
Exness Vs FP Markets
Cheaper usually wins. Exness is cheaper here on almost every count: $10 to start against $100, a smaller charge per trade, and money back in your pocket in seconds. On price alone this is not close.
But there is one thing FP Markets has that Exness does not, and it is not a feature you can see. Strict regulators watch FP Markets. They do not watch Exness. For most of the brokers Exness gets compared against, Exness is the safer name. Against FP Markets it is not, and that changes the whole question.
Quick Answer
| Best for | Winner | Why |
|---|---|---|
| Being protected | FP Markets | Watched by two strict regulators. Exness is not. |
| Starting cheap | Exness | $10 to open, against $100 |
| Cost per trade | Exness | About 0.3 pips, against about 1.0 |
| Getting your money out | Exness | Seconds, day or night |
| Choice of things to trade | FP Markets | Over 10,000, against about 250 |
| Choice of software | FP Markets | Five options, including cTrader |
| Growing into shares later | FP Markets | Real share access through IRESS |
Comparison Table
| Exness | FP Markets | |
|---|---|---|
| Started | 2008 | 2005, in Sydney |
| Smallest deposit | $10 | $100 (sites also list $50) |
| Cost to trade EUR/USD | About 0.3 pips | About 1.0 pips |
| Low-cost account | Almost no gap, plus about $3.50 per trade | Almost no gap, plus about $3 per trade |
| Watched by | FSA Seychelles, FSCA, CySEC | ASIC and CySEC, both strict, plus offshore arms |
| Watched by a strict regulator? | No, for most customers | Yes |
| Things you can trade | About 250 | Over 10,000 |
| Software | MT4, MT5, own app | MT4, MT5, cTrader, IRESS, TradingView |
| Max leverage | 1:2000, or “unlimited” if you qualify | 1:500 |
| Getting paid out | Seconds, automatic | Normal speed, a day or so |
| Fee for leaving the account unused | None | None |
| Free credit | None (loyalty scheme instead) | None |
Check these on each broker’s own website before you trust them. FP Markets lists its smallest deposit as both $50 and $100 depending where you look, and its fee per trade as $3 or $3.50. Costs also move during the day, so treat these as normal-hours figures.
Which Broker Is Safer?
This is the heart of it, so take it slowly.
A regulator is the body that watches a broker. The strict ones sit in places like Australia, Europe and the UK. They check the books, set rules, and can force a broker to pay customers back. Loose ones, often on small islands, mostly just take a fee and let the broker get on with it.
FP Markets is watched by ASIC in Australia and CySEC in Cyprus. Both are strict. It has been running since 2005 and keeps customer money in a separate account, so the company cannot spend it. That is about as solid as retail trading gets without going to a UK bank.
Exness is watched by bodies in the Seychelles, South Africa and Cyprus. For most of its customers, the entity in charge is the offshore one, and offshore rules are light. Exness does more than most to make up for it. It keeps your money separate, and it lets an outside firm check its books and publishes the result, which almost no broker does. It is huge, it has run since 2008, and it has a strong reputation. It is not a dodgy operation.
But being open about your books is not the same as having a strict regulator able to punish you. If something went badly wrong, FP Markets customers have somewhere to go. Exness customers under the offshore arm have far less.
Neither is watched by the UK’s FCA, so British traders miss out at both.
[Your own test: screenshot which regulator each broker lists for your country. Readers trust what they can see.]
Spreads and Trading Costs
Exness charges about 0.3 pips on EUR/USD. FP Markets charges about 1.0. That is a real gap, and over many trades it adds up.
Both also offer a low-cost account where the gap drops to almost nothing and you pay a small flat fee per trade instead. Here they are close. FP Markets charges about $3 per trade, Exness about $3.50. So if you end up on one of those accounts, FP Markets may be the cheaper of the two.
Neither charges you for leaving your account sitting unused, which is a small kindness some brokers skip.
Withdrawals
Exness wins this cleanly, and it matters more to a beginner than most things on this page.
Exness sends most withdrawals automatically, often in seconds, at any hour, weekends included. Cards, e-wallets, crypto, local banks. It is the thing the broker is best known for, and once you are used to it, waiting feels bad.
FP Markets is normal. Your money comes, usually within a day. Nothing wrong with that. It is just not seconds.
If quick access to your cash is what you care about, that is a point for Exness.
[Your own test: take a small amount out of each and time it.]
Leverage
Leverage means borrowing from your broker so you can trade more than you have.
Exness offers up to 1:2000, and “unlimited” if you qualify. FP Markets caps you at 1:500.
That looks like a win for Exness. It is not, and here is why.
Leverage grows your losses exactly as fast as it grows your wins. At 1:2000, a tiny move the wrong way empties your account in seconds. FP Markets caps lower because its strict regulators make it, and for a beginner that cap is a seatbelt, not a restriction. If a big leverage number is what is pulling you toward a broker, that is a reason to slow down, not to sign up.
Use a small fraction of whatever is offered until you know what you are doing.
What You Can Trade
FP Markets offers over 10,000 things to trade. Exness offers about 250. That is not a small difference.
Exness covers currencies well, plus gold, oil, some shares and crypto. For someone learning forex, that is plenty. You will not run out.
FP Markets adds thousands of real shares and funds from stock markets around the world, plus bonds. It reaches these through software called IRESS, which lets you buy into real share markets directly rather than just betting on price moves. Most brokers this size do not offer that. The catch is that IRESS needs $1,000 to open, so it is something to grow into, not start with.
If you only ever trade currencies, this section will not sway you. If you think you might want shares one day, FP Markets has room that Exness does not.
Platforms
Both give you MT4 and MT5, the standard trading software almost everyone learns on.
FP Markets adds three more: cTrader, TradingView charts, and IRESS. That is unusual choice. cTrader in particular is popular with people who automate their trading.
Exness adds its own app and web platform, which are well liked and simple, but that is the extent of it.
More choice is not automatically better when you are new. One platform you understand beats five you do not. But if you later want cTrader, only FP Markets has it.
Bonuses
Neither broker gives you free credit. No welcome bonus, no deposit bonus, at either.
Exness says so openly on its own site. Instead it runs Exness Rewards, where you earn credit called Exness Dollars as you trade, worth $1 each, based on costs you have already paid. That credit then covers up to half the cost of your next trades, and you can take it out as cash. It is open to some customers only, and it grows with how much you trade, so it suits busy traders rather than someone placing a few trades a month.
FP Markets does not run bonuses because its strict regulators restrict them. That is worth understanding rather than seeing as meanness. Brokers watched by loose regulators can throw free credit at you. Brokers watched by strict ones often cannot. When a broker offers you a big bonus, that itself tells you something about who is watching it.
Final Verdict
If you are new and you have $100 to start, take FP Markets. You will pay a little more per trade and wait a day for your money. In return, two strict regulators watch your broker, you can grow into shares later if you want, and the lower leverage cap quietly protects you from the mistake that wipes out most beginners. For a first account, that protection is worth more than the money you save on spreads.
Take Exness if $100 is out of reach and $10 is not, if you only ever plan to trade currencies, or if fast payouts genuinely matter to you. It is a serious broker, not a risky one. It is huge, it publishes its books, and its costs and speed are hard to beat. You are simply trusting the company’s own reputation rather than a strict regulator, and you should know that is the trade you are making.
Put plainly: Exness is the better deal, FP Markets is the safer home. When it is your first account and you are still learning, safer usually wins.
FAQ
Is Exness regulated?
Yes, but mostly by light-touch bodies for everyday customers, with entities in the Seychelles, South Africa and Cyprus. Be careful with websites claiming Exness is watched by the UK’s FCA. It is not.
Does either one give a bonus?
No. Neither offers welcome or deposit bonuses. Exness runs a loyalty scheme that pays back part of your costs once you trade. FP Markets cannot run bonuses because its regulators restrict them.
Which one lets me trade shares?
FP Markets, through software called IRESS, with thousands of real shares from world markets. It needs $1,000 to open. Exness offers a small number of share CFDs only.
Which pays out faster?
Exness, by a distance. Most of its withdrawals land in seconds, any hour. FP Markets takes about a day.
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