IC Markets vs Litefinance

Quick Answer

Comparison Table

A Warning About LiteFinance’s Commission

This deserves its own section, because it is the strangest thing I found.

Review sites cannot agree on what LiteFinance’s ECN account charges. Across trusted sources, the commission is quoted as $0.25 per lot, $0.50 per lot, $5 per lot, $10 per lot, and $30 per lot on minor pairs. That is not a small disagreement. The highest figure is forty times the lowest.

Some of that gap is probably down to sites quoting different things: per side against per round turn, or different instruments. But the honest position is that nobody outside LiteFinance seems to know the real number, and several sites are repeating each other rather than checking.

So do not trust any comparison table on this, including mine. If you are considering the ECN account, open LiteFinance’s live contract specifications and read the commission for the pair you plan to trade. If it turns out to be near $10 per lot, that is far more expensive than IC Markets’ $7 per round turn. If it is $0.25, it is far cheaper. You cannot plan around a number that vague, so go and find it.

IC Markets’ pricing, by contrast, is straightforward and consistent everywhere: $3.50 per side, $7 to open and close.

[Your own test: screenshot LiteFinance’s live commission spec for EUR/USD. Given how badly the web contradicts itself here, that one image would make this page more useful than every rival article.]

Trading Costs

On the accounts a beginner starts with, IC Markets is cheaper, and the gap is not small.

IC Markets’ commission-free account averages about 1.10 pips on EUR/USD. LiteFinance’s equivalent Classic account starts at 1.8 pips. Its Cent account, the one you open with $10, starts at 3 pips, which is close to three times what IC Markets charges.

That Cent account has a real purpose. It trades in cents rather than dollars, so you can practise with genuine money at almost no risk. As a training tool it is genuinely useful, and IC Markets has nothing like it. Just do not mistake it for a cheap way to trade. It is an expensive way to learn, which is a fair trade when you are learning and a bad one once you are not.

There are two more costs worth knowing. LiteFinance charges about $10 a month once your account sits idle, and about $15 a month for VPS hosting if you run automated strategies. IC Markets charges nothing for either, and gives qualifying clients VPS free. If you trade in bursts and go quiet between them, that idle fee is a slow leak.

Which Broker Is Safer?

The honest answer here is more interesting than most comparisons admit.

If you are in Europe, both are watched by CySEC, and both give you Investor Compensation Fund cover. On paper you are protected either way. If you are in Australia, IC Markets is watched by ASIC, which is strict, and LiteFinance is not available to you.

But most readers of this page are in neither place. And here is the part that gets glossed over: outside Europe and Australia, both brokers put you under an offshore arm with light rules and little protection. IC Markets routes you to the Seychelles. LiteFinance routes you to St Vincent and the Grenadines, or Mauritius.

So the safety gap is narrower than the headlines suggest. Both companies hold a strict licence, and neither may be the licence that covers you.

Two things still favour IC Markets. St Vincent is the weakest of those offshore homes, weaker than the Seychelles. And IC Markets carries a 4.8 rating from over 54,000 Trustpilot reviews with a clean record since 2007, which is a lot of people to keep happy.

One mark against LiteFinance worth mentioning: some traders have reported having profits cancelled over accusations of arbitrage trading. That is not unique to LiteFinance and it usually involves exploiting pricing glitches, but it is a complaint that recurs and it is fair to know about.

The practical advice is the same for both. Before you deposit anywhere, find out which company will hold your account. That single fact matters more than any rating.

Copy Trading

This is LiteFinance’s real advantage, and it is a genuine one.

LiteFinance built its business around social trading. You can browse experienced traders, look at their records, and copy their trades automatically with a few clicks. It is a core part of the platform rather than an add-on, and for someone who does not yet trust their own judgement, that is a real draw.

IC Markets offers copy trading too, through third-party services. It works, but it is not what the broker is built around.

One caution that applies to both. Copy trading is not safe trading. You can lose money following someone else exactly as fast as you can lose it yourself, and the eye-watering returns shown on some traders’ profiles are not a promise of anything. Copying someone does not remove the risk, it just moves who is making the mistake.

Platforms and Markets

Both give you MT4, MT5 and cTrader, which is more choice than most brokers offer.

IC Markets adds TradingView charts and free VPS hosting, and offers about 3,500 markets. LiteFinance adds its own social trading platform and a well-rated mobile app, and offers a few hundred markets, mostly currencies with some commodities, indices and share CFDs.

For learning forex, LiteFinance’s range is enough. If you want room to grow beyond currencies, IC Markets has far more.

Leverage

Leverage means borrowing from your broker so you can trade more than you have.

LiteFinance offers up to 1:1000, though some sources say 1:500. IC Markets caps at 1:500, or 1:30 if you sign up under its Australian or European arm, because strict regulators require it.

Bigger is not better here. Leverage grows your losses exactly as fast as your wins, and heavy leverage is the quickest way a beginner empties an account. Use a fraction of whatever you are offered.

Final Verdict

Take IC Markets if you can find $200. It costs less on every trade, charges you nothing for sitting idle, gives you free VPS and far more markets, and has an enormous number of satisfied customers behind it. Over any reasonable stretch of trading, it is the cheaper broker despite the higher entry price.

Take LiteFinance if $200 is genuinely out of reach, or if copy trading is the main reason you are here. Its Cent account is a real tool for learning with small sums, its social trading is better than IC Markets’, and it will get you started for $10. Just go in knowing you are paying more per trade for that access, and that the idle fee and VPS charge add up quietly.

If you can wait and save the $200, wait and save the $200. That is the honest answer, even though it is not the one a beginner wants to hear.

FAQ

Which is cheaper, IC Markets or LiteFinance? IC Markets, once you are trading. Its commission-free account is about 1.10 pips against LiteFinance’s 1.8. LiteFinance is cheaper to open at $10 against $200, but you pay that once and the spread on every trade.

What does LiteFinance’s ECN account cost? Nobody outside the company seems sure. Review sites quote anywhere from $0.25 to $30 per lot. Check LiteFinance’s own contract specifications before you rely on any figure, including the ones here.

Which is safer? IC Markets, narrowly. Both hold a strict CySEC licence for European clients, and both route everyone else offshore. But IC Markets’ offshore arm sits in the Seychelles, which is firmer ground than LiteFinance’s St Vincent registration, and IC Markets has a longer clean record with far more reviews.

Which is better for copy trading? LiteFinance, clearly. It is built around social trading, where IC Markets offers it through third parties. Remember that copying someone else can lose you money just as easily as trading yourself.

Does either charge a fee for not trading? LiteFinance does, roughly $10 a month once your account goes idle. IC Markets does not.

Which is better for a complete beginner? IC Markets, if you can afford it. If you cannot, LiteFinance’s $10 Cent account is a reasonable way to learn with real money at small risk, as long as you understand its spreads are wide.

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