CFDs are complicated products that carry a significant risk of losing money quickly due to leverage. Trading CFDs with this supplier results in a loss for 72% of retail investor accounts. You should think about whether you understand how CFDs operate and whether you can afford to lose your money.

Tickmill has evolved from a simple MetaTrader platform provider to a multi-asset broker with a growing selection of platforms and ultra-competitive spreads on its commission-based VIP and Pro accounts.

Can I open an account with this broker?

Yes, based on your detected country of NG, you can open an account with this broker.

Tickmill pros and cons

 Pros

• Founded in 2014, Tickmill is regulated in two Tier-1 jurisdictions, one Tier-2 jurisdiction, and one Tier-4 jurisdiction.

• Tickmill makes the full MetaTrader suite available, as well as platform add-ons, putting it near the best MetaTrader brokers.

• Pricing for Tickmill’s Pro and VIP accounts is highly competitive, helping the broker finish 1st overall for commissions and fees again in 2023.

• Offers the CQG and AgenaTrader platforms for futures and options trading ($1,000 deposit required).

• Tickmill is a solid choice of platform for professional trading.

• Education from the CME, along with interactive sentiment data and website widgets from Acuity Trading, help complement research at Tickmill.

• The TradingView platform is also available (requires CQG login credentials to sync with your Tickmill account).

• Tickmill recently introduced Signal Center, powered by Acuity Trading, to deliver actionable trading signals and research for traders.

 Cons

• While its number of markets has recently increased, Tickmill still only offers a limited range of tradeable assets compared to the best forex brokers in our Offering of Investments category.

• Pricing for Tickmill’s Classic account is not as competitive.

ProbabaFX.net has been reviewing online forex brokers, and our reviews are the most cited in the industry. Each year, we collect thousands of data points and publish tens of thousands of words of research.

Is Tickmill safe?

Tickmill is considered trustworthy, with an overall Trust Score of 83 out of 99. As a company, they are is not publicly traded and does not operate a bank. Tickmill is authorized by two Tier-1 regulators (Highly Trusted), one Tier-2 regulator (Trusted), zero Tier-3 regulators (Average Risk), and one Tier-4 regulator (High Risk). They are authorized by the following Tier-1 regulators: Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) and regulated in the European Union via the MiFID passporting system. Learn more about Trust Score or see where the different Tickmill entities are regulated.

Offering of investments

Tickmill has 725 tradeable symbols that include CFDs on currency pairings, indices, commodities, bonds, and cryptocurrencies. There are at least 109 symbols available for futures and options trading, all of which require a separate dedicated account. The table below outlines the various investment packages accessible to Tickmill clients.

Cryptocurrency: Cryptocurrency trading at Tickmill is available through CFDs but not through trading the underlying asset (e.g., buying Bitcoin). Note: Crypto CFDs are not available to retail traders from any broker’s U.K. entity, nor to U.K. residents.

Commissions and fees

CFDs are complex instruments that come with a high risk of losing money rapidly due to leverage. 72% of retail investor accounts lose money when trading CFDs with this provider. You should consider whether you understand how CFDs work and whether you can afford to take the high risk of losing your money.

Account Types

Tickmill offers three accounts: Classic, Pro, and VIP. Bottom line: Tickmill is best for active and VIP traders, who have access to pricing that competes among the lowest-cost brokers in the industry.

Classic accounts: The Classic account is entirely commission-free; traders only pay the bid/ask spread. However, average spreads for the Classic account are much higher than Tickmill’s other two account types.

Spreads: Tickmill lists 0.11 pips as a typical spread for the EUR/USD on its Pro account for August 2022. It’s worth noting, however, that the all-in cost comes to 0.51 pips when factoring in the RT commission equivalent of 0.4 pips ($2 per side). It is also worth noting that Tickmill records typical spread data during normal market conditions (when spreads are narrower).

Pro account: The Pro and VIP accounts both have a per-trade commission, which is then added to lower prevailing spreads. With its low commission rate, low-cost spreads, and offering of 75 instruments and 62 currency pairs, the Pro account will be ideal for most traders.

VIP versus Pro accounts: Traders that choose Tickmill’s VIP account will need to maintain a minimum balance of $50,000, but will gain access to its low commission of $1 per standard lot (100,000 units) or $2 per Round-Turn (RT) – and effective spreads drop to 0.27 pips after commissions. The Pro account is available with just a $100 deposit, but commissions are twice as high at $4 per round-turn standard lot.

Mobile trading apps

Tickmill is primarily a MetaTrader broker, with iOS and Android versions of the MT4 and MT5 app available for download from the Apple App Store and Android Play Store. Additional mobile trading apps available at Tickmill include specialty trading platforms for futures and options, such as CQG, AgenaTrader, and TradingView. It’s worth noting that Tickmill has launched a proprietary mobile app strictly for account management purposes (no trading).

Other trading platforms

Tickmill continues to cement its status as a multi-asset broker with the launch of MetaTrader 5 from its U.K. and EU entities and the addition of TradingView. Tickmill has also taken the step of including the CQG platform for futures and options trading (U.K.-only) alongside the Mercury version of the AgenaTrader platform. The broker has made real strides in its expansion of platform offerings, putting it in competition with the brokers that lead the industry, despite its lack of a proprietary trading platform.

Platform overview: Tickmill is a MetaTrader-only broker that offers the standard out-of-the-box experience for MT4 and MT5. The CQG platform is available for futures and options (for U.K. traders), while TradingView, a popular web platform known for its powerful charting, can be connected to your Tickmill account (although I was not able to do this during our testing as it requires CQG credentials). The Agena Trader platform and other third-party applications are also available at Tickmill, with Direct Market Access (DMA) to popular futures exchanges in the U.S. and Europe.

Trading tools: Other notable add-ons are available from FX Blue as part of the Advanced Trading toolkit package, and Tickmill has also included Autochartist integration. VPS hosting, a useful tool for algorithmic traders, is also available at Tickmill. Last but not least, Tickmill offers an API with connectivity to additional third-party trading platforms.

Market research

Tickmill is competitive in its offering of market research and continues to improve in this category each year. That said, Tickmill still can’t compete with industry leaders like IG and Saxo Bank when it comes to depth, personalization, and overall quality.

Research overview: Tickmill produces daily articles on its Expert Blog that cover technical and fundamental analysis, along with video updates published on its YouTube channel. Tickmill’s third-party research tools shine; the Autochartist plugin allows for automated technical analysis, forex news headlines stream from Investing.com, and Myfxbook powers the broker’s economic calendar. Tickmill also delivers content across social media, such as its dedicated FaceBook group and its Telegram channel.

Market news and analysis: Tickmill does a fine job pairing solid market coverage with a good balance of research content. Some articles focus on technical analysis, paired with offerings like the Weekly Live Markets & Trade Analysis series that analyze market fundamentals. Tickmill also offers archived webinars, technical and fundamental analysis videos, and news updates on its YouTube page, such as its daily Chart Hits series, which are quick one-minute updates. Finally, Tickmill provides interactive sentiment data from the CME, and integrated widgets with sentiment data, along with the Signal Center, for trading signals, powered by Acuity Trading.

Copy trading

Besides the native Signals market available in MetaTrader, Tickmill offers two platforms for social copy trading that connect directly to your MetaTrader account. There is Pelican Trading and the AutoTrade feature of MyFxbook, but these two services are not available from the firm’s U.K. and EU branches.

Education

Tickmill’s educational content is nearly up to par with the average industry offering. It does grant access to a large catalog of archived webinars, but Tickmill lacks a variety of educational articles.

Learning Center: Highlights include live educational courses, a handful of comprehensive eBooks, infographics, and weekly webinars that are hosted in various languages and archived on YouTube. There are also educational resources for learning about futures, powered by the CME available on Tickmill’s website.

Room for improvement: Tickmill continues to expand its educational offering in both its scope of material and variety of formats. For instance, its recently introduced Masterclass series, available on the YouTube channel, features hour-long sessions that cover topics of interest for beginners and advanced traders. Written articles, however, remain scarce.

Introducing a dedicated educational portal that makes it possible to filter content by experience level would be a notable organizational boost. Some of the best brokers offer lesson programs complete with quizzes and progress tracking—features that are currently absent at Tickmill.

Final thoughts

Tickmill is most valuable to high-volume, high-balance traders who are looking to trade only the most popular forex and CFD instruments. Tickmill complements its MetaTrader offering with a good variety of copy-trading platforms and offers multiple account options with varying pricing structures.

Drawbacks to consider are its small range of markets, limited research material, and lackluster educational content. While the VIP account does have highly competitive pricing, there are better forex brokers out there for traders to consider in 2023.

About Tickmill

Tickmill was founded in 2014 by brothers Ingmar and Illimar Mattus, both long-time forex industry entrepreneurs with significant experience in financial services. Today, the Tickmill brand holds regulatory status in the U.K., Cyprus, South Africa, the Seychelles, and Labuan in Malaysia. According to its website, Tickmill Group has over 250 staff and more than 327,000 customers.

2024 Review Methodology

At ProbabaFX.net, our reviews of online forex brokers and their products and services are based on our collected data as well as the observations and qualified opinions of other experts and researchers. Each year, we publish tens of thousands of words of research and detailed forex guides, and we monitor dozens of international regulatory agencies.

Our research team conducts thorough testing on a wide range of features, products, services, and tools (collecting and validating thousands of data points in the process). All available trading platforms are tested for each broker, whether proprietary or from third-party providers, and evaluate them based on a host of data-driven variables.

We also look at each broker’s commissions and fees, such as bid/ask spreads, including the average spread data for some of the most popular forex currency pairs. We research other trading costs, such as inactivity or custody fees, minimum deposit requirements, VIP rebates and/or discounts, and a range of other important fee-based data points.

Conclusion

Other important research categories that are factored into our testing include mobile trading accessibility and capability, availability of market research and educational content, and each broker’s overall Trust Score.

All content on ProbabaFX.net is handwritten by a writer, fact-checked by a member of our research team, and edited and published by an editor. Generative AI tools are not part of our content creation or product testing processes. Our ratings, rankings, and opinions are entirely our own and the result of our extensive research and decades of collective experience covering the forex industry.