ThinkMarkets Review – How Does This Forex and CFD Broker Rank?

Photo of author

By Theo Madsen

Last Updated

Thinkmarkets Review

Advertising Disclosure

ThinkMarkets Broker Review

  • Commissions & Fees
  • Investment Offerings
  • Trading Platforms
  • Customer Service
  • Education and Research
  • Trustworthiness
4

Summary

ThinkMarkets is an international forex broker that gives traders many interesting options. ThinkMarkets allows for global trading and has many interesting features. Read our thorough review on ThinkMarkets and find out if this broker fits your trading style.

Pros

  • Heavy and reliable regulation with the FCA and ASIC
  • You can trade multiple markets around the world
  • Tight spreads
  • Familiar platforms

Cons

  • Cannot accept US clients

About ThinkMarkets

ThinkMarkets is an international firm with offices in London, Melbourne, as well as operating hubs in Europe, the Middle East, and South Africa. With this being the case, it is a truly international brokerage that can give you access to the world’s financial markets.

ThinkMarkets allows traders to trade global markets in the form of CFD markets, including indices, shares, metals, commodities, cryptocurrencies, as well as spot forex trading. The goal of the company is to give you the opportunity to truly traverse the financial world, taking advantage of the global interconnectedness between markets.

Thinkmarkets Review

ThinkMarkets opened in 2010 by a group of industry professionals from Chicago which established the multi-regulatory structure of the company in Melbourne, Australia, and London in the UK, using the latest technology to facilitate trades across multiple asset classes. The company is heavily regulated and insured, giving you the ability to be at ease when it comes to your deposits which are held in segregated accounts. Being regulated by the FCA, the Financial Conduct Authority in the United Kingdom enables compensation of up to 50,000 British pounds from the UK FSCS (Financial Services Compensation Scheme). Not only that, the broker has purchased Excess of FSCS Insurance, which keeps investors insured up to 1 million British pounds. Beyond that, the company is also regulated by the Australian Securities and Investment Commission and holds an Australian Financial Services License.

The broker also holds a license from the South African Financial Sector Conduct Authority.

Opening An Account With ThinkMarkets

ThinkMarkets allows individuals to open up accounts with no minimum for the standard account, giving them access to all markets that are on offer. That being said, the company does not allow US traders.

There is a demo account available, obviously, and when it comes to live accounts, there are individual, joint, and corporate accounts. There is a selection between the Standard and the ThinkZero account, offering different spread and commission schemes.

Opening an account is quick and easy. Simply enter your information and prepare to verify your identity with a passport or ID.

Thinkmarkets Account Opening Process

ThinkMarkets Product Offerings

As mentioned previously, ThinkMarkets offers both currency trading and contract for difference markets. The Forex offerings are some of the usual that you would expect, like the EUR/USD pair, but more exotic pairs such as the EUR/TRY, the USD/SGD, and the USD/MXN are also on offer. Because of this, you have the ability to express your opinion on global economies in a varied and drastic way.

Energy markets are represented by the US Crude Oil market and the Brent Crude oil market. Precious metals offer both gold and silver, not only in the standard size but also in the mini contract. The crypto offering includes Bitcoin, Bitcoin Cash, Litecoin, and Ethereum. The equity section offers a basket of shares by specific country. There are also CFDs on futures offerings, giving you access to a broad range of markets.

The following indices are available to trade through CFD markets:

  • Australia 200
  • France 40
  • Germany 30
  • UK 100
  • S&P 500
  • Dow Jones Index
  • EuroStoxx 50
  • Nikkei 225
  • NASDAQ 100
  • Spain 35
  • Hong Kong 50
  • China 50

The following metals are available through CFD markets:

  • Gold Zero
  • Silver Zero
  • Gold
  • Mini Gold
  • Silver
  • Mini Silver
  • High Grade Copper

The following energy markets are available through CFD markets:

  • US Crude Oil
  • Brent Crude Oil
  • Natural Gas

The following soft commodities futures are available through CFD markets:

  • Wheat
  • Corn
  • Soybeans
  • Sugar
  • Coffee
  • Cocoa

The following financial index is available to trade through CFD futures:

  • US Dollar Index

The following are a few of the Forex markets that are available at ThinkMarkets (full list here):

  • EUR/USD
    USD/JPY
  • GBP/USD
  • USD/CHF
  • AUD/CAD
  • AUD/CHF
  • AUD/JPY
  • AUD/NZD
  • AUD/USD
  • CAD/CHF
  • CAD/JPY
  • CHF/JPY
  • EUR/AUD
  • EUR/CAD
  • EUR/CHF
  • EUR/GBP
  • EUR/JPY
  • EUR/NOK
  • EUR/NZD
  • GBP/AUD
  • GBP/CAD
  • GBP/CHF
  • GBP/JPY
  • GBP/NZD
  • NZD/CAD

The following cryptocurrencies are also available as CFDs in select regions:

  • Bitcoin
  • Bitcoin Cash
  • Ethereum
  • Litecoin

ThinkMarkets Commissions And Fees

There are no fees or commissions on the standard account, as ThinkMarkets makes money on the spread that the client pays between the bid and the ask. You do not have to worry about trading costs, as they are clearly laid out on the website as to what the minimum spread will be based upon the account that you open. Obviously, the futures markets would, in theory, have a commission or a fee, but the orders are not routed to futures exchanges, because ThinkMarkets offers a CFD contract, which also has a built-in spread instead of a commission to facilitate the trade and pay for the broker’s services.

ThinkMarkets Platforms and Tools

ThinkMarkets offers a couple of different trading platforms that you can use. The first one that is on offer is ThinkTrader, a proprietary trading application that runs on mobile, desktop, and tablet operating systems. It gives traders the ability to add custom indicators, and of course, the ability to customize the layout as needed. You can download this on iOS and Android, as well as Windows and macOS systems.

Thinkmarkets Platforms

What is unique is that the mobile app offers iPhone compatibility, but it also has a quad screen, allowing you to see up to four charts at once on a mobile phone and up to six on a tablet. This gives you the ability to trade correlated markets or watch out for over correlation in your trading schemes and setups. There is a full suite of indicators that are available, and it is every bit as powerful as most desktop platforms.

There is also the opportunity to trade via the Metatrader 4 and 5 platforms, software that most of you should be familiar with. One of the best tools out there to identify trading patterns such as wedges, flags, or EMA breaks, Autochartist, is also integrated. It is available across all time frames, and of course, all markets. The platform, right along with this tool, is a trusted combination for traders around the world, and of course, will have a familiar feel for most of you. It can also run on mobile phones and has been tested over several years, meaning that it is an extraordinarily reliable platform.

Metatrader 5

The educational section is rather extensive, as ThinkMarkets has a ton of videos for all levels. The beginner section goes anywhere from how to start trading the markets to explaining the CFDs market, margin and leverage, and Metatrader 4 basics. This is an excellent place to learn the very fundamentals of trading. There is an entire course that you can take based upon learning the fundamentals.

Beyond that, there’s the intermediate section that has tips and tricks with the platform, risk management, how to create a trading plan, chart patterns, stop losses and take profit orders, order types, price charts, and bid/ask spreads. The intermediate section is very comprehensive and takes quite a while to get through.

The advanced section has technical analysis, fundamental analysis, Fibonacci ratios, Japanese candlesticks, support and resistance, time zones in the liquidity difference between all of them, market participants, and of course, trading styles. After that, you can look at the upcoming webinars, trading guides, and of course, glossary. The size of the educational section is quite impressive.

There are also other tools such as the news service FX wire Pro, a market news area, webinars, and the ability to use the web-based MT4 and MT5 platforms.

ThinkMarkets Differentiators

One of the biggest differentiators of ThinkMarkets is that it is regulated in both Australia and the United Kingdom, offering high reliability guaranteed by multiple regulatory bodies. Beyond that, you can get institutional type spreads with low minimum deposits ($0 on standard, $500 on ThinkZero). Most of the spreads that I see at this brokerage firm are typically saved for those who are either institutional traders or have larger accounts. This is one of the big driving points of ThinkMarkets from the beginning: trying to level the playing field between retail and institutional traders.

The wide range of markets also helps, as it allows the trader to trade the entire world. Leverage runs all the way up to 500:1, but obviously, some markets will be different, such as cryptocurrency, which is just at 5:1, although it should be pointed out that it is very large for most firms. Please remember, though, that leverage cuts both ways, meaning that if you are inexperienced, you may wish to dial this back just a bit.

ThinkMarkets Customer Service

ThinkMarkets has strong customer service, as they are available 24 hours a day on days that the markets are open. You have the ability to call 24 hours for phone support, as well as live chat and email. There are phone numbers for both the British and the Australian offices, giving you the ability to contact them 24 hours a day. They also, of course, have email support that can be reached 24 hours a day. They have a large FAQ section that answers most questions that you would have. You can also manage your account via a proprietary dashboard called  ThinkPortal.

Trustworthiness

ThinkMarkets has an excellent rating at several forums, as well as good standing with the Australian and British authorities. The group has been around for almost a decade, allowing for millions of trades. The massive amount of regulation that the company has gone through in both the United Kingdom and Australia means that clients have the benefit of strong regulatory bodies and an open and transparent environment that can be checked online rather easily at either one of those regulatory sites. With that being the case, and the fact that they have purchase extra insurance beyond the 50,000 British pounds that come with an FCA regulatory licensure, this is a very strong sign as well. They have facilitated both the retail and institutional accounts and have been able to make headways into many investment banks.

Conclusions For ThinkMarkets

ThinkMarkets is one of the strongest brokers out there that we have experienced and has thousands of fulfilled and satisfied clients. They are heavily regulated, with two of the more stringent regulators watching them, and are heavily insured to protect your segregated account. In fact, they are insured up to 1 million British pounds through extra insurance policies that they have taken out for their clients.

ThinkMarkets have been explosive in their growth over the last several years, considering that they have hubs all over the world after just shy of a decade. That type of growth with good ratings around the world is rare, and it shows just how satisfied clients are. The ability to trade a world of markets, of course, is a major advantage, although I would point out that it would be nice if they had more than Berkshire, LPP, and country ETS to trade as far as stock CFD’s are concerned. All things being equal, though, this is a market maker that gives you the ability to express your views on a multitude of markets, allowing you to avoid heavily correlated markets or taking advantage of them if you happen to miss a trade in one, that could be leading the other.

Photo of author

Theo Madsen

Theo has been actively trading the forex markets since 2013. Over the past five years, he has gained experience trading currencies, stocks, options, and futures. Theo's trading experience led him to test out over one hundred different trading services and he shares his insights in reviews to help other traders.

Leave a Comment