Tickmill Review

Review

Tickmill

Tickmill is an online Forex and CFD market-making brokerage launched in 2011. They are headquartered in both the United Kingdom and The Seychelles, and they offer a choice of accounts in either location, although availability may be restricted based upon a client’s residence or tax status. The U.K. account office is based in London and these accounts are regulated by the U.K.’s Financial Conduct Authority (FCA), a major advantage of which is deposit protection up to a maximum amount of £50,000. The Seychelles accounts are regulated by the Seychelles Financial Services Authority (FSA).

Tickmill offers traders the opportunity to trade a fairly wide range of instruments wrapped as CFDs (Contracts for Difference), even including a selection of 4 German Government Bonds. In addition to Bonds, Tickmill offer trading in 62 Forex currency pairs and crosses, 15 global equity indices, the commodities of gold, silver and crude oil, and Bitcoin paired with the U.S. Dollar. It seems that all instruments are equally available for clients of both the U.K. and The Seychelles branches, but minimum margin requirements differ. Of course, maximum leverage on Forex in the U.K. is restricted to 30 to 1 by ESMA regulations, while in The Seychelles, considerably higher leverage of up to 500 to 1 is available.

Accounts

Tickmill differs from most brokers in offering clients a choice between a no dealing desk (NDD) account or an ECN/STP account model.

The Classic Account is a no dealing desk, spreads-only account model, requiring a minimum deposit of $25. Spreads are variable and begin at a low of 1.6 pips on the benchmark EUR/USD currency pair. This is quite reasonable for lower deposit sizes but becomes less competitive as your account size gets into four figures.

The Pro Account is an ECN, lower spreads plus commission model, requiring a minimum deposit of $25. Spreads are variable and have no minimum, they can even occasionally be zero. Commissions are charged at $4 per lot traded round trip.

The VIP Account is a no dealing desk, spreads plus commission model, requiring a minimum deposit of $50,000. VIP clients benefit from low spreads, which can even be zero, while commissions are charged at only $2 per lot traded round trip.

“Professional” accounts are available clients who meet the U.K.’s definition of professional clients. The main benefit of such an account type is the possibility to enjoy both U.K. regulation and investor protection, as well as maximum leverage of 500 to 1.

Swap-free Islamic accounts and demo accounts are also available, as is typically the case with Forex/CFD brokerages.

All accounts offer a minimum trade size of 1 micro-lot (0.01 full lots).

Scalping and hedging are allowed, and automated trading is possible. This combination of advantages is something that is increasingly hard to find, especially with a Forex/CFD broker regulated in the U.K. such as Tickmill.

There is no choice of trading platform: all clients must use MetaTrader 4, either as a program or as its web-based or mobile versions.

Features

Tickmill’s most notable feature is the freedom of its offering – clients are offered a choice of account type and style, and may hedge, scalp, or swing or position trade with no restrictions. Clients can operate in either the U.K. with its higher protection and lower leverage, or in The Seychelles.

A reasonably wide range of assets are offered for trading, especially within the Forex universe.

Education

Tickmill offers an education section on its website, which is available to all for free. The section consists of webinars, a glossary of terms, video tutorials, and educational articles. Webinars are live and are provided in a variety of languages, not only English. The video tutorials are in English and teach a range of core concepts, most notably on trading strategies, technical indicators, and social trading. The educational articles are better described as static written material and diagrams that provide a competent “how to” on the mechanics of trading.

Bonuses and Promotions

Bonuses and promotions have been prohibited under European Union regulations, so are neither offered nor available to holders of an account based in the U.K. For clients with accounts in The Seychelles, they may enter the “Trader of the Month” competition which carries a $1,000 prize, a Non-Farm Payrolls price lottery with a $500 prize, and a $30 welcome account.

Deposits/Withdrawals

Depositing funds into a Tickmill account is an easy and secure process. Both may be made using a few different methods, including credit cards, debit cards, Skrill, Neteller, fasapay, and UnionPay. Withdrawals are generally made through the same channel that deposits have been made through.

Customer Support

Customer support is based in the U.K. and The Seychelles, but there are dedicated telephone lines for a wide range of countries, offering business hours support in a range of native languages.

Conclusion

Tickmill has a well-rounded and professional offering for traders looking to trade a wide range of assets in the form of CFDs, particularly in Forex. Traders have a choice of jurisdiction and account types, and this could be an especially attractive broker for clients with relatively small deposit size.

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Features

In terms of features, the stand-out strengths of Tickmill’s offering are:

• A fairly wide range of instruments available for trading: Forex currency pairs, global equity indices, gold, silver, crude oil, German government bonds, and Bitcoin.
• Choice of both account types (no dealing desk or ECN/STP) and jurisdictions (U.K. or The Seychelles).
• Negative balance protection (in the U.K.).
• Regulated by a major industry center (U.K.) which includes deposit protection up to £50,000.
• Tickmill is a well-established firm with a reputation earned reputation to protect.
• Relatively reasonable spreads for small depositors.

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Platforms

MetaTrader4

The MetaTrader 4 is an independent trading platform, developed for trading FX, commodities and other products and is one of the most advanced and easy platforms to use. It remains the gold standard of trading platforms.

In addition to the wide range of markets available to trade, the MT4 platform provides traders with a multilingual interface, instant execution, built in help guides for MT4 and MetaQuotes Language 4, a complete technical analysis package including a wide range of in-built indicators and charting tools, various custom indicators and time periods and more.

Automated trading is also offered through the MetaTrader 4 platform where traders can create and test their automated trading strategies by using the MetaEditor, Strategy Tester and Compiler tools within the MT4 platform.

With this automated trading system clients may create Expert Advisors, software programs enabling traders to constantly monitor the markets. Custom Indicators help traders to predict future price movements by analyzing past and current price information. And the Scripts feature gives traders the opportunity to set up an automatic repetition of specific operations such as closing all positions with a single keystroke.

MetaTrader Mobile

The MetaTrader 4 and platform apps can be used on iPhones, iPads, Multi-Terminal, and all Android devices. 

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User Reviews

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