Funding and access

City Index review

How to fund and withdraw with City Index, and what it costs to trade.

City Index sits below the standard we would recommend without reservation. Regulated by FCA (446717); ASIC (AFSL 345646); MAS and other StoneX group regulators, offering City Index Web Trader, City Index Mobile App, MetaTrader 4, TradingView. What follows is drawn from the broker's own published material and covers the things that decide the account you end up with: who oversees them, what trading actually costs, and where the compromises sit.

Our rating

63/100

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.

What it costs to trade

Spread from
0.5 pips
EUR/USD spread
Approx. 0.7 pips
GBP/USD spread
Approx. 1.1 pips
Commission
$0 on forex
All-in cost, EUR/USD
Approx. 0.7 pips
Spread type
Variable
Overnight swap
Both: overnight financing may be charged or credited
Inactivity fee
£12 per month after 12 months of inactivity
Deposit fee
None internally
Withdrawal fee
Generally none internally
Currency conversion
0.5% on applicable realised P&L/charges

Spreads from 0.5 pips suggest an all-in account, where the broker's fee is built into the price rather than charged separately. There is usually no commission on top, which makes the cost easier to predict.

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.

City Index lists a minimum deposit of $0. 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.

Markets and execution

Markets
Forex, Shares, Indices, Commodities, Bonds, Interest Rates, Options
Currency pairs
80+
Total instruments
13,500+
Crypto CFDs
Jurisdiction-dependent; unavailable to UK retail clients
Maximum leverage
1:30 UK/Australian retail forex majors; higher for eligible professionals
Execution model
Market maker / principal
Execution speed
Approx. 0.02 seconds
Order types
Market, limit, stop, guaranteed stop-loss, trailing stop, OCO and platform-specific orders
Servers
Institutional global StoneX infrastructure

Leverage is capped at 1:30 UK/Australian retail forex majors; higher for eligible professionals, which is the retail limit under tier-one regulation. It is a protection rather than a restriction: it caps how quickly a position can move against your balance.

City Index covers forex, shares, indices, commodities, bonds, interest rates, options. A wider range matters less than depth in the instruments you actually trade.

Funding options: debit card, credit card where permitted, bank transfer, paypal and jurisdiction-specific 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.

Platforms and tools

Platforms
City Index Web Trader, City Index Mobile App, MetaTrader 4, TradingView
Own platform
Yes
Mobile app
Proprietary and MT4
Browser trading
Yes
Automated trading
Yes, MT4
Copy trading
No conventional integrated copy-trading service
Indicators
80+ on proprietary platform; extensive TradingView/MT4 libraries
Third-party tools
TradingView, MetaTrader 4, Performance Analytics
API access
Yes, availability/entity dependent

MetaTrader 4 remains the most widely supported platform for expert advisors. If you rely on an existing EA, this is usually the deciding factor.

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

Regulation and safety

Regulated by
FCA (446717); ASIC (AFSL 345646); MAS and other StoneX group regulators
Regulator tier
Tier 1
Register entry
FCA Financial Services Register, FRN 446717
Client money segregated
Yes
Held at
Top-tier regulated banks
Negative balance protection
Yes for eligible retail clients
Compensation scheme
FSCS up to £85,000 for eligible UK clients; jurisdiction-dependent elsewhere
Audited by
Deloitte & Touche LLP at StoneX Group level
Not available to
United States for retail City Index offering and jurisdictions where services cannot legally be provided

City Index holds tier-one authorisations from ASIC, FCA and MAS. 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.

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.

The Monetary Authority of Singapore applies some of the tightest conduct requirements in the region, and fewer firms hold its licence.

Accounts

Minimum deposit
$0
Account types
Standard, MT4, Spread Betting, CFD, Professional, Corporate, Demo
Account currencies
GBP, USD, EUR, AUD and entity-dependent currencies
Islamic account
No
Demo account
Yes
Professional account
Yes
Minimum trade size
From 0.01 lots on applicable forex platforms
Time to open
Usually minutes, subject to verification

Deposits and withdrawals

Deposit methods
Debit card, credit card where permitted, bank transfer, PayPal and jurisdiction-specific methods
Withdrawal methods
Cards, bank transfer, PayPal where supported
Deposit time
Cards/PayPal generally instant; bank transfers can take 1-3 business days
Withdrawal time
Typically 1-3 business days after processing
Minimum withdrawal
£100 or remaining account balance in UK
Local payment methods
Local bank transfer and region-specific methods

Support and education

Support hours
24/5
Contact channels
Live chat, phone, email, Help & Support centre
Languages
Multilingual/entity-dependent
Telephone
+44 20 3194 1801, UK
Email
support@cityindex.co.uk
Live chat response
Typically within minutes
Education
Extensive: Trading Academy, courses, guides, webinars and platform tutorials
Research
Extensive: market news, technical/fundamental analysis, Trading Central and analyst commentary

The company behind the brand

Legal entity
StoneX Financial Ltd
Company number
05616586
Headquarters
London, United Kingdom
Founded
1983
Publicly listed
Parent company is publicly listed, NASDAQ: SNEX
Parent company
StoneX Group Inc.
Employees
4,000+ group-wide
Also trades as
City Index