How IC prices and fills your trades, according to IC.

How IC prices and fills your trades, according to IC.

IC Markets is often called an ECN broker, and IC uses the phrase itself, with a careful qualification. Its Help Centre says it is a CFD provider "offering the ECN pricing model": it streams prices from more than 25 external liquidity providers, passes them on with no dealing desk, and fills orders by market execution. Legally, though, IC acts as principal and is the sole counterparty to every trade you place.

Both statements are true at once, and understanding them explains most of what traders experience at IC: very tight raw spreads, fast fills, occasional slippage, and stop losses that can fill beyond their level in fast markets.

Pricing modelECN pricing: raw prices from 25+ liquidity providers
Dealing deskNone, according to IC
Execution typeMarket execution; no instant execution
Legal rolePrincipal and sole counterparty to your trades
Average executionAbout 35 ms on currency pairs (IC Help Centre)
ServersEquinix NY4 (MetaTrader) and LD5 (cTrader)

ECN, STP and market maker: the three models

IC's Help Centre sets out the three business models forex brokers use. An ECN provider streams raw prices from banks and liquidity providers. STP brokers pass trades through at prices from a liquidity provider without intervention. A market maker runs a dealing desk that sets its own prices, which may be based on its own positions and may not reflect the underlying market.

IC places itself in the first group for pricing: its prices come from external, unrelated liquidity providers and aren't created by a dealing desk. It is also frank about the limits of the label, which is why it says "ECN pricing model" rather than claiming to route every order to an exchange.

IC is your counterparty

IC's Order Execution Policy states that it acts as principal at all times, not as agent. It may pass your orders on to liquidity providers, but contractually IC is the sole counterparty to your trades and the only execution venue. Its Help Centre adds that its Securities Dealer licence allows it to make markets, as with all CFD providers.

IC also says it doesn't offset every single position with its liquidity providers, which it explains as a way to give better price certainty and execution speed. In practice that means some client trades are held on IC's own book. Its Conflicts of Interest Policy, published with its legal documents, sets out how it manages that. Almost every retail CFD broker works this way; what matters is how prices and fills are handled.

Market execution and slippage

IC uses market execution and doesn't offer instant execution. When you click buy or sell, your order is filled at the price available when it reaches IC, not necessarily the price on your screen. The gap between the two is slippage, which IC's policy calls a normal and expected cost of trading, especially for large orders and in thin or volatile markets.

Slippage can be positive as well as negative. IC's Order Execution Policy says it monitors the symmetry of slippage and requotes, and that its compliance department reviews execution quality regularly. You can check your own fills by comparing requested and filled prices in your account history.

Stop losses and gaps

Stops are where execution matters most. IC's Help Centre explains that a stop loss, when triggered, becomes a market order filled at the next available price; IC doesn't offer guaranteed stop-loss orders. Its execution policy adds that in volatile or illiquid markets, or when prices gap, pending orders may not fill at the requested price, and IC can fill them at the next best price instead.

A stop loss limits your loss in normal markets, not in a gap. Around weekends and big releases, reduce position size rather than relying on the stop. Our stop out guide explains how gaps can push an account negative.

Execution speed and servers

IC's Help Centre gives an average execution speed of about 35 milliseconds on currency pairs, and its trading conditions page says under 40 ms once an order reaches IC. MetaTrader servers are in Equinix NY4 in New York and cTrader servers in LD5 in London, with cross-connects to liquidity providers.

Your own connection adds to that. IC suggests hosting the platform on a virtual private server close to its servers to cut latency and reduce platform freezes at news time. Our IC Markets free VPS guide explains how to get one at no cost.

What the ECN model means for your costs

Raw pricing is why IC's Raw Spread account can show 0.0-pip spreads and an average of about 0.1 pip on EUR/USD, with a separate commission. The Standard account uses the same feed but marks it up by 0.8 pips instead of charging commission. Our spreads guide works through the total cost per trade.

How to check your own execution

  1. Export your account history from the platform and compare the price you saw with the price you got on market orders.
  2. Note the time of each large slip and compare it with the economic calendar; most cluster around releases.
  3. Open MetaTrader's log files (File, Open Data Folder, Logs) to see order timestamps if you need detail for a query.
  4. Run a ping test to IC's server from your computer's command line; high latency on your side looks like poor execution.
  5. If a fill looks wrong, email [email protected] with the ticket number and screenshots.
Labels like ECN matter less than behaviour. Look at your own fills over a month: how often you get slipped, in which direction, and around which events. That record tells you more about a broker's execution than any marketing term.
Ranjan NiskrityChief Editor, FX Recap
Illustrative case: Renata, 28, Cali

Renata scalped EUR/USD on an IC Raw account and noticed some fills a fraction of a pip away from her screen price during US data releases. She exported her history and found slippage both ways across normal hours, with larger negative fills only in the first seconds after major releases. Since then she has stopped placing market orders into news and now waits a minute for spreads to settle.

Frequently asked

Is IC Markets an ECN broker?

IC describes itself as a CFD provider using the ECN pricing model: it streams raw prices from more than 25 liquidity providers with no dealing desk. Legally it acts as principal and is the counterparty to your trades.

Is IC Markets a market maker?

IC says its licence allows it to make markets, as with all CFD providers, but that it doesn't run a dealing desk that creates its own prices. It doesn't offset every position with liquidity providers.

Does IC Markets have requotes?

IC uses market execution, which fills orders at the next available price rather than requoting. Slippage, positive or negative, can occur instead, especially in fast markets.

Does IC Markets offer guaranteed stop losses?

No. Stop losses become market orders when triggered and are filled at the next available price, which can be beyond the stop level in a gap or during high volatility.

How fast is IC Markets execution?

IC's Help Centre gives an average of about 35 milliseconds on currency pairs, with MetaTrader servers in Equinix NY4, New York, and cTrader servers in LD5, London.

Who is my counterparty at IC Markets?

IC itself. Its Order Execution Policy says it acts as principal at all times and is the sole counterparty and execution venue for clients' orders, even when it passes orders to liquidity providers.