypto services besides CFD trading. 

Forex

What forex pairs can be traded on Pepperstone?

Pepperstone offers a wide range of forex pairs including the majors, minors, crosses, and exotics. You can even trade Non-Deliverable Forwards (NDF) for pairs like US Dollar vs Brazilian Real and US Dollar vs Indian Rupee. Below are some of the currency markets available on Pepperstone. 

What are the minimum spreads for trading forex?

The minimum spreads for trading forex on Pepperstone vary depending on the type of account you have. For the Razor account, spreads are as low as 0.00 pips and for a standard account, spreads start at 1pip. While spreads are much lower on the Razor account, you must factor in commission, which does not apply to a standard account. 

Commodities

What commodities can be traded on Pepperstone?

Commodities on Pepersone are separated into four categories which include, metals, energies, soft, and hard. Metals include things like gold and silver. Energies include oil and gas while soft and hard commodities are things like wheat and cotton. Here’s a look at a few more commodities markets available on Pepperstone. 

What are the minimum spreads for trading commodities?

Like with forex, spreads on commodities vary depending on which account you’re using. For the Razor account, spreads start at 0.80pts and on a standard account start at 0.80pts. The minimum spreads also vary depending on the market you’re trading and those with less volume, tend to have higher spreads. 

Deposits & withdrawals

4.2

Pepperstone offers a wide range of payment options to users. From debit/credit and bank transfer options to digital options and wallets such as Paypal and Skrill.

What are the minimum & maximum deposits?

There is no minimum or maximum deposit requirement on Pepperstone and you can add as little as £0.01 to your trading account. Below is a breakdown of the different types of payment methods available with Pepperstone. 

What are the minimum and maximum withdrawals?

Just like deposits, you’re free to withdraw as much or as little as you like. Below is a closer look at the various withdrawal methods available on Pepeerstone. 

What are the deposit and withdrawal options fees, limits, and speeds?

In most cases, funds will be withdrawn from your account immediately, however, it can take a few days for the money to return to you. There are also no fees for withdrawing funds from your Pepperstone account. 

Fees & costs

4.2

How do Pepperstone fees work?

Pepperstone has some of the lowest trading fees in the online broker space. There are no non-trading fees for any CFDs, and there is also no inactivity fee – which is a rarity among retail trading platforms nowadays. The main drawback of Pepperstone is that their overnight financing rates can be quite high.

What are Pepperstone’s trading fees?

The type of account you trade with will determine the fees you need to pay. If you use its Razor account, you’ll have to pay commissions on each trade you make. Its standard account is generally fee-free, although you’ll need to consider spreads. Below is a breakdown of the average fees for a Pepperstone standard account.

Platforms & usability

4.2

What devices can I use Pepperstone on?

Pepperstone offers access to all of its trading platforms via both web and desktop as well as their trading app for Android and iOS devices. 

The Pepperstone mobile app offers access to the complete range of order types and advanced analysis tools as the web and desktop versions and is available as a free download from both the App Store and the Google Play Store.

Pepperstone mobile app review

You can access the Pepperstone trading platform from a range of mobile apps depending on your preferred platform. Pepperstone lets you trade via MT4, cTrader, and TradingView, all of which have their own mobile apps. MetaTrader is a popular trading app for forex traders and offers an extensive range of trading tools and features. You can also use it for automated trading or expert advisors. 

TradingView is a new platform that Pepperstone recently launched. It can be used on the web or via an app. TradingView is quickly becoming the platform of choice for all types of traders and has a broad range of tools and features that cannot be found on other free platforms. cTrader is an excellent app for technical analysis and has a sleek interface designed for a streamlined trading experience. 

Web trading platform

The most important question any user has is: How easy is it to use Pepperstone?

Pepperstone is very user-friendly. The platform offers a quick and streamlined account set-up with a simple application process. This ease of use extends to its trading platforms, which include MT4, MT5, TradingView and cTrader depending on which you want to use. These offer split-second processing times and features such as expert trade advisors and indicators that can be enabled with the push of a button.

Desktop trading platform

Pepperstone can be used via the cTrader and MetaTrader desktop applications. Both of these platforms are designed for forex trading, but can also be used for other markets. MetaTrader specifically is a popular platform and there are thousands of third party extensions available including many trading robots. 

Key features

Autochartist

Autochartist is a technical analysis tool available on Pepperstones MetaTrader 4 platform. It’s an automated feature that scans the market for potential trading opportunities. It uses a range of technical indicators to identify chart patterns before signalling a trade. It also can be used to scan historical price data to identify signals. 

Social Trading

Pepperstone offers social trading features, including copy trading through three third-party platforms: Myfxbook, MetaTrader Signals, and DupliTrade. 

• Myfxbook is a popular trading platform that allows you to follow the trades of other traders and see their performance statistics. You can also copy the positions of other traders automatically.
• MetaTrader Signals is another social trading platform that allows you to follow the trades of other traders. However, MetaTrader Signals is a subscription-based service, so you must pay a monthly fee to use it.

• DupliTrade is a social trading platform that allows you to copy the trades of other traders automatically. DupliTrade also offers a risk management feature that allows you to limit your losses.

Automated Trading

Available via Pepperstone’s cTrader platform, this feature lets you backtest and optimise your trading strategies by building automated trading bots and custom indicators. With autotrading you can design your own trading robot to buy and sell around the clock. 

Safety & reliability

4.6

Is Pepperstone safe?

Yes, Pepperstone is a secure platform. Pepperstone is authorised and regulated by two tier-1 financial regulators and takes the additional steps of offering two-factor identification and SSL encryption to account holders.

It should be noted, however, that the broker recently had a user data breach in the summer of 2020. Pepperstone was able to quickly identify and stop this due to the fraud prevention system they have in place and all affected account holders were immediately notified.

Is Pepperstone regulated?

Yes, Pepperstone is authorised and regulated by top-tier financial authorities including, the UK’s Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) and the Australian Securities and Investments Commission (ASIC), as well as the Securities Commission of The Bahamas. It is also regulated by CySEC, CMA, DFSA, and BaFIN.

Pepperstone customer support review

Pepperstone provides 24/5 support via either phone, email or direct message in a wide array of languages including English, Spanish, Polish, Chinese, Japanese, Korean, Vietnamese, and Arabic.

What are the risks of using Pepperstone?

• Spreads are variable. One of the main risks of using Pepperstone is its spreads are variable. This means that what you see on the screen could change in an instant, especially during volatile periods. It’s important to take into consideration the spread before placing a trade. 
• Leveraged trading is risky. For beginners especially, using leverage to trade can be risky business. Leverage can magnify both your gains and losses and if you’re not careful, can lead to large losses. For newbies, it is recommended to use low leverage levels. 
• Social trading is not always profitable. When using Pepperstones social trading tools you should take the time to research all options. Social trading can be an excellent way to profit from the markets, but there’s no guarantee that the trader you’re copying will continue to generate profits. 

Research & analysis tools

4.6

What trading tools are on offer?

Pepperstone has a wide range of over 28 tools and indicators across its trading platforms. Foremost among these are an Autochartist feature (which highlights key tradable market events), and a proprietary risk management tool that provides you with expected market movement ranges for the next hour, 4 hours, and 24 hours.

MetaTrader 

MetaTrader is one of the most popular trading platforms for retail traders. Forex traders commonly use it and offers a wide range of tools and features to help with trading. You can customise your charts, use various technical indicators, and even design and develop your own trading robots. 

TradingView

Pepperstone is one of the few CFD brokers that allows you to integrate TradingView to your account. This means that you can trade directly from the TradingView interface, so you won’t have to switch screens to place an order. TradingView is quickly becoming the platform of choice for many traders due to its easy to use interface, tools, and additional features. 

cTrader

The cTrader platform has been around for a while and offers many of the same features as both MT4 and TradingView. cTrader is best known for its speed and functionality. Charts load almost instantly and it’s rare for the platform to go down. cTrader is especially beneficial for traders who use low timeframes, as candle prints rarely lag. 

Education & learning resources

3.7

What educational resources are on offer?

Pepperstone provides a full Education and analysis section for traders seeking expert insight, analysis, and trade ideas. This section offers everything from market news, and an economic calendar to complete trading guides of how to trade CFDs for beginner- and intermediate-level traders.

Trading guides

Pepperstone has a large section on its website dedicated to trading guides. These guides include everything from the basics to advanced strategies, so there’s something for everyone. The trading guides are written by Pepperstones experts and categorised into beginner, intermediate, and advanced tiers, making learning easy to learn at your own pace. 

Educational videos

In addition to trading guides, there are numerous trading videos available which you can watch and learn. These videos range from a few minutes to over an hour and cover various topics. Specific videos teach you how to trade specific markets and even what to look for when making trading decisions. 

Economic calendar

The Pepperstone economic calendar lets you know when market news is about to drop and could impact prices. You can filter the calendar to show only high-importance news, or show everything. The calendar operates in real time and you’ll often see data updated within seconds of its release. 

Pepperstone customer reviews

Pepperstone is one of the most popular trading platforms for retail traders worldwide and has thousands of reviews on third party websites. It has a mixture of positive and negative reviews and you can find its latest scores below. 

eToro reviews	Review rating
Trustpilot	4.4
Google Play store	4.1
App Store	3.8

Our verdict

Pepperstone has been around since 2010 and has gained an impressive reputation for facilitating CFD, forex, and commodity trades over the past decade.

It has streamlined its account application and verification processes during this time, making it easy and efficient. Once signed up, you have many different trading platforms from which to choose, from the beginner and intermediate oriented MT4 and TradingView to the powerful MT5 or cTrader meant for pros. 

Pepperstone also doesn’t lack any major options or tools, with full setup customisation available and over 28 smart trading apps and indicators that traders can take advantage of. Additionally, Pepperstone offers leverage starting at 30:1 up to 500:1 for professional forex traders, with spreads from 0.0 pips on over 61 currency pairs.

The platform is also secure and well regulated, with oversight by two tier-1 financial authorities (the UK’s Financial Conduct Authority and the Australian Securities and Investments Commission) and registration at the Securities Commission of The Bahamas. All client funds are insured and deposited in segregated accounts in tier 1 banks for optimal safekeeping. 

Despite a recent data breach, which was limited and in which all affected parties were immediately notified, Pepperstone offers a fantastic service to its users. The platform has a wide array of CFDs available to trade and a low fee structure to help you keep more of your profits.

Who is Pepperstone suitable for?

Pepperstone is a suitable broker for all types of traders. Through its partnerships with Myfxbook, MetaTrader Signals, and DupliTrade, beginners can use copy trading to get a head start. Experienced traders can choose from a range of platforms, including TradingView and MetaTrader.  

Is Pepperstone good for beginners?

Yes, Pepperstone is an excellent choice for beginners. Not only is there a wide range of educational tools, including an academy, you can access social trading features. Pepperstone itself does not offer copy trading, but it can be integrated with third party sites where you can directly copy the trades of successful traders into your Pepperstone account. 

Our methodology

Helping people make better financial decisions is at the heart of our mission at Invezz. 

We test each broker to provide clear, accessible guidance on the service it offers and how it compares to the 63+ other trading platforms we review. Testing is carried out by our panel of industry experts, analysts, and active traders who sign up to the platform, conduct research, and score the service.

To supplement our practical testing and experience, we research the service to gather any further relevant information and provide context to help you decide whether the broker is right for your investing needs. We read online customer reviews, app reviews on the Play Store and App Store, and conduct user surveys to get feedback from real people about what works, and what doesn’t.

The trading platform is awarded a final score based on 130+ data points across 8 ranking categories: cost, reliability, user experience, deposit & withdrawals, investing options, range of products/markets, research & analysis tools, and the availability of educational & learning resources.

We work closely with the individual brand to ensure all factual information displayed here is accurate. All data is then fact-checked by an independent reviewer. You can learn more about our expert panel and how we test, rate, and review platforms in our review process. 

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