Funding and access
ThinkMarkets review
How to fund and withdraw with ThinkMarkets, and what it costs to trade.
ThinkMarkets is a solid mid-table option. Regulated by ASIC; FCA; CySEC (215/13); FSCA; Seychelles FSA (SD060); DFSA; CIMA; Mauritius FSC; New Zealand FMA, offering ThinkTrader, MetaTrader 4, MetaTrader 5, 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
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
- 0.0 pips
- EUR/USD spread
- 0.1 pips, ThinkZero
- GBP/USD spread
- Approx. 0.3 pips, ThinkZero
- Commission
- US$3.50 per side / US$7 round turn, ThinkZero
- All-in cost, EUR/USD
- Approx. 0.8 pips
- Spread type
- Variable
- Overnight swap
- Both: overnight swaps apply; swap-free accounts available
- Currency conversion
- Currency conversion at applicable exchange rate
A quoted spread from 0.0 pips is a raw-spread figure, which almost always means a separate commission per lot. Compare the two together - a "zero spread" account with a high commission can cost more than a wider spread with none.
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.
ThinkMarkets lists a minimum deposit of $10. 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, Commodities, Metals, Indices, Cryptocurrencies, Stocks, ETFs, Futures
- Currency pairs
- 45+
- Total instruments
- 4,000+
- Crypto CFDs
- Yes
- Maximum leverage
- 1:30 retail
- Execution model
- Hybrid principal/STP execution
- Execution speed
- Approx. 50ms
- Order types
- Market, limit, stop, stop-loss, take-profit, trailing stop
- Servers
- London and global financial data centres
Leverage is capped at 1:30 retail, 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.
ThinkMarkets covers forex, commodities, metals, indices, cryptocurrencies, stocks, etfs, futures. A wider range matters less than depth in the instruments you actually trade.
Funding options: visa, mastercard, bank wire, skrill, neteller, paypal, apple pay, google pay, cryptocurrency and regional 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
- ThinkTrader, MetaTrader 4, MetaTrader 5, TradingView
- Own platform
- Yes, ThinkTrader
- Mobile app
- Both proprietary and third-party
- Browser trading
- Yes
- Automated trading
- Yes; MT4/MT5 Expert Advisors and automated trading
- Copy trading
- Yes
- Indicators
- 100+ through TradingView; 30+ MT4; 38+ MT5
- Third-party tools
- TradingView, VPS
- API access
- Yes
MetaTrader 4 remains the most widely supported platform for expert advisors. If you rely on an existing EA, this is usually the deciding factor.
MetaTrader 5 handles more asset classes and order types than MT4, but expert advisors are not compatible between the two - an MT4 EA will not run on it.
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
- ASIC; FCA; CySEC (215/13); FSCA; Seychelles FSA (SD060); DFSA; CIMA; Mauritius FSC; New Zealand FMA
- Regulator tier
- Tier 1
- Register entry
- ASIC Professional Registers
- Client money segregated
- Yes
- Held at
- Major regulated banks
- Negative balance protection
- Yes, retail clients
- Compensation scheme
- FSCS up to £85,000 for eligible UK clients; ICF up to €20,000 for eligible CySEC clients
- Audited by
- Independent external auditor
- Not available to
- United States, Canada, Bermuda, European Union, Australia, United Kingdom, Russia, India, Saint Lucia and Japan under the global entity; availability varies by regulated entity
ThinkMarkets holds tier-one authorisations from ASIC, FCA, CySEC and FMA. 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.
It also operates an offshore entity (CIMA, FSC and FSA). Which one you are onboarded to depends on where you live, and the two carry very different protections - worth confirming before you deposit.
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.
CySEC licences passport across the EU and follow the 1:30 retail leverage cap, with the Investor Compensation Fund covering eligible claims.
Accounts
- Minimum deposit
- $10
- Account types
- ThinkTrader, Standard, ThinkZero, Swap-Free, Professional/EPC, Joint, Demo
- Account currencies
- USD, USDt, AUD, GBP, EUR, NZD, SGD, CHF, AED, QAR
- Islamic account
- Yes
- Demo account
- Yes
- Professional account
- Yes
- Minimum trade size
- 0.01 lots
- Time to open
- Typically a few minutes
Deposits and withdrawals
- Deposit methods
- Visa, Mastercard, bank wire, Skrill, Neteller, PayPal, Apple Pay, Google Pay, cryptocurrency and regional methods
- Withdrawal methods
- Bank transfer, Visa/Mastercard, Skrill, Neteller, PayPal and applicable original funding methods
- Deposit time
- Instant for most electronic methods; bank wire typically 1-3 business days
- Withdrawal time
- Processed within 24 hours; typically received within 1-7 business days
- Minimum withdrawal
- AUD 30; AUD 100 for bank wire
- Local payment methods
- BPAY; PayPal and jurisdiction-specific local payment methods
Support and education
- Support hours
- 24/7
- Contact channels
- Live chat, email, contact form, phone
- Languages
- Multilingual
- Telephone
- +61 3 9093 3400
- support@thinkmarkets.com
- Live chat response
- Typically under 2 minutes
- Education
- Extensive: ThinkMarkets Academy, articles, tutorials, videos, webinars and trading guides
- Research
- Market news, technical/fundamental analysis, trading insights and platform analytics
The company behind the brand
- Legal entity
- TF Global Markets (Aust) Pty Ltd
- Company number
- ACN 158 361 561 / ABN 69 158 361 561
- Headquarters
- London, United Kingdom
- Founded
- 2010
- Publicly listed
- No
- Parent company
- ThinkMarkets Group
- Employees
- 201-500
- Also trades as
- ThinkMarkets; ThinkForex; ThinkPrime