Admiral is an international broker for CFDs, Forex, and stocks that has a presence in countries such as Great Britain, Cyprus, Spain, Latin America, Australia, and Latvia (the headquarters of its parent company).
Therefore we see that it is a broker with a global reach that serves clients from all over the world (with the exception of the United States), including traders from Europe, Asia, and Latin America. There are very few countries where you cannot open accounts with this broker. This means that the broker is regulated by the following bodies: FCA, ASIC, or CySEC.
Being under the FCA of the UK brings Admiral under the protection of the FSCS for up to £85,000.
You also enjoy negative balance protection which covers £50,000, again.
Admiral complies with all the requirements of the European MiFID.
Admiral Markets | -An ECN Forex and CFD broker from Europe -Regulated by important organisms like FCA and ASIC. -Low spreads from 0.0 pips and maximum leverage of 1:500. | Visit Broker Website |
Advantages and disadvantages of Admiral Markets
Advantages
- Great variety of products, even offering investment in cash shares
- Excellent conditions on all products
- Competitive commissions that are up to the best brokers in the market
- Good for scalping and auto trading
- Solid and regulated group
- Good reputation in Spain, Europe, and Latam
- Customer service is excellent, always responding very quickly
Disadvantages
- In general, it is difficult to find disadvantages for Admiral Markets
- It could include financial options or futures in the Invest account (this is more of a suggestion than a disadvantage)
How to open an account with Admiral Markets?
Opening an account with Admirals is relatively easy. However, because it is a broker regulated by the FCA, it is necessary for the client to provide proof of identity and a proof of residence to access all the services of the company without restrictions.
First, we have to enter our personal data in the boxes on the registration page. Later they will send us an email to verify the request and the email provided. They will also ask us for photos of our identity documents and a recent bill that proves our residence. All this is the usual process in the European and international brokerage markets.
Once they have accepted us, we already have the account created and we only need to deposit to start trading.
Anyway, the best thing before opening a real account is to open a demo account without risk to practice our trading.
Is Admiral Markets an ECN broker or Market Maker?
Well, both. Although, really, I don’t think you should worry much about it, but rather about the quality of the broker. In this case the quality of Admiral is excellent.
That is why it almost does not matter if we trade in the Zero or Invest account, both clearly ECN, or in the Trade account, which is more of a Market Maker type.
Here, like the quality of the broker, what counts the most is the quality of the trader, since if you don’t know how to trade, it won’t help you to use the best ECN broker in the world.
Admiral Markets Trading Instruments Offer
Admiral Markets is a broker with a very attractive investment offer. Clients not only have access to one of the best Forex and CFD trading offers but also to real stock and ETF trading services with conditions that are among the best in Europe.
| Admiral Markets Instruments | Amount |
| Forex CFDs | 45 |
| Indices CFDs | 19 |
| Commodity CFDs | 26 |
| Cryptocurrency CFDs | 32 |
| Stock CFDs | 3.350 |
| ETF CFDs | 300 |
| Cash shares | 4.350 |
| Cash ETFs | 200 |
Admiral Markets has a very complete offer of financial assets.
Admirals Markets Account Types
There are five types of accounts. Depending on your circumstances and profile as a trader, one may work better than another.
These trading accounts are:
- Trade.MT5
- Invest.MT5
- Zero.MT5
- Trade.MT4
- Zero.MT4
Let’s see the main characteristics of these accounts.
MT4 trading accounts
These are the three accounts offered with Metatrader 4.
Let’s see its main features:
| Admiral MT4 | Trade.MT4 | Zero.MT4 |
| Minimum deposit | 100 | 100 |
| Instruments (all are CFDs) | Foreign exchange: 37 Metals Cryptocurrencies Energies Index Futures Cash indices Stocks: 62 Bonds | Foreign exchange: 45 Cash indices Metals Energies |
| Spreads | From 0.5 pips | From 0.0 pips |
| Commissions | Only on stocks CFD | Yes on all products |
| Minimum trade size | 0.01 | 0.01 |
| Maximum trade size | 100 | 200 |
| Market depth | No | No |
| Negative Balance Protection | Yes | Yes |
What are the differences between these accounts?
At first it seems that the Zero account is more interesting because it has lower spreads, but that doesn’t have to be the case, not in all cases.
The advantage of the Trade account is that it has more products, such as stocks and cryptocurrencies, so it is better if you want to trade any of these assets, in addition to the rest offered.
On the contrary, the Zero account is probably better if we want to trade only in Forex (currencies).
Admiral MT5 and Admiral Invest
| MT5 Account | Trade.MT5 | Zero.MT5 | Admiral Invest |
| Minimum deposit | 100 | 100 | 1 |
| Instruments (CFDs on MT5 and real shares on Invest) | Foreign exchange: 37 Metals Cryptocurrencies Energies Index Futures Cash indices Shares: 3,000 ETFs: 300 Bonds | Foreign exchange Indexes Metals Energies | -Stocks: more than 4,000 -ETFs: 200 for retail traders, 400 for professionals |
| Spreads | From 0.5 pips | From 0 pips | From 0 pips |
| Commissions | Only in stocks | Yes in all assets | Yes in all assets |
| Minimum trade size | 0.01 | 0.01 | – |
| Maximum trade size | 100 | 200 | – |
| Market depth | No | Yes | No |
| Negative Balance Protection | Yes | Yes | No |
What is the difference between these accounts?
This case is similar to the previous one but with the addition of the investment account that offers the possibility of investing in cash shares.
The Invest account is dedicated specifically for those who want to invest in real stocks which is quite different from CFD and Forex trading. In this case, the main difference is leverage. In the case of stock CFDs, we can use a leverage of 1:5 while in real stock trading we cannot.
What are the differences between the different Admiral Markets accounts?
Well, looking at the data, it might seem that the best account would be the MT5. After all, there we have more than 3,000 stock CFDs, in contrast to MT4 accounts that only offer 62 shares.
However, things are not that simple.
As I explained before, many people prefer Metatrader 4 because of the facilities it provides to put into practice the huge market of available trading robots. In fact, the number of integrations with MT4 in other brokers continues to be higher, which also helps people decide to open accounts with this platform.
This is not to say that the Metatrader 5 platform is bad. Quite the contrary.
It has enormous potential and also has its own robots and market, which seems to be growing in the future.
The interesting thing here with MT5 is the fact of being able to trade with market depth, both in CFDs and in shares. This tells us that the CFDs in this type of account are of the DMA type, that is, with real volume data and therefore of the ECN category.
The platform and account choice will depend a lot on what we have in mind.
Admirals Markets Trading Platforms
Admiral Markets mainly offers the Metaquotes platforms, that is, Metatrader 4 and Metatrader 5, of which it has also developed its own version, Metatrader Supreme.
Metatrader 4
Metatrader 4 has been the best-known and most used platform in the world in the Forex retail sector for years. It is specially designed for currencies but it also works with CFDs of all kinds, although in stocks it is not as developed as its “sister”, Metatrader 5.
This platform can be used on mobile devices, tablets, Macs, and, of course, on the PC. The main advantage of this platform, and the key to its success, was the possibility and ease of creating automated trading systems based on all kinds of technical analysis strategies in a way that created a parallel industry of gigantic size.
MetaTrader 5
Metatrader 5 is a more modern platform that was created for traders to fully access the world’s stock and futures markets, whereas Metatrader 4 has its limitations. Thanks to this, Admiral has been able to include other products such as shares.
Its functionality is similar to that of MT4, with similar price charts, for example. Where it is different is in the development of trading robots, because it uses another programming language called MQL5. This means that for many traders it has not been easy to make the switch from Metatrader 4 to Metatrader 5. However, the recent years have seen an increase in the use of this platform, helped by its offering of new ranges of products that the previous one does not have, such as cash shares.
Admiral Markets Metatrader Supreme Edition
This is the main platform of this broker.
With this trading platform, the broker includes extra services such as Technical Insight, trading widgets, Mini-Terminal, Ticks charts, integrated market news, mini-charts, and much more.
Among its most outstanding services we have:
- Instrument trading widgets with a global opinion on the different assets traded at Admirals, where we can see in situ the market sentiment and other interesting indicators.
- Mini terminal to facilitate trades, where you can see all kinds of data such as volume and the introduction of trading orders is facilitated
- Advanced tick chart, where you can see the variation of the spread and therefore of the market conditions. It can be used directly from the platform.
- Real-time economic news and calendar
- Trading simulator where we can execute simulated trades under real price conditions. Ideal for testing new strategies
- Trading Central, as we discussed before, premium technical analysis service in cooperation with Technical Insight
Admiral Markets demo account
If you think this is a good Forex broker and you want to try their platform, you do not need to invest your own money at the beginning. With the Admiral Markets demo account you can try it out with a fictitious €10,000 so you can familiarize yourself with how it works or improve your investment strategies.
This account is identical to the real Admiral Markets account, so you’ll have access to all assets, real-time news, market data, and even a beginner’s guide to learn the basics of investing.
Demo account duration: 30 days.
How to open a demo account at Admiral Markets?
If you want to open your Admiral Markets demo account and start practicing in a realistic investment situation, follow these steps:
- Access the form to create the demo account in Admiral Markets.
- Complete the form fields.
- Next, you will see a screen with some credentials. These are your access data to the trading platform. In addition, you will receive this data in your email.
Once these steps are done, you will have a demo account in Admiral Markets ready to start investing.
How to invest with Admiral Markets demo account?
If you have already completed the steps of opening the demo account in Admiral Markets, you will have received an email with your access data to the trading platform (Metatrader 4 or Metatrader 5).
In this email, you will find several download links (for desktop and smartphone), and a link for the WebTrader. The WebTrader is the web version of the trading platform, so you do not need to install any software to trade.
Whether you choose the web modality or if you choose to download the program, the steps to invest are:
- Open the investment platform. In case you want to use the WebTrader you have to click on the button that says “Start trading”. If you have chosen to download the program (either on a computer or on a mobile phone), you just have to open it.
- Enter the access data that comes in the email you received after creating the account.
- Start trading.
With these 3 easy steps, you can start trading with your Admiral Markets demo account. The next step is to select an asset and launch a trade. You can do this in 2 ways:
- On the left side of the screen, you will find the most common currency pairs. You can select one of them and double-click to open a dialog box in which to enter the details of the operation.
- Click on the second icon that appears on the top bar. It’s a blank sheet with a green plus sign. Doing so will open a dialog where you can select the asset and order details.
Admiral Markets commissions
Let’s see how Admiral Markets performs on the issue of commissions and trading costs.
- Trade.MT4
- Stock CFDs: from $0.01 per share
- Zero.MT4
- Forex: from 1.8 to 3 USD per lot (one way)
- Energies: from 1 USD per lot
- Indices: from 0.05 to 3 USD per lot
- Trade.MT5
- Stock CFDs: from $0.01 per share
- Zero.MT5
- Forex: from 1.8 to 3 USD per lot (one way)
- Energies: from 1 USD per lot
- Indices: from 0.05 to 3 USD per lot
- Invest.MT5
- US Stocks: from $0.02 per share; minimum 1 USD
- European shares: 0.15%; minimum 1 EUR; without custody
Keep in mind that these commissions will depend on the volume and the assets traded. It will be necessary to see the specific data of each product to have a clearer vision of the real trading costs.
For example, in the Invest account, if we buy 150 shares of Apple we will be paying 3 USD for that purchase (remember that the minimum is 1 USD).
Spreads
Along with direct commissions, the most important trading costs are the spreads, which have a fairly large weight in the total cost of trading, especially in Forex, but not least in CFDs.
This concept, along with commissions, is very important for scalping, which is what many traders understand by high-frequency trading, and which of course can be done without problems in this broker.
First of all, it must be said that as we saw in the account’s description, the spreads will be different between the different trading accounts offered by this broker.
Let’s see the spreads that we can find in Admiral Markets.
| Trading Instruments | Average Spreads |
| EURUSD | 0.7 |
| GBPUSD | 1.2 |
| USDJPY | 1.1 |
| Oro | 0.20 |
| Petróleo | 0.05 |
| S&P500 | 0.5 |
| DAX30 | 0.8 |
| Bitcoin | 120 |
| Bund | 2 |
Again, keep in mind that these are the spreads for the Trade.MT4 account. The Zero.MT4 account will have lower spreads.
Another important thing to keep in mind is that these spreads will vary over time and also during the day, depending on the liquidity and situation of each market.
This is one of the most complete brokers on the market, with a very large and varied number of assets, especially in the MT5 account.
Leverage
For CFD and currency trading there are limitations for European traders with the ESMA regulations. The leverages available to European traders are as follows:
| Trading instruments | Leverage |
| Major Forex Pairs | 1:30 or a margin of 3.33% |
| Major Indices, Gold and Minor Forex Pairs | 1:30 or a margin of 5% |
| Minor Indices, Commodities, and Exotic Forex Pairs | 1:10 or a margin of 10% |
| Stocks | 1:5 or a margin of 20% |
| Cryptocurrencies | 1:2 or a margin of 50% |
For clients residing outside the European Union and not subject to ESMA regulations, the maximum leverage of this broker is 1:500.
As I said before, the Admiral.Invest accounts do not have leverage.
Countries accepted by Admirals
Admiral Markets is an international broker and accepts clients from almost every country in the world. Above all, it accepts clients from Hispanic and European countries. It also accepts countries in Asia and Africa. They do not accept customers from the United States, however.
How to deposit funds in this broker?
The minimum deposit to open an account at Admiral Markets must be separated according to the type of account. Basically, we have the following possibilities (EUR, USD):
- Metatrader 4: $100
- Metatrader 5: $100
- Investment in shares: $1
Deposit methods are as follows:
| Deposit Methods | Commissions | Minimum deposit (USD/EUR) | Transfer Duration |
| Bank transfer | Free | No | Up to 3 days |
| Sofort | Free | 50 | Instant |
| Credit cards (VISA & Mastercard) | Free | 50 | Instant |
| Paypal | Free | 50 | Instant |
| Skrill | 0,9% – minimum: 1 EUR, USD | 50 | Instant |
| iBank (Rep. Cheka) | Free | 10 | Instant |
Admiral Market Analysis Services
Admiral is one of the brokers that offer the most market analysis and commentary services to the general public. These analyzes include reviews of the markets and the economy.
The different services are:
Premium Analytics
It is the latest instrument to be incorporated into Admiral Markets’ analysis tools and comes from Dow Jones, Trading Central, and Acuity.
This Premium Analytics includes technical analysis, economic calendar, trading ideas, global sentiment, market news, etc.
For the moment, this service can only be enjoyed by customers and is not available to non-customers.
Heat Map
This is a service where we can see graphically and analytically the strongest assets of each day.
Market sentiment
Here we can see Admiral Market trader sentiment data for the major Forex pairs. This is one of the favorite tools of many traders. A particular piece of advice would be to look at the market sentiments of various brokers, some of which are provided free of charge as in this case.
Trading Central
A professional technical analysis service provided by the Metatrader 4 Supreme version, exclusively from Admiral Markets
Technical, Fundamental Analysis, and Trader’s Blog
Admiral offers extensive articles on technical and fundamental analysis. However, this is a point that I will comment on later, in my final opinion.
Another category offered in blog format is the Trader’s Blog, where economic news about world markets are published quite frequently.
Educational resources for the trader
Admirals also have a section with very interesting solutions to learn the most important concepts of financial markets, from the simplest to the most complex.
Let’s see what services are available:
- Forex and CFDs webinars: this is one of the brokers that organize more seminars and online webinars, which are held practically daily and touch on many of the points of current markets, in addition to the typical trading education
- Frequently asked questions: essential section where we can see the answers to the most classic questions. It is there where you will find how to deposit and withdraw money, for example
- Trader’s Glossary
- Risk management (Tutorial on the importance of this topic)
- Articles and tutorials
- Super Trader (Trading Course): a 15-day course that is taught with videos that can be studied by registering for free
- Forex Begins (Forex Course): This is a more focused course on Forex and CFDs.
- Block 1: Starting to trade
- Block 2: First sensations for Forex trading; Metatrader 4 settings
- Block 3: Indicators and risk management
Of these sections, I highlight the articles and tutorials, being one of the most complete in the entire sector.
Customer service
Admiral is a broker with a very complete service. Contact methods are as follows:
- Webchat
- Contact form on the contact page
- Email: spain@admiralmarkets.com
- Telephone: 91 114 25 01
- Remote support software
- Head Office: Covent Garden, London
How Admiral Markets compares to other brokers
We are going to see the comparison between Admiral Markets and Pepperstone brokers, two of the most popular in the Forex market on the internet.
Admiral Markets Vs Pepperstone
CFD trading involves a lot of risk due to high leverage. You can lose all your capital. Before making an investment with CFDs you should seriously consider whether you have the necessary knowledge about the titles and if you can face the possible loss of all your capital.
You can access a review of Pepperstone and its services at: Pepperstone Broker Review
Regulation and security
Admiral Markets is a broker regulated in three key regulations, such as the United Kingdom, Australia, and Cyprus, from where they can serve clients from several continents, being a broker with a global reach.
Pepperstone has a similar profile but with more regulations, if possible, with some even in Germany.
The only advantage that Admiral Markets has in this regard is that it has an office in Madrid, with which it can better serve Spanish clients, especially those who are looking for closer customer service in Spanish. However, this does not necessarily make Admiral more secure.
Winner: Admiral Markets
Account opening
Opening an account with both brokers is an automated and efficient process. In addition, the minimum deposits are affordable and small investors can open an account without problems.
Pepperstone has a small advantage when it comes to depositing methods.
In general, it is a field in which there can be no clear winner.
Winner: draw
Platforms and tools
Both brokers have professional platforms including the most prominent in the Forex and CFDs market, such as Metatrader 4 and Metatrader 5. In this way, these brokers provide an ideal service for advanced trading, and for algorithmic trading functionalities.
Where Pepperstone stands out is in its cTrader offering, which is designed to give even better Forex execution conditions.
Winner: Pepperstone
Markets and products
Admiral Markets has a fairly wide range of products, with CFD derivatives on almost all assets, including cryptocurrencies. It also offers cash stocks and ETFs for all its clients.
Pepperstone has a somewhat more limited range of products, as it offers neither cryptocurrency CFDs nor cash shares. Its Forex offer, however, stands out.
Winner: Admiral Markets
Commissions
Admiral Markets is a broker that stands out for its low trading commissions in all its products.
Pepperstone is a prominent broker in the Forex market, with some of the lowest commissions in the market, and it is in this field that its commissions are lower than those of Admiral.
Admiral, on the other hand, has better conditions in markets such as oil or the IBEX 35.
Winner: draw
Market research
Pepperstone is not a broker that stands out for its extra training, information, and education services. The broker is fully committed to the pure trading service.
Admiral Markets has a fairly complete training and market research service. Their educational department usually manages webinars quite regularly, which are quite followed by its clients.
Winner: Admiral Markets
Customer service
Pepperstone has professional customer service that provides more than adequate assistance to its customers. They respond quickly and efficiently.
Admiral Markets also has very good customer service, with the advantage that they provide these services from different offices around the world so they can provide support to customers who speak different languages such as English and Spanish..
Winner: Admiral Markets
Final verdict
Both brokers are among the most popular in the global market and not without reason. Both are veterans in the trading and investment industry and have very strong regulations, but they also offer outstanding and well-known products for new and experienced traders.
The style of both is similar and in general, we would say that they are at the same level, if anything with a slight advantage of Admiral Markets in some points. In Forex, however, Pepperstone has the advantage, especially due to its capacity given by the cTrader.
| Pepperstone is better in: | Admirals Markets is better in: |
| -You want more platform options -More options for algorithmic trading -Best Forex conditions -More regulations in Europe | -Better trading conditions in the oil market -You are looking for better options for the IBEX 35 -You want a broker with offices in different countries -You are looking for good training and education services, such as webinars |
Conclusion: Is Admiral Markets a good broker?
In this case, we are talking about a broker with a good reputation and that in general accumulates multiple positive opinions.
Their trading accounts offer good trading conditions, with ultra-low spreads.
The trader can find excellent spreads both in stocks and in commodities, such as gold, which is around 0.2 normally; spreads below the industry average.
For stocks, Admirals offers good spreads on available stocks. For example at Apple, the spread is usually 0.1%, which is fine for a CFD broker.
The only downside is that stock trading requires a minimum of 100 units to trade.
If we go to the Metatrader 5 or Invest accounts we will find practically all of the main world stocks with the best trading conditions.
What’s more, with the inclusion of the live stock trading service, Admiral Markets has taken a huge qualitative leap, putting it ahead of most brokers in the CFD and stock industry.
Regarding other things, we can say that it has one of the best trading tutorial blogs on the market, on a par with the best private blogs.
However, there is one thing they could use some improvement on, and that is that the technical and fundamental analysis blog sections are pretty outdated. That is, it seems that they have stopped publishing content in those areas.
| Company | Admiral Markets Cyprus Ltd, Admiral Markets Pty Ltd, Admiral Markets AS Jordan Ltd, and Admirals SA (Pty) Ltd |
| Minimum account size | The minimum deposit is $1 |
| Minimum lot size | 0.01 lots |
| Maximum leverage | 1:500 |
| Spreads | It offers variable spreads from 0.0 pips for major currency pairs like the EUR/USD and the GBP/USD |
| Link to website |
Frequently asked questions
Where is Admiral Markets headquartered?
Its headquarters are in Estonia, it’s country of origin. However, it is a broker with a significant international presence and maintains offices in Madrid and London, among other financial markets.
Is Admiral Markets an ECN broker?
Admiral is a broker without dealing desk intervention, but the most important thing is not that, but rather that it is a broker with a great reputation and great prestige after many years operating in international markets. In addition, with the addition of cash shares, it now offers direct market access, so we cannot ask for more in this regard.
Can scalping strategies be applied with Admiral Markets?
Of course. Admiral Markets has no problem with traders applying high-frequency strategies. Direct market access for shares and other instruments is proof of this.
Is Admiral Markets safe?
Admiral is one of the safest brokers on the European scene. This does not mean that there are no complaints from their customers. Any company can fail. For the peace of mind of investors, Admiral participates in investment protection programs, such as the English one, which reaches up to 85,000 pounds.
