ThinkMarkets Forex Broker Review

Established in 2010, ThinkMarkets has its act together in regards to regulation and pretty much every other operational aspect too.

ThinkMarkets is based in Australia, but it maintains offices in other parts of the world as well. Its second headquarters are located in London. In addition to that, the company is present in Europe, the Middle East, the Asia-Pacific region, South Africa(FSCA) and South America, in Cyprus (CySEC) with license no. 215/13, in Japan (JFSA) under the license number 0250, as well as in the Seychelles (FSA) with license number SD060.

It is safe to say that its coverage is indeed truly global. ThinkMarkets does not however accept traders from the US. Two countries are on its “no traders accepted” list as well: Belgium and Canadian traders are not accepted either.

Given that it is headquartered in London and Melbourne, it’s not surprising that ThinkMarkets is licensed and regulated by ASIC and the FCA. ASIC is widely recognized as one of the top regulatory agencies worldwide. The same goes for the FCA. The ASIC license number of the operator is 424700. Its FCA license bears the registration number: 629628. ThinkMarkets is also regulated in South Africa with the license number FSP No 49835.

On one hand, the FCA license means that ThinkMarkets is MiFID compliant. On the other, it carries some rather incredible guarantees for consumers. The FSCS compensation scheme covers traders’ funds up to GBP 85,000. Additionally, through CySEC, European clients can claim up to EUR 20,000 from the ICF compensation scheme. What about those whose balances exceed this magic mark?

For such traders, the broker provides additional insurance of, up to 1 million. Needless to say, such generous insurance is only available to traders that reside in specific locations.

Given the overall serious nature of the operation, it is not the least bit surprising that traders seem to love it. Most of the trader feedback available through portals like Forex Peace Army and TrustPilot is positive.

Certainly, there are some complaints too, but they hardly dent the image of the brokerage. Such complaints have generally been aimed at the perceived quality of the broker’s customer support department, and at the withdrawal process – deemed way too slow here and there.

Why would you want to join ThinkMarkets? What are some of the unique selling points of the brokerage?

In addition to the outstanding insurance, the broker is proud of the trading conditions it features.

It also has a proprietary trading platform called ThinkTrader, which many of their clients seem to appreciate. ThinkTrader’s mobile version has picked up a few Forex industry awards.

ThinkMarkets’ order execution is said to be among the best in the business too. This feature has prompted some users to declare the broker “a hidden gem”.

The trading product range and the client service of the brokerage is worthy of attention as well.

Platforms & Tools

This is one of the strengths of the broker. In addition to the already mentioned, award-winning ThinkTrader, ThinkMarkets also supports MT4 and MT5, in several versions.

What we have here in regards to trading platforms is:

– MT4, MT5 WebTrader
– MT4, MT5 Mac
– MT4, MT5 Mobile
– MT4, MT5 “Regular”.
– ThinkTrader and
– ThinkTrader Mobile.
– ThinkTrader Web

MT4 needs no introduction to those familiar with the ins and outs of online trading, It is the most popular trading platform for a good reason: it offers superb charting, it is fully customizable, it offers one-click trading directly off the live charts and it supports EAs.

Of course, MT4 also comes laden with a superb range of technical indicators. Traders always have the opportunity to create and to add their own technical indicators and EAs.

The real point of attraction here is ThinkTrader though. While it is available in a desktop and web version too, ThinkTrader’s qualities truly shine on mobile.

The platform features split screen and quad screen layouts on mobile. It comes with scores of intelligent drawing tools and more than 80 preinstalled technical indicators.

ThinkTrader also offers cloud-based triggers and alerts. The TrendRisk scanner is essentially a risk management calculator, also available through the mobile version of ThinkTrader.

To aid with fundamental analysis, the broker offers a news stream as well as an economic calendar. Access to Trading Central is the cherry on top of the cake. FX Wire Pro is the ultimate solution for fundamental analysis. It offers economic commentary, technical reports, central bank bulletins and event-driven flashes, all in one neat little package.

Asset Classes

The top asset class of the broker is the FX one, which features some 46 currency pairs.

Other supported asset classes are:

– indices
– commodities
– shares
– metals
– shares dealing in Australia and South Africa is live
– Cryptocurrencies
– ETFs
– Futures

As usual, FX pairs carry some of the best trading conditions. Apparently, the selection of indices is decent. This asset class can however be traded through MT4, MT5 as well as ThinkTrader.

The shares category includes some 3500+ tradable assets. Shares can be traded commission-free and the spreads on them are attractive. The three most popular shares are the tech big 3: Apple, Amazon and Google. Crypto CFDs are not available to retail clients residing in the UK.

The commodities section covers oil, natural gas, coffee and more. Again: all these assets can be traded without any commissions.

Commission & Fees

The spreads and commissions you will pay at ThinkMarkets depend on the account type for which you sign up. There are two basic account types on offer, and you can request to open a couple of other types.

With the Standard Account, you do not pay any commissions. The average FX spreads are at around 1.2 pips, which is not overly impressive. They do start however from just 0.4 pips. On metals, spreads start from 25 cents and on CFDs, from 0.4 points.

The ThinkZero account offers much better spreads, but it does charge a commission of GBP 2.5 units per side. Exception are CFDs, which carry no commissions and feature spreads starting from 0.4 points.

Fx spreads start from 0 pips on this account and they average out to 0.1 pips. On metals, spreads start from 8 cents.

The other account options are the Sharia-compliant Islamic account type and the Joint account.

Research & Education

The broker offers a three-tiered online course, structured into Beginner, Intermediate and Advanced sections. These cover just about everything a trader needs to know to be able to become comfortable trading. There is a glossary of terms, as well as a selection of webinars.

Customer Service

The ThinkMarkets support staff can be contacted via an email form through the Contact Us page, live chat, as well as a couple of phone numbers (+44 203 514 2374 in the UK and +61-3-9093-3400 in Australia).

Mobile Trading

All three platforms offered by the broker are available in mobile, desktop and web versions. While MT4’s & MT5’s mobile variant is well known, the ThinkTrader mobile client is most definitely a pleasant surprise.

Conclusion

ThinkMarkets is a reputable Fx/CFD provider with a solid regulatory standing. Its ThinkTrader platform suite makes a superb unique selling angle for the operator.

MT4 & MT5 are in the mix too, and the selection of tradable assets offered is decent.