Admiral Markets Broker Review

Is Admirals Safe?

Admirals boasts regulation from some of the world’s top regulators, including Australia’s local regulator, ASIC. 

ASIC Regulation: Australian residents will be onboarded through the subsidiary, Admirals Pty Ltd, which is authorised and regulated by the Australian Securities and Investment Commission (ASIC).  

Safety Features: Considered one of the best regulators in the world, under ASIC regulation:

• All client money is kept fully segregated from Admirals’ own assets in top-tier credit institutions. 
• Traders are afforded negative balance protection.  

However, ASIC restricts leverage to 30:1 and prohibits Admirals from offering bonuses and promotions, which some Australian traders may find restrictive. 

Company Details:

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Admirals’ Financial Instruments

The choice of financial assets offered by Admirals is wider than other similar brokers, with over 3200 share CFDs, 3500 stocks, and 375 ETFs.

See below for Admirals’ range of instruments and corresponding leverage:

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• Forex: Admirals has over 50 currency pairs available for trading which is around the industry average.  These include majors (EUR/USD, GBP/USD, and USD/JPY), minors (NZD/CAD, EUR/JPY, and USD/ZAR), and exotics. 
• Share CFDs: Admirals offers 3204 share CFDs, which is more numerous than other large international brokers.  The selection available includes some of the major US, UK, and European Exchanges. 
• Indices: There are 43 indices available for trading at Admirals, which is more than is available at other similar brokers. The most popular indices are those that combine the shares of some of the largest and globally acknowledged companies.  
• Commodities: Admirals offers trading on 28 commodities, which is a much broader range than is commonly available at other brokers.  Most other brokers offer between 5 and 10 commodities.  Commodities include metals such as gold and silver, energies such as oil, and softs such as sugar, cocoa, and cotton. 
• Bonds: Like other brokers, Admirals offers trading on two bonds, namely the 10-year Germany Bund Futures CFD and the 10-year US Treasury Note Futures CFD.  
• ETFs: Admirals offers trading on 375 ETFs, which is a wider range than is offered by other similar brokers.  
• Cryptocurrencies: Admirals offers 42 cryptocurrencies for trading, a huge selection compared to other similar brokers.  Spreads are wider than for Forex, but this in line with industry norms. 

Overall, Admirals offers a much broader range of tradable instruments than other brokers and really outshines its competitors in its commodity, share CFD, and ETF offerings. 

Admirals’ Accounts and Trading Fees

Admirals is unusual amongst brokers in that it offers four different account types, with trading conditions that vary depending on the platform chosen. 

Trading Costs: All Admirals’ accounts have a minimum deposit of 100 AUD, which is around the industry average. Trading costs on the Trade MT4/MT5 accounts are around 5 USD per lot traded, while the trading costs on the MT4/MT5 Zero Accounts are around 7 USD per lot traded. These trading costs are some of the lowest in the industry.  

Admirals also offers an investment account for real stock trading, but the focus of this review will be on CFD trading. 

See below for more details:

Admirals Account Trading Costs:

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Trade.MT5

The Trade.MT5 Account has a minimum deposit requirement of 100 AUD, leverage up to 30:1, and no commissions are charged for Forex trading.  Spreads start at 0.80 pips for the EUR/USD, and it is available as an Islamic swap-free account.  

Zero.MT5

With a minimum deposit requirement of 100 AUD, the Zero.MT5 account has spreads starting at 0.0pips on the EUR/USD, and a commission of between 1.8 and 3 USD is charged per lot per side (see below for commission structure). 

Trade.MT4

The minimum deposit on this account is also  100 AUD. Spreads start at 0.5 pips (EUR/USD) on this account, and no commissions are charged.  Note that there are no Islamic swap-free options on this account.  

Zero.MT4

The minimum deposit is 100 AUD on this account, leverage is up to 30:1, and spreads start at 0.0 pips on the EUR/USD.  A commission of between 1.8 and 3 USD is charged per side per lot traded, dependent on the trading volume (see below for commission structure). This account does not offer Islamic swap-free options.  

Commission Structure

A commission is charged per lot on Zero.MT4 & Zero.MT5 accounts. This is a commission for a single side trade. Commission for a round turn trade (opening and closing) is doubled and is fully charged at the opening of the order. The following table shows the commission structure in AUD:

Overall, Admirals’ trading costs and minimum deposit requirements are lower than other similar brokers, and it offers trading on a wide range of assets, making it appealing to both beginners and experienced traders alike.

Deposits and Withdrawals

Admirals offers a limited number of funding options compared to most other brokers.  Additionally, deposit and withdrawal fees are high for currencies other than those supported by Admirals, and its processing times are slow.  

As a well-regulated broker, Admirals does not process payments to third parties. All withdrawal requests from a trading account must go to a bank account or a source in the trader’s name. 

Trading Account Currencies: Admirals offers a wide range of trading account currencies through its ASIC subsidiary, including AUD, EUR, GBP, USD, and SGD. Deposits to trading accounts can be made in most national currencies, which are subsequently converted into AUD, EUR, GBP, USD, and SGD, or other applicable currencies. 

In order to protect your capital from currency fluctuation, you can have multiple trading accounts in different currencies at the same time. This gives traders an opportunity to transfer funds from one account to another through a convenient internal transfer straight from the Trader’s Room (available on Admirals’ mobile app).

Deposits and Withdrawals: Deposits can be made via credit cards/debit cards, e-wallets (Skrill and Neteller), and bank transfers.  Credit cards/debit cards are processed instantly, but deposits via wire transfer can take 3 bank days to reflect. No commissions are charged on deposits or withdrawals, but should the base currency of a client’s trading account differ from the base currency of the transferred funds, the amount transferred will be converted to the base currency of the client’s trading account, and a 0.3% fee will be charged.   For those transferring funds via e-wallets in a different base currency, the first 5 transfers will be free, and thereafter 1% of the amount will be charged. 

Withdrawals are only available via wire transfer, with a processing time of 1-3 business days. A fee of 3 USD (or equivalent) is charged for domestic transfers and up to 20 USD for international transfers.

See below for more details:

• Bank transfer:  Deposits take 3 days to be processed but are free.  There is no maximum deposit amount. Withdrawals take up to 3 – 5 days to be processed, and there is one free withdrawal request a month. 
• Credit card/Debit card: Deposits are instant and free.  Withdrawals cannot be made via credit/debit cards.
• e-Wallets (Skrill/Neteller): The first 5 deposits and withdrawals will be free, and thereafter 1% of the amount will be charged. 

Overall, the non-trading fees associated with deposits and withdrawals at Admirals, especially when trading in currencies other than those supported by the company are high.  Additionally, Admirals’ processing times are slower than other similar online brokers, and it offers a limited number of funding methods.  

Admirals’ Mobile Apps

Admirals’ mobile trading platforms are above average when compared to other similar brokers.

Admiral Markets’ Trading App

Developed entirely in-house, the Admirals app is available on both Android and iOS. 

Features: We found that the Admirals’ trading app has a clean interface and is easy to use.  It has a sophisticated dashboard and intuitive home screen that allows you to add instruments to your watchlists,  view market analysis materials, and contact customer support from within the app.  It also has excellent search functionality and it’s simple to place orders, set price alerts, and view live prices and charts. Admirals has also updated its charts, and traders can tap with one finger to check the price for a selected period or tap with two fingers to check the price difference for a selected range:

Conveniently, we were also able to deposit and withdraw funds and upload and scan our documents.  

MT4/MT5 Mobile Applications

Both trading platforms are available on both Android and iOS mobile devices and tablets. Beginner traders should be aware that there is some loss in functionality when compared to the desktop trading platforms, including reduced timeframes and fewer charting options.  In addition, spotty connections can reduce the overall trading experience. Generally, it is better to be at your desktop to conduct day-to-day trading and use a mobile device to keep an eye on the markets or close open positions.

The Admirals MT4 and MT5 apps allow traders to work from anywhere, with functionality to close and modify existing orders, calculate profit/loss in real-time, and tick chart trading to further assists traders while on the move.

Overall, Admirals’ mobile trading support is better than that of other brokers, with support for the MT4/MT5 apps in addition to its own mobile app.

Other Trading Platforms

The MT4 and MT5 trading platforms are available as downloads for your computer and as a Webtrader in your browser. 

MT4 and MT5

The benefit of Admirals offering third-party platforms such as MT4 and MT5 is that traders can take their own customised version of the platform with them should they choose to migrate to another broker.  Additionally, thousands of plugins and tools are available for both the MetaTrader platforms.   

While MT4 has great customisability, the platform feels outdated, and some of the features can be hard to find.  MT5 is more powerful and faster than MT4 when it comes to back-testing functionality for automated trading algorithms.  It also has a built-in news feed, market depth indicator, economic calendar, and trades can be made on the charts. 

Trading Platforms Comparison:

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Broker

Platform Choice

Copy Trading

Platforms

Admirals

4.5/ 5

Yes

MT4

MT5

MT Supreme

Axi

4/ 5

Yes

MT4

IronFX

4/ 5

Yes

MT4

Trading Tools

Admirals trading tools are superior compared to those offered by other similar brokers.  The MetaTrader Supreme Edition is one of the best MetaTrader plugins on the market.  Integrated into the Metatrader Supreme Edition is Trading Central and a number of other useful tools.  It also offers a VPS service.  

Admirals has partnered with Trading Central to integrate its indicators (Forex Featured Ideas and Technical Insight) into the MetaTrader Supreme Edition. These two highly customisable tools provide pattern recognition and technical analysis for almost all financial instruments.  A VPS service is also offered to clients who maintain an equity amount of 5000 EUR (or equivalent) in their trading accounts. 

MetaTrader Supreme Edition

Trading Central

A third-party tool, Trading Central’s professional analysts use the most advanced technical analysis tools in the industry to gather the most comprehensive and in-depth market information. This tool essentially supports traders without the technical know-how in making trading decisions. This dynamic product suite is available to traders through the MetaTrader Supreme Edition.  Trading Central is considered one of the best trading tools in the industry, and Admirals does well to offer this tool to its clients.

Global Opinion Toolset

Also included in the MetaTrader Supreme Edition is the Global Opinion toolset. These tools scan and contextualise millions of financial news stories and social media posts daily, giving traders a dynamic view of market sentiment. They can drastically reduce the length of time traders need to spend on daily research by flagging-up the best assets to trade and warning of changes in the market that may impact trade success.

Mini-Terminal

Additionally, a new mini-terminal facilitates trade management by making commonly-used trading features more accessible than in the native version of the software. A mini-chart feature also lets traders see multiple time frames and chart types in a single chart.

An additional Trade Terminal feature helps traders manage multiple orders concurrently, using the same advanced trade management features of the mini-terminal.

Tick Chart Trader

Tick Chart Trader allows clients to trade tick charts fast and accurately. An additional Indicator Package with the latest indicator technology delivers more chart information and trading signals within the trading tool.

Trading Simulator

Finally, a trading simulator is available to backtest strategies on historical price data. Until this feature was conceived, traders were limited to testing strategies with a demo account in real-time. The trading simulator enables traders to test multiple strategies on the same data set to find the optimal strategy for different market situations.

VPS

Admirals offers a VPS (Virtual Private Server) service for traders who deposit more than 5000 EUR in their trading accounts. VPS hosting allows traders to run automated algorithmic strategies, including expert advisors 24 hours a day 7 days a week on a virtual machine. VPS services have the advantage of never suffering connectivity issues and have extremely low latency due to their proximity to major international exchanges. 

Overall, Admirals offers a much more comprehensive set of trading tools than is available at other similar brokers.

Admirals for Beginners

Admirals has invested heavily in helping new traders find their feet, offering an extensive library of educational articles, tutorials, and webinars. For clients looking for active support Trading Central provides chart analysis and analyst recommendations.  

Educational Material

Admirals offers an excellent educational repository that is suited to traders of all experience levels.

The educational material available through Admirals is extensive and varied. Split into different sections, Admirals offers a structured course, a knowledge base, an overview of risk management, and frequent webinars.

Admirals also provides a free, structured Forex and CFD trading course called Forex 101, designed to help beginners learn how to trade. It is a collection of nine online lessons split into beginner, intermediate and advanced stages, and all lessons are taught by professional traders. The course covers everything from setting up MT4 to managing risk and is an excellent resource for new traders.