Admirals (Admiral Markets) vs FP Markets — which broker is better?

Pros

• Real share and ETF ownership through Invest.MT5 — roughly 4,800 listed companies and 200-plus ETFs from USD 0.02 per share with a USD 1.00 minimum, with no custody or platform fee.
• Zero.MT5 prices FX from 0.0 pips plus commission starting at USD 3.00 per lot per side (USD 6.00 round turn), falling towards USD 1.80 per side at high volume.
• Inactivity is only EUR 10 a month and only after 24 months without activity, and only while the balance is positive — among the most forgiving dormancy terms in CFD broking.
• Four meaningful licences: FCA 595450 (FSCS to GBP 85,000), CySEC 201/13, ASIC 410681 and FSCA FSP 51311, plus regional entities in Jordan (JSC 1/3/01970/21), Kenya (CMA 178) and the Seychelles (FSA SD073).
• MetaTrader Supreme Edition is free and genuinely useful — mini terminal, correlation matrix, sentiment data and Trading Central analysis grafted onto standard MT4 and MT5.
• Research is above its weight: Dow Jones news, Trading Central technical analysis and Acuity sentiment indicators, plus a Zero to Hero course and a deep webinar programme.
• Nine base currencies including EUR, GBP, CHF, PLN, HUF and CZK, with one free withdrawal per payment method every calendar month.

Cons

• Support is weekday office hours only, with no weekend desk — a genuine gap for anyone holding crypto CFDs over a Saturday.
• The Estonian investment firm licence was withdrawn in April 2026 during a restructuring, moving EEA clients to the Cyprus entity where compensation is capped at EUR 20,000 rather than the UK's GBP 85,000.
• A 0.3% currency conversion charge applies whenever the instrument currency differs from your account currency, which quietly adds up on a US share portfolio funded in euros.
• Only the first withdrawal per payment method each calendar month is free; the charge on subsequent withdrawals varies by method and is not published as a single figure.
• The experience is MetaTrader-shaped. If you find MT5 dated, the proprietary Admirals Platform is a lighter companion rather than a genuine alternative.
• No options, no bonds, no mutual funds and no exchange-listed futures — the catalogue is broad within CFDs and equities but stops there.

Pros

• Raw account at USD 3 per lot per side with EUR/USD measured at 0.1 pips and GBP/USD at 0.1 — competitive across the majors
• The widest platform lineup in its peer group: MT4, MT5, cTrader, TradingView, Iress Trader/ViewPoint, Iress Investor and WebTrader on one account
• Iress gives genuine direct market access with full depth on seven exchanges and published per-exchange commissions from 0.06% on the ASX
• No custody fee, and no account fee at all on MetaTrader or Iress Investor; the CySEC entity currently charges no dormant fee and the Australian terms list no inactivity fee
• Twelve base currencies including CHF, plus sub-accounts so you can hold USD, EUR and GBP ledgers separately and avoid conversion
• 24/7 multilingual support that aggregated user feedback consistently describes as quick, helpful and patient
• ASIC licence 286354 held since 2005 alongside CySEC 371/18 — a genuinely long operating record for a CFD broker
• Account opening takes 10–15 minutes and is usually approved the same day, from an AUD 100 minimum on MetaTrader

Cons

• No options of any kind — exchange-traded, OTC or CFD — so options traders need a second broker
• Investor compensation exists only for EEA clients under CySEC (EUR 20,000); ASIC, FSCA and Seychelles clients get none, and the international site is run by a Saint Lucia-registered company with no prudential supervision
• The Iress side carries costs MetaTrader clients never see: AUD 85 per month for Iress Trader/ViewPoint unless you trade enough, AUD 25 per month for ASX live data, and card deposit surcharges of 1.6%–3.18%
• Fixed income and commodities are token: two bond CFDs and twelve commodity CFDs, well behind competitors listing dozens
• Privately held with no public financials, no banking licence and no exchange listing, so the group's capital position cannot be independently verified
• Recurring public complaints through mid-2026 about withdrawal friction, profit disputes and opacity around account restrictions