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Lowest Spread Broker Australia 2026

Lowest Spread Broker Australia 2026: Total Cost Compared

Which Australian broker really has the lowest spreads in 2026? Raw spread plus commission compared against marked-up spread accounts on total cost per lot.

At a glance

The honest answer is that no Australian broker publishes enough for a clean spread comparison. Pepperstone publishes no Australian averages; IC Markets publishes averages that contradict themselves in three places and carry no measurement period. What can be compared is commission — and there Pepperstone is AUD 2.00 per lot cheaper.

  • Raw spread accounts start at 0.0 at both. That is a minimum, not what you will pay.
  • IC Markets’ own spread table is internally impossible — a Standard minimum of 0.8 against an average of 0.1.
  • Commission is the comparable number: AUD 7.00 against AUD 9.00 round turn per standard lot.
  • Raw plus commission beats commission-free once the markup exceeds roughly 0.9 pips.
  • Conversion and swap are where the real money goes on anything held longer than a day.

Which Australian broker has the lowest spreads?

Both advertise 0.0 pips on their raw accounts, and both figures are minimums — the tightest price ever quoted, typically during the London and New York overlap. Neither tells you what you pay on a Tuesday afternoon in Sydney or during an RBA decision.

Why we have not printed IC Markets’ averages as fact. Three problems, all on IC’s own Australian domain. Its table shows a Raw EUR/USD average of 0.01 while four other pages on the same site claim 0.1. Its Standard row shows a minimum of 0.8 and an average of 0.1 — an average cannot be lower than the minimum. And its help centre states the gold average is 1 pip against a table value of 0.09. No measurement window appears anywhere. These are not small discrepancies; they are the difference between a published figure and a checkable one.

And Pepperstone’s gap. It publishes no Australian average spreads at all, and its one commodity average — 0.22 on gold — comes from a legal PDF with a July 2025 window, now thirteen months old, in which the PDF and website disagree on the minimum (0.1 against 0.08).

Table 1 — Published spreads

Table 1 — Published spreads
PepperstoneIC Markets
EUR/USD minimumRazor 0.0 · Standard 1.0Raw 0.0 · Standard 0.8
EUR/USD averageNot published for AustraliaPublished, but see the warning below
Gold minimumRazor 0.08 · Standard 0.15Raw 0.05 · Standard 0.1
Gold average0.22 — from a PDF, window July 20250.09, undated
Measurement period stated?NoNo

So compare the commission instead

This is the part both firms publish clearly, and it is where the difference actually sits.

Note what happens on a USD account. Both charge USD 7.00 round turn — identical. The AUD gap exists because IC prices its AUD commission at 4.50 a side rather than converting its USD rate. If you fund in Australian dollars, you pay the difference; if you fund in USD, you do not. That single choice at signup is worth AUD 600 a year at 25 lots a month.

Table 2 — Commission on raw accounts

Table 2 — Commission on raw accounts
PlatformPepperstoneIC Markets
MT4 / MT5, AUD accountAUD 3.50 per side — AUD 7.00 round turnAUD 4.50 per side — AUD 9.00 round turn
MT4 / MT5, USD accountUSD 7.00 round turnUSD 7.00 round turn
Gold, AUD accountAUD 4.50 per side (MT5) — AUD 9.00Charged as FX — AUD 9.00
cTraderUSD 6.00 round turn, fixed per lotUSD 3.00 per side per USD 100,000 traded
TradingViewUSD 7.00 round turnVia cTrader pricing

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Raw plus commission, or commission-free?

Take one standard lot of EUR/USD on a raw account. The spread cost at, say, 0.1 pips is about $1. Add USD 7.00 commission and you are at roughly $8 all in.

On a commission-free Standard account you pay no commission but a marked-up spread. At 1.0 pips that is about $10; at 0.8 pips about $8 — break-even.

So the rule: above roughly 0.8 to 0.9 pips of markup, raw plus commission wins. Below it, commission-free does. And because commission is fixed per lot, small positions favour commission-free accounts — a 0.1 lot trade pays the same proportional spread but only a tenth of the commission, which sounds good until you realise the fixed cost has not scaled down at all relative to your position.

Illustrative of the structure, not a quote. Actual spreads vary by session, instrument and volatility, and neither firm publishes a dated Australian average against which to check these numbers.

Compare both account types on live pricing

Pepperstone Group Limited, AFSL 414530 — Razor and Standard accounts, AUD 7.00 round turn, and a free demo so you can watch the real spread through a session before committing.

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Pepperstone Group Limited, ACN 147 055 703, AFSL 414530

CFDs are complex instruments and come with a high risk of losing money rapidly due to leverage. Australian licensees are not required to publish a retail loss percentage and neither AFSL holder on this page does. Read the Product Disclosure Statement and Financial Services Guide before deciding.

Pepperstone Group Limited holds ASIC AFSL 414530. ASIC does not mandate a retail-loss percentage, so none is quoted here rather than borrowing another entity's figure. This is a paid affiliate link: we may earn a commission if you open an account. It does not change our ranking or what we publish.

Table 3 — Worked example, one standard lot of EUR/USD

Table 3 — Worked example, one standard lot of EUR/USD
Account styleSpread costCommissionTotal per lot
Raw + commission~$1$7.00~$8
Commission-free at 1.0 pips~$10$0~$10
Commission-free at 0.8 pips~$8$0~$8

The costs that dwarf the spread

For anything held longer than a day, the spread stops being the main cost.

The inactivity fee is disclosed in two contradictory places at IC Markets. Its help centre says: “No, you will not be charged any account inactivity fees.” Its Australian PDS says a monthly fee of AUD 20 or base currency equivalent applies after 12 months of inactivity. The PDS is the binding document — assume the fee applies.

On swap, Pepperstone is the more transparent: it publishes a 2.5% mark-up on index, commodity and share CFDs. IC publishes no mark-up percentage at all. For a position held a month, that disclosure is worth more than any spread difference on this page.

Want published costs you can read without logging in?

Capital.com publishes spreads and overnight charges openly, with no account required to see them — useful when the firms you are comparing disagree with themselves.

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Capital.com — regulated by the FCA (793714), CySEC (319/17) and ASIC (513393)

CFDs are complex instruments and come with a high risk of losing money rapidly due to leverage. Australian licensees are not required to publish a retail loss percentage and neither AFSL holder on this page does. Read the Product Disclosure Statement and Financial Services Guide before deciding.

Pepperstone Group Limited holds ASIC AFSL 414530. ASIC does not mandate a retail-loss percentage, so none is quoted here rather than borrowing another entity's figure. This is a paid affiliate link: we may earn a commission if you open an account. It does not change our ranking or what we publish.

Table 4 — Financing and account costs

Table 4 — Financing and account costs
CostPepperstoneIC Markets
Swap mark-up disclosedYes — 2.5% on index, commodity and share CFDsNot published
Swap ratesFormula published; live rates in-platformNo rate table — check Market Watch in MT4/MT5
Triple swap dayWednesdayFX, metals, commodities Wednesday · energies, indices, crypto Friday
Inactivity feeNoneAUD 20/month after 12 months, per the PDS
Currency conversionNon-USD commission converted at spotnot published as a percentage

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Written and reviewed by
Best Trading Signal — editorial & analysis team

We review brokers on licensing, cost and withdrawals — and state the cons, not just the pros. How our signals are produced · Risk Disclosure · Last updated 12 September 2026

Frequently asked questions

Neither can be verified, and that is the honest answer. Both quote 0.0 minimums on raw accounts. Pepperstone publishes no Australian averages; IC Markets’ published averages contradict themselves — including a Standard row showing a minimum higher than its own average. Compare on commission, where Pepperstone is AUD 2.00 per lot cheaper on an AUD account.

It is a real minimum, briefly, in the deepest liquidity of the day — and it is not what you will average. It also is not free: raw accounts move the cost into commission, AUD 7.00 to AUD 9.00 round turn per standard lot. Treat a 0.0 headline as marketing and price the trade on total cost.

Above roughly 0.8 to 0.9 pips of markup, raw plus commission is cheaper. Below it, commission-free wins. Because commission is a fixed amount per lot, commission-free accounts suit small position sizes and raw accounts suit larger ones. Work it out on your actual average trade size rather than on the headline.

Because IC prices it separately rather than converting. Its AUD rate is AUD 4.50 a side where Pepperstone charges AUD 3.50. On a USD account both charge USD 3.50 a side and the difference disappears entirely. It is a pricing decision, published by both, and it costs an AUD-funded client about AUD 600 a year at 25 lots a month.

Always, at every broker. Spreads track available liquidity and liquidity thins around releases — RBA decisions, US payrolls, CPI. This is why a minimum spread is close to useless for anyone trading events, and why the absence of a dated average from both firms is a genuine gap rather than a technicality.

Overnight financing charged on positions held past the daily rollover. Pepperstone publishes a 2.5% mark-up on index, commodity and share CFDs; IC Markets publishes no mark-up percentage, directing you to the platform instead. Note the triple-swap days differ: Wednesday at Pepperstone, but Friday at IC for energies, indices and crypto.

Its help centre says no; its Australian PDS says AUD 20 a month after 12 months of inactivity. The PDS is the binding legal document, so assume the fee applies. Pepperstone charges none, though it may archive accounts holding under 10 units of currency after three months of inactivity.

No. Total cost is spread plus commission plus swap plus conversion, and for anything held more than a day the swap usually dominates. A broker with a slightly wider spread that publishes its financing mark-up may well be cheaper over a month than one quoting 0.0 that tells you nothing about overnight cost.

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Trading forex, CFDs and crypto carries a real risk of losing money and isn't suitable for everyone — our signals are analyst opinions and general information, not personal financial advice, and past performance is no guarantee of future results.

Last updated 12 September 2026

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