FP Markets vs Vantage Markets — which broker is better?

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

Pros

• RAW ECN gives 0.0 pip spreads for USD 3 per lot per side (USD 6 round turn) on a USD 50 minimum, where most brokers gate raw pricing behind far larger deposits
• Genuine tier-1 licences at the top of the group: ASIC AFSL 428901 and FCA 590299, alongside CIMA 1383491 and FSCA authorisation
• Four real platform choices — MT4, MT5, the in-house ProTrader web terminal and full TradingView order routing — rather than MetaTrader alone
• Over 1,000 CFDs covering forex, share CFDs, ETFs, bonds, indices, commodities and energy, which is broader than most offshore competitors
• No inactivity fee and free deposits across every supported method, with card and e-wallet withdrawals landing in 1–6 hours
• Copy trading in depth: an in-house multi-account system plus ZuluTrade, DupliTrade and Myfxbook AutoTrade
• Ten base currencies including AUD, CAD, NZD, HKD, SGD and PLN, which avoids a conversion round-trip for a lot of non-USD clients

Cons

• Most international clients are onboarded to Vantage International Group (CIMA) or Vantage Global Limited (VFSC), where no investor compensation scheme applies
• The default Standard STP account averages around 1.4 pips on EUR/USD, which is unremarkable — the value case only works if you move to RAW ECN
• Pro ECN, the cheapest tier at USD 3 round turn, needs a USD 10,000 deposit
• No cash equities, ETFs as real securities, exchange-traded options or futures — every product here is a CFD
• Research is thin next to the platform investment: an economic calendar and market notes rather than a genuine analysis desk
• Italy's CONSOB has ordered blackouts of offshore Vantage-branded domains soliciting Italian residents without local authorisation, which is a useful reminder to verify which entity and domain you are dealing with